[HPFGU-OTChatter] Christmas at Hogwarts (Was Re: Faith Education)

[IggyMcSnurd]

> Kathryn
>Actually I was discussing this with some friends just recently -
Muslim, and
>Sikh definitely, possibly Hindu as well (can't quite remember who was
>there) - they were saying that while they don't celebrate the
*religious*
>aspects of Christmas they do tend to celebrate it as a holiday with
presents
>and stuff, or at least those with kids do - after all any excuse for
>presents and when all their school friends are celebrating they tend
not to
>want to feel left out.
>

Iggy here:

Well, speaking for myself as a Neo-Pagan, I don't celebrate Christmas
from a religious point of view, but instead from a traditional one.  (If
I did it completely the Pagan way, I'd be celebrating the Solstice...
which I do try to honor separately... usually by doing Ritual.  It's
dropped off a little down here, because I don't really have a private
place outdoors to do it.  *sigh*)

Most of my family is Christian in some form or another, and it's often
easier for me to keep up the tradition, especially when you consider
that I can do it as a tradition instead of as a Christian thing, and not
compromise my own beliefs. 

When I was also dating my Jewish GF, she celebrated Chanukah, and I
celebrated Christmas... so I got her eight little Chanukah gifts for her
and gave them on each day... and she got eight little Christmas gifts
for me and gave them to me on one day...  (I know... you'd expect it to
work out the other way around... but we agreed to *give* the gifts
according to the other's beliefs/traditions, rather than according to
ours.  The good thing was that this was a year when Chanukah overlapped
Christmas, so she still got to open a present while I was opening
mine...  *grin*)


Now, if we want to have some fun, we can go off in another direction and
point out a few theories that are out there...

1: I have read a few different articles that astronomers have calculated
when Christ would have been born, and it would actually have been late
August, or early September... not at the end of December.

2: Christmas was "moved" to not only be closer to the Pagan celebration
of the Solstice... but also closer to the celebration of one of the gods
(I can't remember which one) that most of the Roman Empire's soldiers
worshipped, that was traditionally near where Christmas is.  This was
done to be able to bring the Christian religion into these areas without
inspiring mass riots... especially by Rome's own army... and make it
more palatable to those groups.

3: Easter is pretty close to the Pagan's very important Spring Rites.
It's also supposed that Easter was moved closer to this for a similar
reason as item 2, above.  This is especially interesting when you take
into account that eggs and rabbits are symbols of fertility... something
to do with Spring, but not to really connect with the death and rebirth
of Christ.


Just another two centaurs worth...

Iggy McSnurd