Posted on Friday, 19th December 2008 by Maritzia
Like many Pagans in this country, I was formerly Christian (specifically Catholic). And like many of us reformed Christians, I struggle with letting go of my cherished holiday traditions and substituting those more appropriate to my belief systems.
Many of my happiest memories from my childhood surround Christmas. For me, though, most of those memories are non-religious ones, as my childhood was quite lacking in religious attendance. Because of that, I find I can blend many of my favorite family traditions into my life as a Pagan.
The hardest thing for me, though, are Christmas carols. I love music and I love to sing, and many Christmas songs are so nostalgic for me. While some of my favorite songs are secular, I must confess that most are not. And while a few of the religious songs can have alternate meanings that fit in with my Pagan beliefs, many just don’t. I’m slowly adding some Yule and Solstice songs to my repertoire, but this time of year, you’ll still find many of the old Christian favorites playing on WinAmp.
So, what are my favorite Christmas songs?
- Oh Holy Night – hard as hell to sing, but it’s music is so emotional. It is definitely my all time favorite, and can bring tears to my eyes when sung really well.
- Silent Night – how can you not love Silent Night?
- I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas – I know…it’s a silly song, but I enjoy singing it so much! If you’ve never heard it, google it and give it a listen.
- The First Noel – another very evocative tune. It’s probably my favorite one to sing.
- Adeste Fidelis – I actually prefer the Latin version of Oh Come All Ye Faithful. That’s the Catholic coming out.
- Grandma Got Runover By a Reindeer – *blushes* I admit it…I love this song.
- Blue Christmas – But only sung by Elvis. No other will do.
- Go Tell It On The Mountain – probably my 2nd favorite to sing. Best if sung by a black gospel choir…seriously, if you’re going to sing it like an uptight Episcopalian, don’t bother.
- I’ll Be Home for Christmas – because my Daddy loved it. He was 20 years in the army and missed his home so badly the whole time. It was his favorite Christmas song.
- Jingle Bell Rock – I do love to have a rockin’ good time!
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (3)
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I love a lot of Christmas songs too, including most of the above. Quite agree with you about Adeste Fidelis, although I wasn’t raised Catholic. In my case it’s the poet in me: in this instance the Latin just sounds so much better. There’s little poetry in the English version.
The beauty of the Pagan religions, I think, is that they are neither dogmatic nor evangelical. We don’t think ours is the only path or the only truth.
No-one’s going to excommunicate you for liking Christmas songs and lustily singing along if you feel like it!
The way I see it, Wicca is my chosen form of religious expression, because I like it, feel at home with it, and can align easily with its myths, practices and moral code. (I love that the only precept is, ‘Do as ye will an [if] it harm none’ – the most rigorous and responsible moral precept of all!)
I happen to believe in the historical existence of Jesus, and I view him as a man who channelled the Christ energy – which I equate with Love, Peace and Truth – so successfully that he became at one with it. Which I further believe is available to all of us if we care to try for it. I think it’s perfectly possible to be Pagan and also love Christ and revere Jesus.
I see Deity as all-encompassing, and often use the term the Universe to mean that. I think, too, the Divine has many aspects and I usually prefer to focus on the female aspect or Goddess – which in turn has many aspects which we call by different names and view as different personalities. And then, we ourselves are sparks from the Divine fire….
What does it matter if you sometimes choose to celebrate Life by playing Christmas songs? You don’t have to sign up to the dogma of some church or other in order to like the Nativity stories and/or enjoy worshipping through music. It’s nice to have our own songs that express our own understanding and fit our own rituals, but I think God/Goddess/All That Is is big enough to accept whatever is offered, in the spirit in which it’s offered. I am sure that joy is always welcome!
Rosemary Nissen-Wade (aka SnakyPoet)s last blog post..WHA-A-AT???
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
PS Many Christmas traditions had Pagan origins anyway!
Rosemary Nissen-Wade (aka SnakyPoet)s last blog post..WHA-A-AT???
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Yeah, it’s amazing how many traditions were christianized pagan rituals. Being Catholic, where so much worship was ritualized, I found the transition to Pagan to be quite easy. One of the reasons I became Catholic to start with was because I really liked the rituals (and at the time, they were more liberal than the evangelicals I was raised around). I’ve always been fairly pagan in my beliefs, I just didn’t know it until I met my husband, who is Pagan.