So Many Traditions...I: Christmas Through May Day
by Rosemarie Taylor-Perry

I derive from a tradition of Greek and Roman Orthodox Catholocism: my husband derives from an interesting mix of Fundamentalism and Native American beliefs: my stepdaughter has been raised a neo-Pagan all her life, both by myself and my husband, and by her wonderful birth-mother. We find ourselves following the Native traditions of his ancestors, the Navajo traditions of the area in which we are living, and the Greco-Roman traditions of my ancient and Classical ancestors. The following article is a condensation of the ancient beliefs which have colored the holiday practices of the modern world, the ways in which we, as a family, strive to remain true to those beliefs, and the ways in which the early and modern Christian tradition assimilated "The Old Ways," and where direct descendant of Pagan Holiday rituals can be found in modern Christian celebrations today.

This article is dedicated to all my beloved ancestors and family, Pagan or Christain: let us gather around the hearth- fire of family this Season, and warm our hands at love's fire.

WINTER SOLSTICE / SATURNALIA / LENAIA / YULE / Christmas and New Year's.

(Please see the article: "Solstice Days, Solstice Ways: Ancient Origins of the Modern Christmas Celebration" for an in-depth, historical look at the traditions underlying modern celebrations of this Season.)

You can feel it come by the first of November, particularly when you live in a Northerly clime or at a high altitude. Of course, nowadays there is the endless jingle-hype of ho-ho commercialism to prod us lest we forget, but here in our TV-less home, we try to watch and feel as our ancestors did.

My dark-eyed, fine-boned stepdaugher, fresh from the desert air of Phoenix, rubs sleepy eyes as she hunkers down in her fluffy blanket on the hearth. Though it is morning, the fire is the only light, and the Northern Arizona high-mountain air is cold, promising snow outside, where the morning star lingers late and the room-warming light exits early.

I bless the hearth each morning, as my Greco-Roman ancestors did, by sprinkling a handful of barley onto the fire. Later, my good girl will help me fix dinner and, all by herself, take a bit of raw meat to the hearthfire and say an offering prayer as it burns. These are the offerings given in the Dark Half of the year, to the Underworld gods and the Ancestors, for the veil is thin between the worlds at this Season.

It is likely that both of these hearth rituals evolved from a bit of Paleolithic ancestral Midwinter "sympathetic magic": Fire, accept our offerings. Fire, return to the sky, warm the Earth. Fire, our warmth, our light, our protector, make the days long again, warm again, that we may live! From this longing for light and warmth, too, comes the Son of God -- Light of the World, Savior from Darkness, a theology so in-tune with Pagan celebration of the Season that the early Church fathers saw fit to link the birth of Jesus with the prevalent ceremonies and Pagan celebrations of the day, and so draw people into the Christian tradition. Hence, the Christian Christmas manger scene is linked together indissolubly with shamanic Santa Claus and the Heathen Yule Tree, and most in modern society don't give it a second thought (nor do most folks at Eastertide, when Christ's resurrection is regularly surrounded by the spring-fertility Goddess symbols of the bunny and the egg.)

My little family tries hard not to forget what our ancestors have given us -- our present ability to construct comfort-aiding technology; knowledge of agriculture, mathematics, writing; our blood and bone, hair color, eyes; the feelings in our hearts, the hope in our souls. And so we, like all humans, have our little rituals.

If you go to any christmas-tree lot and ask for "scraps and cuttings", they'll be more than happy to oblige you with truckloads full, FREE: after all, you're saving them work! Our favorite tradition (and this is done by most folks at Christmas, so remember: these cuttings are free!!) is "decking the halls" with greenery, a practice derived directly from the Classical Roman Saturnalia festival, as is wearing your best clothes and taking a "Christmas Break". We all know the song: deck the halls with boughs of holly! 'Tis the season to be jolly! Don we now our gay apparel...A song entirely dedicated to the joy of the Saturnalia and Yule festivals. With our truckloads of greenery, we make Yule wreaths -- a beautiful Christmas tradition that hails from the Scandinavian and Celtic north -- and Saturnalia sprays which cover the cold Midwinter walls in green.

We also have our sparkling Yule tree. On Midwinter eve (also the day of my wedding anniversary,) we collect pretty lengths of wide ribbon and, using a collection of indelible ink markers, write on the back of the ribbons our hopes, wishes, and dreams for the coming year: we tie these prettily to the tips of the branches. We deck the tree with symbols of those things we most love and long for in our lives -- since we are wild bird rehabilitators, there are many lovely bird ornaments on our tree. If this last summer was any indication, this bit of "sympathetic magic" (which is where the entire concept of tree-decorating comes from,) is very effective. We had so many wildings to care for it was difficult to turn around in the house!

We bake gingerbread men for Yule. Think what an odd idea this is: eating a symbolic human. Imagine, if you can bear to, what kind of desperate straits one would have to be in to perform such an act in reality! There is very little doubt that our ancestors endured such frozen wastes, such lack of food at this time of year. Again, we are reminded of the Christian sacramental tradition: "This is My blood, which has been shed for you..." Such beauty from such bleakness and misery! This, too, is the meaning behind the symbols of the Midwinter Season. LOOK OUTSIDE AT THE SNOW: FEEL THE COLD AND THE DARKNESS! I whisper gently into my daughter's ear: REMEMBER WHAT YOUR ANCESTORS HAVE ENDURED, SO THAT YOU COULD BE HERE NOW. And so, we make gingerbread cookies in the shape of humans. We eat some. We hang some on the tree. And some we feed to the birds outside.

We also make seed-cones for the birds, by mixing peanut butter with birdseed and suet, and slathering it onto cones tied with bright ribbons. My stepdaughter loves this ritual, partly because she loves tramping through the snow (she is a deadly-accurate snowball flinger: I live in trepidation of the day that her range matches her accuracy...) and occasionally falling to the earth to make snow-angels which mark our path: Partly, she loves it because it feeds wild things, and it holds the promise of after-snow hot chocolate with marshmallows and peppermint sticks.

THANKS FOR THE KNOWLEDGE, MY ANCESTORS: THANKS FOR A WORLD WHERE I CAN KEEP MY CHILD WARM IN THE SNOW. THANKS FOR SYMBOLS OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, LOVE THAT GIVES ALL AND TAKES THE BREATH AWAY. THANKS FOR WREATHS AND TANNENBAUMS AND PEPPERMINT STICKS!

SPING EQUINOX / ANTHESTERIA / OSTARA / Easter.

Baskets of colored eggs! Bunnies! Chicks! Resurrection and new life! Warming days...it must be Easter.

The symbols associated with modern Easter celebrations are the same symbols attributed to the ancient Eastern European fertility/rebirth Goddess OSTARA -- rabbits, eggs, young birds, even the name is drawn from that Baltic source. The colored and decorated eggs are properly known as PYSANKY, and are precious, very special offerings. As elsewhere noted, the young Christian Church adapted Pagan symbols for their own mythos and sacred days, so that the religion would appeal and make sense to the Pagan populace it hoped to woo to its beliefs -- what better assimilation for a mythos of resurrection than the symbols promising a renewal of life?

Our family decorates eggs, also. We are big on crayons in this house, and use both natural and artificial food dyes (my daughter's opinion that there can never be too many colors holds sway, as does her firm belief that there can never be too many boiled eggs.) Being blessed with a good friend who raises chickens, we find ourselves with several dozen eggs of all shapes, sizes, and colors -- including robins-egg blue ones from a couple of her hens, and a number of shades of brown, cream, cocoa, ivory, and white. After an evening spent decorating with exacting care (and washing out dye from every cup in the house...) the little girl is subjected to an early bedtime, and the eggs are subjected to careful hiding by my husband and I, after which we retire to a much-deserved cup of coffee, assuming we can dig up an unused cup. We have to be very clever in hiding eggs from our daughter: we both firmly believe that she will either become a world-famous archaeologist, or a treasure hunter -- she's that good!

After the egg-hunt and eggy breakfast next day comes an egg judging contest, and we are brutal in our opinions, because the winners among these lovingly-decorated eggs are going to become very special offerings. A basket-shaped depression exists in the wild areas not a mile away from our house, and here we make the offering of our eggs and other seasonal goodies, which do not remain there for more than a day -- the animals just emerging from hibernation and enforced winter fasting love them! This last Spring Equinox, just after leaving our offering, we were treated to a visit by a small herd of male elk traipsing through our backyard -- to the delight of my city-bound stepdaughter, whose country-escapade tales are all the rage among her Phoenix school pals.

In what is to us late February or early March, my Grecian ancestors celebrated the festival of Anthesteria, a several-day-long festival which included a ritual known as CHYTROGIA or "Day of the Pots". This name refers to a special place where an offering is given, a naturally-occuring hole or chasm in the earth (it is from this ritual that we derive the term "Pothole"!)

In ancient times, a grain-and-honey offering was made by the Greek people (the Romans had a similar festival later in the spring, but they would offer beans, which they believed held the souls of their ancestors prior to rebirth.) The CHYTROGIA offering was made near the sanctuary of Dionysos, God of Indestructible Life, outside the precincts of the city proper. All in attendance would partake of a libation of pure water, which by custom was always offered by a young girl, and an oblation of the offering grains and honey.

I suspect that this mixture of honeyed grains, which was given in memory of (and propitiation to!) the ancestor-spirits -- since the Anthesteria was an All-Souls festival -- was not unlike the one my grandfather used to make around Eastertime. His recipe was based upon one still used by members of the Greek Orthodox Church, prepared in observance of the end of the Lenten period, and also served at wakes or to mark the anniversary of a death. The recipe is called KOLYVA, and it corresponds exactly to descriptions of the grain-and- honey offering given to honor/appease the ancestral spirits and deities at the end of the Anthesteria festival. My grandfather's equivalent of the "pothole" part of the ceremony was a serious admonishment to everyone in his house (and he did this all the time, not just at Easter): "Never pick fallen food up off the floor: it belongs to the dead!" Crumbs were efficiently swept out the door onto the lawn, but never, never picked up.

We make KOLYVA in memory of the Anthesteria and my grandfather at this time of the year. My stepdaughter is always keen to be "water girl", and takes her duties as seriously as my late grandfather took his admonition against leaving fallen food on the floor. This offering accompanies the above-mentioned egg "ceremony".

KOLYVA (about 12 half-cup servings):
1/4 cup red or white wheat (or a mixture of both.)
1/4 cup barley or rye (or a mixture of both.)
1/4 cup buckwheat groats or millet (or a mixture of both.)
1/4 cup white, wild, or brown rice OR oats (or a mixture of any/all.)
1/4 teaspoon salt.
One cup light honey.
1/2 cup very finely-chopped dates.
1/2 cup chopped light raisins.
1/2 cup toasted sesame or poppy seeds (or a mixture of both.)
1/2 cup finely chopped pine nuts, almonds, walnuts, or other nuts (or a mixture.)
1/4 cup fresh minced parsley.
Two Tablespoons pomegranate seeds (if available.)
One teaspoon fresh minced spearmint.

Cook all grains together in two quarts of lightly-salted water for approximately one hour: drain off any excess water when finished cooking, and rinse lightly under a very hot running tap. Transfer the grains to a large bowl and mix in the honey until the grains have begun to cool. Add all other ingredients and stir together very well. Place approximately one-quarter to one-half cup of this mixture into single-serving dishes: cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, or for as long as two days.

The people in the Greek Orthodox church often mold shapes out of half or quarter-cup servings of kolyva, sprinkle the shapes with powdered sugar, put them into separate little waxed-paper bags, refrigerate them, then serve them right out of the bags.

Anciently, the Anthesteria was also the Festival of Lovers (licit and illicit!): as previously noted, the Anthesteria was held at the end of our February/beginning of our March, and the emphasis on lovers, marriage, and conjugal unity which was one part of the Anthesteria festival is certainly where the delightful modern celebration of "Valentine's Day" hails from.

"CROSS QUARTER DAYS"...

Between each Solstice and Equinox lie two "cross-quarter" days -- one which celebrates the end of winter proper, while the earth still lies in the grip of cold yet the days are becoming notably longer, another which celebrates the beginning of summer, and even though it is still obviously spring, wild creatures have begun their summer-directed actions of breeding and brooding, which ushers in the "light half" of the year (the celebration of which may be found in Part II of this two-part article series.)

FIRST FLOCK BIRTH / LUPERCALIA / IMBOLC / CANDLEMAS / "Groundhog Day" (!)

No, REALLY! On the first week in February, our Neolithic ancestors (NOTE: the "cross-quarter" days all appear to have been "invented" as Neolithic celebrations of the agriculture/husbandry type, whereas the Solstices and Equinoxes have a much older, hunter-gatherer Paeleolithic flavor behind them...) celebrated this as the time when the early-bearing domesticated animals, the sheep and goats (which were also the first ungulates domesticated...) began to produce their young. This marks the first appearance of "new life" in an apparently "dead" winter environment, and our family has one simple ritual with which we mark it:

We bring our bulbous plants (narcissus, amaryllis, daffodils, etc.) in from the cool shed where they have spent the late summer, fall, and early winter, and plant them. Within a few days, the new shoots appear: outside, the early crocuses join our waking bulbs in their response to liquid water, soft earth, and lengthening daylight. Come Beltane, our lovely indoor bulbs will be in bloom, and we will move them out to the porch, where they and the returning hummingbirds will grace our home with the promise of summer a-comin' in.

In modern times, early February is hailed by "Punxatonny Phil" (sic???!?!?), a rodent who, according to modern legend, looks for his shadow as he "emerges" from his "burrow" (or, more accurately, is gently taken out of his pen!) Should he see his shadow, this hails six more weeks of winter: should his shadow remain in the pen asleep, as Phil most certainly would prefer to do himself, spring will come early that year. The ancient ritual behind this MIGHT be the Roman Lemuria festival (to follow) in which beans are thrown over the shoulder nine times and the ancestors requested to depart: not until the ninth toss did one dare to look over their shoulder, for any shadow seen was believed to belong to the "unquiet dead", and would presage doom to the thrower of the beans. That this is, in fact, the precursor of Groundhog Day (or the Jack in the Beanstalk fairytale!) is only a theory, but it is true that the "dark half of the year" officially ends in February, and with it go the "ghosts" -- the fear of famine and illness, now that the warming, lengthening days presage summer hopes of plenty and pleasure.

LEMURIA / BELTANE / MAY DAY.

My husband and I lived in Hawaii for three years after we were first married, and that is the ultimate place to be for May Day! In Hawaii, "May Day is Lei Day", and any number of breathtaking, sweet-smelling leis are to be had for a song.

The making of flower wreaths was also an important part of the Beltane celebrations held by the ancient Celts, from whom my father's people derive. While my mother's people were busy with the rather gloomy festival of Lemuria (see information regarding part of this festival, above,) my father's people wove wreaths from newly-blossoming hawthorn and wildflowers, and blessed the freshly-plowed fields by performing the consummating act of love around bonfires set alight at the corners of each field.

As my stepdaughter's mother is partly Hispanic, we never forget to celebrate Cinco de Mayo! There is a large Hispanic population in Arizona, bringing wonderful foods and celebrations with them: I am honored, directly or indirectly, to be part of the progeny of so many rightfully proud cultures.

My stepdaughter adores making wreaths, and we do so at all holidays: we have Yule wreaths and Anthesteria wreaths, Valentine's wreaths and Easter wreaths -- indeed, one could even imagine a Lemuria wreath fashioned out of beans! One of my favorite ways to fashion a wreath is, using the donut-shaped foam backings found in most craft-supply stores, to have my daughter color and cut out many symbols appropriate to the season/ celebration we're making the wreath in honor of (or, whatever she feels like coloring at the time!) These hand-done symbols can then be pinned to the foam "wreath", making a more personalized wreath than is usually seen in seasonal decorations. I also love to decorate my storage jars -- used non-dairy creamer jars which have been washed and their labels removed -- using artwork made by my stepdaughter: I use clear packing tape to attach the drawings or paintings to the jars, and to protect the artwork from inevitable kitchen splatters. However...this is a Midsummer ritual at our house, and for information on Midsummer through Thanksgiving, why...you'll have to read my next article!

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