To start out the month of December, RevKess and KaliSara talked about ways to celebrate the Winter Holidays without getting trampled in the holiday rush. Covering everything from shopping to family gatherings to creating family traditions, the show was filled with fun and information. Visit the BTR page for Pagan-Musings and listen to this episode and other shows from the Pagan-Musings Podcast Channel.
Music Play List:
- Damh the Bard – The Sons and Daughters of Robin Hood – Antlered Crown and Standing Stone
- Spiral Dance – Solstice Evergreen – The Quickening
- Bone Poets Orchestra – Solstice Call – Atheist Anthems
- Emerald Rose – Santa Claus is Pagan Too
- Marc Gunn – Celtic Christmas Elf Conscription
- Marc Gunn – Christmas in Scotland
As we move through the Winter Holidays there is a lot of pressure for everyone to do more. Before the influx of consumerism that is Western Civilization, people would take this time of year to regroup, to reflect and to prepare.
During the show, the hosts spoke about how they are going to attempt to avoid some of the holiday madness when it comes to shopping. KaliSara mentioned browsing around on Etsy and doing other online shopping. RevKess talked about starting the holiday gift shopping as early as the December before. Both mentioned the idea of regifting.
They also spent some time talking about how some people feel that when it comes to the big holiday dinner that they have to do it all themselves and if it doesn’t turn out perfect it was a failure. This simply is not true. First, you do not have to make every single dish your self. Second, accidents happen and sometimes they make the dinner that much better.
RevKess’s family likes to do a potluck dinner for most holidays. This enables the host(s) to focus on their guests. By providing the main dish, or some central dish to the meal, the host(s) have more time to prepare their home and make things as enjoyable as possible. This also allows the guests to bring a dish or more that they feel is important to their holiday celebration. Not to mention assures that there will be at least one dish they will enjoy.
It has been some time since his family has all gotten together for a holiday feast. Being one of seven children and each of his siblings having children (and many of them grandchildren already), a full family gathering can be a logistic nightmare. But it is something that he is looking forward to doing sometime in the future.
This is also one of the times out of the year where many Pagans take a little time to ponder and reflect on what they have accomplished in the past year. The Dark of the Year begins around Samhain and continues through (at least) Yule. Those who follow the Celtic calendar have already celebrated the New Year and those who follow the secular Western calendar are preparing to do so at the end of the month. During these two months many people look back over the year and what they have done. It is a time to analyze the events and things that they have in their lives to see what has served them and what has held them back. It is time to begin laying the ground work for the coming year.
In this time of family and celebration it is also a time for us to look to our past and to our future. What have we accomplished that has lifted us forward? What have we done that has held us back? What people and things have come into our lives that bring us joy and enlightenment? What people and things have come to us that do us nothing but harm? These are questions that we must ask ourselves from time to time. During the Dark of the Year seems just as good a time as any.
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And special thanks to our sponsor through the Winter Holidays, the Shining Wheel Pagan Chorus!
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