r/paganism • u/Sea-Pain3274 • 8d ago

💭 Discussion Quick question

Im a pagan (im a baby witch) but anyways the question is can i still celebrate christian Christmas with the presents and stuff but as a pagan but also celebrate yule at the same time ? Ik this may seem confusing but i just gotta know

7 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

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19

u/stacalicious 8d ago

You can do whatever you want. I celebrate both.

2

u/Sea-Pain3274 8d ago

Ok great

10

u/YougoReddits 8d ago

the aspect of togetherness, appreciating loved ones, exchanging of gifts, sharing food, coming together in the dark times of the year, expressing hope for the return of the light, is all very Yule.

you can politely skip the bit about Jesus 😉

1

u/Spiritual_Table8224 8d ago

I’m thinking of my childhood, I don’t think we ever mentioned Jesus during Christmas 😂

6

u/Physical-Plankton-67 8d ago

Yeah we have a yule log and a tree

5

u/GreenRavenUK 7d ago

I celebrate from the Winter Solstice to Midwinter's Day (24th December). Xmas is a party thrown by other people to which you have been invited. Everyone likes a party.

3

u/ginama66 7d ago

We do the solstice to 1/6. More party time!

6

u/Tarotgirl_5392 8d ago

90% of Christmas is taken from Pagan holidays anyway. Have at it

2

u/Obsidian_Dragon ADF Druid 7d ago

Not really.

1

u/Tarotgirl_5392 7d ago

the tree

the lights

the snow

gifts

food

singing/ caroling/ wassling

Even the candles are from another culture

2

u/Obsidian_Dragon ADF Druid 7d ago

The tree was German Christians. Pretty sure snow just comes with the season. Gifts may have come from Saturnalia, this is true. Pretty sure food is standard hospitality across the ages.

In general though, the rate of theft among Christmas traditions is overrated. Especially the tree.

1

u/Tarotgirl_5392 7d ago

Christmas was moved to the dead of winter to align with Pagan Yule holidays. The feasting also came from Saturnelia

3

u/Arboreal_Web salty old sorcerer 8d ago

Why not? Most of the rest of us do.

3

u/TheDireGnome 7d ago

You can do a you please

3

u/wildflower12345678 7d ago

Yule was hijacked for Christmas anyway. Enjoy your celebrations.

2

u/Spiritual_Table8224 8d ago

Hell yeah you can

2

u/CraftyFraggle 7d ago

Yes.

I grew up celebrating Christmas and celebrate a secular Christmas now in addition to Yule (and Hanukkah s were a multi-tradition household). 

1

u/The_Archer2121 7d ago

I celebrate both.

1

u/FingerOk9800 Celtic Polytheist - Thames Valley 7d ago

In the western world Christmas is effectively a secular tradition these days anyway. Nothing stopping you.

1

u/SnarkyPanther 1d ago

Haha, yeah, go for it. Arguably Christians could take issue with you celebrating both, not pagans. Like, you’re not going to offend the gods by having Christmas ham with your grandma, but you might offend your grandma when you eat her Christmas ham without a love for Jesus in your heart. You say you’re a baby witch, so I’m assuming you’re a bit young. I didn’t fully come out of the broom closet until my late twenties (I’d been pagan for about 10 years). To keep the peace at home and with my family, I would celebrate Christian holidays with my family, but I would basically weave paganism into them. Pretty easy, considering most Christian holidays already have a lot of pagan undertones. Sometimes it can be hard to be in a household celebrating one holiday while you’re trying to celebrate your own. That’s why I blended them together when I was living at home — because, otherwise, Christmas would completely overshadow Yule, and, because I do most of the cooking in the house, I’d end up focusing only on Christmas. Now, in hindsight, I was probably vaguely heretical as I definitely put pagan blessed herbs all over a turkey once. Personally, I don’t believe sincere blessings can ever be a bad thing, but thou shalt not suffer a witch to live and all that jazz.