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Im the only wiccan in my entire family and i dont celebrate christmas of course. But im not sure if its right to celebrate it with my family because i dont beleive in it. What jdo u guys think?

I am Pagan...I call myself Witch. My family is Christian, and we have Jewish and African American friends. We celebrate for the entire month of December, with Hanukkah, Yule, Christmas and Kwanzaa. There is nothing wrong with celebrating the holy days with your friends and family. Even if you do not believe the way they do, you can still share in the joy of the season in whichever way they choose to celebrate it.

Enjoy your season!!

my problem is only part of my family knows about my craft and neither would be willing to participated and or celebrate yule with me.

Absolutely! There is nothing wrong at all with celebrating many different traditions with your family! One of the reasons we become Neo-Pagan or Wiccan is to break free of the constraining bounds that other religious practices give us. Those certain bounds that say catholics cannot celebrate Halloween as a "Devil's Holiday" and whatnot.
Being a Wiccan you are encouraged to be open to other religious traditions and their practices. There is something to be learned from everyone in this world!

You posted right before me, with your family not being able to celebrate yule with you thats a different story. You can approach them with your beliefs and your holiday and see if they would enjoy celebrating it with you. (Seeing as how Yule is often a very old Family tradition passed down through the generations not just a neo-pagan revivalist holiday). And if you cannot do that, the internet is a great way to find groups of people who do celebrate Yule in your area in large public settings.

good point. i wish everyone had the same insight.

Of course celebrate with them! I honor Yule as my 'holiday' but celebrate Christmas for my children and my family..
I just look at it for myself as an extended celebration of the winter season ..

Here's my $0.02 for what it's worth.

What part of Chrismas do you anticipate taking part in?

I am a Christian, and quite frankly, the ONLY part of Christmas that is Christian is the church services, advent parayers we do at home and the name. The balance of the typical "Christmas" celebrations that take place are really adaptations of old Pagan traditions that the early church adopted to make Christianity more palatable to the Pagans they were attempting to convert at the time.

Therefore, I say go ahead and enjoy the holidays with your family and friends. Perhaps you can even do some research on your own and be able to enlighten them on your beliefs and how their practices actually stem from Pagan rituals and practices of old.

Excellent idea KCRC :)

Let's be real here... Most people don't celebrate that winter holiday as Christ-mass, they just feast with fmily and friends, decorate with twinkling lights, exchange gifts, and generally enjoy the day off work. That is EXACTLY what the Wicca/Paga holiday of Yule is too. The only difference is the religious observance (if any at all) you choose to attend. And contrary to popular belief, you won't burst into flames or the church get struck by lightning if a Wiccan/Pagan attends the annual Xmas pagent down at 32nd Baptist just to make their mother happy. Showing a little caring concession for Xian relatives is by no means against any sort of Wiccan or Pagan rule(s), in fact it shows a good deal of decency and a willingness to get along. So do your usual thing ith your family and have fun! And if you want to go hold Circle with your witchy friends, apart from your conservative family members so as not to maes waves--go for it! Just tell the fam you have plans with friends and go on.

i understand that but it makes it hard for me. and i feel bad most of the time when i do celebrate with them because the look at me in as " evil " around that time of year.

I mean if they are not going to celebrate your holiday do not celebrate their holiday, i do not celebrate christmas with my family and i could care less if they wanted me to or not...

Do you realize some of the Christmas traditions are actually Pagan originated? The Christmas tree, the Yule log, wreaths. The only difference is what you're celebrating. And no one has to know you're not celebrating the same things as they are. Enjoy the holidays. To me they represent more the union of family and friendship than anything else.

Good point goth doll, I myself hate christmas, because of the over commercilized ideals of today, yet it is a time for Family and friends. I am a christian but down the road we lost the ideals of yesterdays. But I still find the enjoyment of family and friends specially if I have not seen them in a while.

well said KCRC, truth is wicca is backward christian folklaw if you will.

Many of the Christmas traditions stem from Pagan tradition and ritual, so I never saw a reason not to celebrate Christmas

Yeah, christmas is basically a time for family and friends and being with your loved ones. You don't have to be a particular religion to enjoy the season.

I celebrate Christmas, not because I believe in the mythology of the holiday, but because I like getting presents, and it makes my parents happy to spend the day with my brother and I.

As for Yule, I celebrate with a small ceremony for myself in private. Or, once in a while, my Mom (who is also pagan) will do a small one with me. We also sneak small things (like a certain type of food that is used in a Yule ritual) into the dinner we make on that day. :)

my family is mixed. very mixed. i am pagan, my brother is druid, my father is budist, and my mother is catholic. we do celebrate christmas for the gathering of family and food. most people the the states that celebrate it don't actually believe in christ.

if i where you, spend the time with your family. that's far more important than what is behind the holiday

I would say you can ether stand ferm and say: I will celebrate but wont participate, in return I ask that you at least respect my hollyday.

You can always put on your chrismas card that you want them to assist on your hollyday. Its always an option

I think that people do things because they want to i mean people could spend time with their family anyday of the year, cristmas was stole from the pagans but if you celebrate it then you are celebrating it for what it has become, not what it was, i am not a wiccan i just hate christmas because of what it stands for...

I will celebrate Yule with my wiccan sisters, with my christian family I will celebrate Christmas. My family would not accept or are not interested in following my beliefs but since Christmas is the national holiday where they are off work and able to gather as a family, I'm not about to loose the chance to be together with my family, who don't get together all that much.

Since Christmas is so much less about the religious meaning and more about gifts and spending, we've been trying to make it about being together more for years. Should I decide I want to attend a christian service with family or friends, I will do so. The flavor of the faith shouldn't matter, the love of the people should.

I'm wiccan to.
but why not
I love Christmas, not in a Christianway about Jesus.

But more about the family stuff, the whole family, christmas tree, presents!. I just love it, Wiccan or not ^^

I'm not a Christian but I love christmas.

It's wallowing in the brief feel good feeling, and spending time with people you don't see as much as you would like.

I think you should just think of it as spending time with your family.... you don't have to think of christmas as a religious thing.....it is not seen that way by most people already.....so don't worry about it and enjoy every second of family time

I think it's fine to celebrate Christmas no matter what religion you are.
I'm not a Christian, and I still celebrate Christmas...Not because I believe that that's when Jesus was born(hell, that's not even the date Jesus was born, he was speculated to have been born around March or April), but just to celebrate family and friends.
A Christmas tree is actually a Pagan symbol, and though Wicca is a Neo-Pagan religion, it's still under the Pagan umbrella.

I say enjoy Christmas with your family. Celebrate having a family, and enjoy it.

Sure spending time with your family is all well and good but if your family does not want to celebrate your holiday why celebrate theirs, thats like a smack in the face they are basically saying you do what we want but we are not going to do one thing around what you believe...

True, but many people, especially Christians are squeamish around Wicca, they think it's evil and have never been told or taught differently...So to refuse to celebrate their holiday that might bring fuel to their hate fire...
But to celebrate their holiday, maybe that might give them a more open mind to celebrate other holidays, especially that their loved ones do.

Deck the Halls, people. It's the season to be jolly. Imagesinwords has given great examples of why Hall decking is perfectly fine ;)

my family who does know I am a Pagan Priest has reached an aggrement, I exchange gifts for Alban Arthan (Yule) on Dec. 21st and they leave me in peace on Dec. 25th. That way we don't enter into any spiritual debates or what not. Also as a note they allow their kids to go trick or treat to keep me happy on "Nos Galan Gaeaf" (the Night of the Winter Calends) (Samhain/ Halloween) so i don't get all preachy with them ...
Basically it is the same as any day of the week and we agree to disagree, but repsect each others right to beleive as they want to.

Family is family and there is always room for more celebrating in my opinion..the love of family should supercede all silly religious ideals. There should be room to celebrate any and all holidays that are required for that family.

me I would only celebrate what makes me feel good inside and only for the reasons I choose, like for the company of my family, or for the great buffet (lol) but none so far was for religoous beleif, I respect others but wont be like them or do liek them for them.

If you feel comfortable with it then by all means there is nothing with that.... but if you are not then don't or at least try to be honest with your family about it.... I feel Wiccan is my calling but I still celebrate christmas with my family.... but that is because I'm comfy with it....

There is no reason why u cannot celebrate Christmas with your family. I will celebrate christmas and yule this year

Bah humbug ….. lol
I don’t care if your sacrificing a goat or praying for Jesus … it’s party time

my sister is wiccan and i am christian she has a child and celebrates Christmas and Yule she celebrates them in perfect wiccan harmony

Christmas is a very special holiday how can you not bleave in it? it's a time of giveing and not reciveing.

I'm wiccan same as my mom and my dads Christian but we celebrate Christmas

I think that by allowing religious differences to prevent you from enjoying your friends and family it would be doing a disservice to any belief.
It's about celebrating being together and experiencing the joy and love of your family and friends.

forget the religious conotations of x-mas, just enjoy the time and joy with family... thats what it is really all about...333

id say go for it... it doesnt mean you have to believe in anything they do, or what ever. and if they dont accept you or your beliefs you just showed them your the better person

I do not care about christmas, jesus or wicca i am just saying that if your family loves you they would eccept you and your religion, if they do not eccept your religion than do not eccept theirs, i mean it seems like everyone is telling people to ignore their religion because it is december 25 and because they need to spend time with their familys...

Celebrate your holidays how you see fit, if your family does not agree with your choices that is their loss, but they are still family.

Christmas has many pagen overtones to be sure. Do not miss out on a time of fellowship with others that you may enjoy. Nothing worse than a rigid stick in the mud. I could enjoy many holidays with anyone that was nice and caring even if I did not belong to that faith.

I agree with Aoibheal and anyone else who feels that celebrating with your friends regardless of their beliefs is the best thing to do. Share the things that bring joy to your friends and family, even if you don't believe.

I personally don't celebrate Christmas, but the friends and family around me does, so I take part nonetheless. :)

The store I work in already has their Hallowe'en, Christmas and Thanksgiving stuff out to sell (yes all at once). I am really tempted to make a big sign that says: "Merry Thanksgivoween!" as depicted in the comic, which I have inserted immediately below for your viewing pleasure. lol

try looking at it as a time to spend with your family and not as a holiday

I've never been christian. My stepfather's family is though, and we spent a lot of time eating bad turkey at their house when I was a teen. I tend to avoid it now, but it is probably just the turkey.

I've been considering getting a christmas tree, I like the smell and the thought of decorating for winter... I'd never do anything so tacky as put lights on it... simple beautiful glass ornaments I think with twinkle lights set up perhaps in the window to reflect off of the glass.

As much as I like walking across the crisp snow at dawn and seeing the real twinkle effect of snow; the fakeness of twinkle lights on a tree kind of depressess me.

Christmas is like that... It's too fake... too commercial... too tainted from the beauty that it is intended to capture.

That said... go have fun... I usually go to XXXmas, at the local goth club... a nice christmas burlesque show.
*laughs*

I personally don't see why not. But I'm not Wiccan, but I did have a friend who was and she to was the only one in here family but she still took place in the Christmas hoildays and all the stuff that goes with it, with her family.

It's all about personally choice.

I celebrate for my mother...

yule is the foundation of xmas

nothng wrong with celibrating x-mas doit for your family if nothing else and let them know how you feel about them not willing to celibrate with you on yule

I still celebrate christmas with my family. It has absolutely nothing to do with a Christian festival. If you research the origins you can see how Christianity slapped their so called 'holy days' over the top of the old festivals.

Basically it's like this:
The sun reaches it's highest point on June the 21st (Midsummer) and the festival of summer harvet is the 21st to the 24th. On the 25th, the sun begins to decend.
The opporsite time of the sun cycle is...yes you guessed it, December. The sun reaches it's lowest point on December the 21st (Yule) and stays there for the celebration of winter, the 21st to the 24th. Then, (and this is the fun bit for all you Christians out there) the sun (son) is born again on the 25th (Christmas day).

So you shouldn't feel bad about celebrating Christmas. Understand the true meaning of the festival and celebrate the whole season, from the 21st to the 25th.
A good way of tricking your family into celebrating Yule is to introduce a pre Christmas giving of say, a piece of fruit, or chocolate or even a small gift on the 21st. Say it's just a warm up to Christmas. Last year my husband had bought me a gothic dress and gave the hanger wrapped up on Yule.

Anyway, I hope this has given you some ideas.

Ethyl XxX

I always celebrate Christmas. I look at it as a time to be with family and get lots of good shit...lol

I don't celebrate the holidays myself either, BUT, you don't have to celebrate the holidays while visiting with your family or friends. Just look at it like spending "quality" time with them.

if you dont believe in it then dont celebrate it but it shouldnt keep you from your family.

Imaginesworld kudos for your thoughts. I am of the same belief here. Why whine. Perhaps those that question Christmas vs Yule should really do some research. hmmmm what a concept. The tree, the lights, the mistletoe, the yule log, the gathering of family and friends.... all carry roots in Paganism As I said perhaps some need to delve into their research alittle better. Why not concentrate on those aspects of this time of year?

For there sake you should celebrate it,

some people might still be christian in third world countries, but they don't celebrate it like countries like america, uk and australia.

you do celebrate with your family there is no harm in that at all i do it myself. but me and my fiancee celebrate yule on our own time

how many christians celebrate halloween?

If you notice many people who want to claim Christmas do not follow their religions year round. Most people pray Sunday morning and by Sunday afternoon they are belittling their fellow man, having impure thoughts, sleeping with the neighbor and so on. People who claim to have a religion usually only follow the good parts of it. Hypocrites. I celebrate American Xmas. I gather with family that day, give them the presents that inspire me and tell my kids "Santa is watching" all december to get them to behave LOL. I decorate my house with lights and other crap cause it looks pretty. I love the way the tree smells, the way people change into better people for that month LOL.I like the candy, the cookies, the pies and giving myself the excuse "well it is xmas". If one feels it infringes on their religion, they best practice their religion all year long, and keep to it. As someone stated above people find excuses to whine, bitch and complain-get over yourself.

People can research christmas as much as they want, but that does not change the fact of having respect for each other if her family is not willing to celebrate her holiday then why should she celebrate theirs...

Have your own celebration for your beliefs and celebrate the season with your family. The fact that they are celebrating for a different reason shouldn't make a difference.

Great point Cadamia! I've always found that one to be kind of a conundrum though.

A heck of a lot of Christian traditions were taken from pagan/wiccan beliefs and customs, it would probably be just a good idea on choosing similar traditions and use them as the base to celebrate Christmas with your family.

sounds like twice the fun go for it. as long as you don't have to go to church then none of the things that you don't Believe in will be around. the rest of it is just a good family party.

dont think of it as christmas - think of it as Santafest.

I am a Christan and the man I love is Wiccan and I have been really interested in Wicca... Honestly I think you should be able to celebrate Christmas... Personally unless you go into church and commit acts of outright blasphemy, which I can't imagine you could do I think celebrating with Christmas which has turned into a gift giving fest you should be just fine :)

I plan on having him around for Christmas and think he will be just fine and I plan on celebrating his important times of year.. :)

i dont see anything wrong in celerbrating the holidays with loved ones even if your beliefs and religons arent the same

My experience with celebrating Christmas and other beliefs...

My wife grew up in a family of new age uber Christians known as Jehovah's Witnesses. This group has interpreted their founder's rewriting of the Bible in a way that does not allow people to celebrate birthdays and Christmas.

My wife "quit" the club when she was a late teen, but was still not able to be exposed to celebrating Christmas.

With me, I explained that I truly do not she the holiday as a celebration of the birth of Jesus, but rather a celebration of family and friends.

We gather, we spend time together, party together, exchange gifts, etc.

It is a festival of our spirit and souls. If part of the celebration involves Jesus, so be it.

I think you should, For them :)
You cant sit around miserable while there trying to have fun.

well i know so many ppl who call themselves witches and pagans they celebrate Christmas
so i guess it's ok but also there are those who feel that they can't celebrate it b/c they are followers of the devil so why would theycelebrate the birth of christ!

Of course others have mentioned that modern christmas is filled with Pagan symbols more than Christian ones..

Ask the average christian what the mistletoe, christmas tree, reindeer, sandy claws or even the date of the day mean and they don't know. Ask the average Wiccan and they say, that's Druidic symbols, without a doubt.

With that said, who says christmas and Jesus for that matter can't be a part of a Wiccan belief system. It's as if a Wiccan takes Jesus' teaching in account in their own belief system, they're like, breaking the law or something.

Treat people fairly, turn the other cheek, many of Jesus' ideas go hand in hand with basic Wiccan thoughts. I know some Wiccan sect deal only with their gods and goddess, but hey, most Wiccans I personally know "feel" the basic concept of christianity are true, they just feel like it can't be included. Hopefully this can change, IMO anyway, inspiration can come in all forms, just always remember that.

IMHO as always, and let's not forget all the parties and presents, but I can understand if you feel as if your selling your soul to..Jesus!!:D

I'm Wiccan and I still celebrate Christmas with my family .

I am Wiccan. All of my family is Christian. I do have Santa Clause come at Christmas for my children. I celebrate Yule as well. I guess I just use it as an excuse to celebrate period..lol

Isis...

I know a good bit of satanist and they love to celebrate christmas, but they do it in the materialistic and "partying" ways that are associated with the day now.

Have one friend in particular that does a whole satanic theme and decorates her house with the anti-christmas theme right down to the tree. Its a cross between "A nightmare before christmas" meets June Cleaver.

It actually a kool experience every year, she's been doing this and adding stuff for years now. One of the biggest kicks I get out of her parties is the outside lights. She bought black and purple halloween lights so when you drive threw her hood, it's all bright and cheery on the way in, but then you get to her house and it looks like a goth christmas in hell.

She actually found a light up santa for the yard that's flipping the bird, it's a sight you have to see to believe!! It's just SO funny!! Her neighbors are less entertained, which makes it even better!!

Well I am pagan, and celebrate christmas with my christian families. They don't attend church which is a bonus for me, so for us its all about spending time together, getting together, gift giving, eating and having fun. :) So maybe it is more about what this time of the year means for you and your family and focus on that.

i am wiccan, my family are cathlic and my partner is baptist and i celebrate yule by my self or with my best friend who i am training, and i also celebrate christmas with my family, the only problem i have is yule over here is not at christmas time lol its like 6 months away, (southern hemishere)

I am Wiccan and I guess Im lucky because my Mum and sister who are Christian come to my house for Yule they dont celebrate in ritual but respect my beliefs and I enjoy Christmas with them.Not for the religion but out of love and respect for them.It wasnt always like that though.

go for it, my family and inlaws are baptist, methodest, catholica and i am other, i realy dont belong to a group and i join in with them im sure most of them would if i asked

well, i'm atheist, but i still celebrate christmas. not really for the birth of christ, more or less for partying and exchanging presents x_x

As stated many times in this forum thread, many of the traditional Christmas practices were taken from the pagans. The Christian church did that in an attempt to convert the pagans. Imagesinwords recently added a member article to the rave about that.

I would say celebrate Christmas. It is your family. You do not have to address the Christian aspect of the holiday. Just spend the holiday enjoying the fact you get to be with your loved ones.

It is true what most of the above stated that the Christian church in its attempt to convert early pagans, plopped Jesus' birthday on top of Yule and the Roman Saturnalia.

I celebrate the Yuletide (Winter solstice), but personally feel that Christmas has turned into the end of the fiscal year blowout sale to place people in debt and to ensure that chaotic evil stores like Wal-mart stay in the black.

Someone told me at work that K-mart already has Xmas trees up - as of 28 September - the ones in Pittsburgh anyway.

Christmas! How pagan can we get? It's all our stuff those christians are using to celebrate with! Honor the time of year, the Tree, the beauty, LIFE! That's what pagans do- celebrate living. Honor life and your people. Enjoy!

All holidays or hollerdays evolved from paganism. They actually stole it from the pagans, changed some names and made up some stories. To keep people off of the chosen path. I say celebrate all holidays in the original way it was introduced. Start your trend by going back to your ancestral heritage.

You will be asked certain questions, then explain it to them. The spoken word travels far. Next thing you know you will have a dozen converts and they won't even know it!

So embrace your traditions and customs. Christ wasn't even born on Dec25th. They don't even know his real birthday. In fact they stole that birthday from the Sun-God Baal aka Nimrod, aka Belzeebub. In fact Christ never existed, they stole that story from the egyptian god Horus. Check it out!

Happy Unholy Days!

as a 2nd degree priest we teach our students that Christmas is for the family

it is ok to participate in other traditions


in your heart you should be able to feel ok about Christmas because it is a good time full of warm wishes and compassion and good friends and family

this is my belief, this is how my tradition goes.
in truth any day that inspires the majority to think of others before themselves can not be bad

Many of the Christmas traditions stem from Pagan tradition

I vote for celebrating ALL the winter hilidays!! That way I get gifts 2 or 3 times. :)

I have been Wiccan for many years, but I do celebrate christmas will my family. I also would attend mass at the Catholic church when I was married with my husbands family. I see nothing the matter with celebrating in different ways.

Focus on the pagan origins of the holiday (holly day - pagan!) and focus on the fact that you are celebrating being with your family and sharing your love with them. That's what I do!

A lot of Wiccans practice solitary. My wife and I both celebrate non wiccan holidays with family and for the children in the family.

I celebrate yule - my family xmas
nothing wrong with sharing the time with your family

thats a tough one on the one hand i'd say practice what you preach BUT...... you mom and dad wont be here for ever is it so bad to buy a few gifts. you dont have to pray or anything

any ceremony or holiday can still be enjoyed as a simple gathering by any-one

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