Ad Astra Grove ADF
  • By-Laws
  • Druid on the Prairie

Holidays

5/2/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
With astronomical Beltane just around the corner, my mind is turning toward the holidays, and what they have come to mean to me. When I first stepped out onto the Pagan path, I started my walk with the 8 Sabbaths being my way to prove my commitment to myself. Holidays have always been religiously tied in my mind, and by experiencing the wheel of the year, I figured I would get a feel for what this new religion was all about.  

The first holiday I celebrated was Lughnasa. For this holiday my family (even the rather bewildered spouse) went into the backyard and held a picnic in the garden.  I remember talking to the kids about what the harvest meant.  I had made a loaf of bread and we chatted about where the wheat had come from to make it. Well, by we, I mean husbandman and myself.  The kids were so young, I doubt much of it went in.  Aria wasn’t even really talking much then. Those first years I left much of the religious stuff out of the family holiday celebrations, but I slowly added more every year.

After starting the Grove, the kids began to experience the High Days with rituals as well as our family discussions. They have come to understand that the holidays are religious times as well as times of growth, cold, harvest, or just really big dinner nights.  Aria has come to adore giving sacrifices to the Nature Spirits, and often asks about which Deities we will be celebrating.  She is still bummed that we don’t do group rituals with Isis or Horus, but she understands that we can still do that as a family; just not with the Grove. 

My children are growing up with holidays that are very much different from what I had.  I hope that they feel the deeper sense of connection to the world and its rhythms that I have come to experience as we celebrate.  The holidays have indeed been a way into a deeper understanding of my faith and the world.  Just as ritual often speaks to that deeper, unconscious self, the holidays speak to my soul in a language so profound that words would be meaningless.  


My extended family (MIL, Parents, ect.) still do not know that we celebrate these times of year, and this makes what we do a tad downplayed.  The kids understand that the grandmas and grandpa don’t have the same special times of year.  I feel very sad about this, but also don’t want to deal with the headache that would ensue should we be more open.  It just feels as if we are somehow ashamed of what we celebrate, and I don’t want the kids to think that what we do is somehow wrong.  So, the question this Beltane is whether to come out or not?  Again, not so sure it is worth the headache, since we don’t have much interaction with my ‘rents, and Hubby’s mom kinda has a sense of what we do, even if she doesn’t completely know what it is about (mainly because I think she just doesn’t want to know.  I think she still is hoping this is just a passing phase and that we’ll come back to Jesus eventually). Everyone else in my life knows. Hell, I’ve given sermons (that is with a ‘s’) on Paganism at our Church. Maybe it is disrespectful not to tell them, or maybe it is just better this way.  It is definitely easier.


1 Comment

    Author

    Amanda Thomas is the Grove Organizer for the Ad Astra Grove.  She also serves on the Topeka Interfaith Council.

    Hera Lakeshore is a practicing druid and contributor to the Ad Astra Grove blog.

    Follow this blog
    Picture

    Archives

    May 2016
    December 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011

    Categories

    All
    Afterlife
    Alpha
    Alphabet
    Ancestors
    Ancient Greek
    Aphrodite
    Asphodel
    Athena
    Axis Mundi
    Bear
    Beauty
    Bee
    Beltane
    Book Porn
    Changes
    Chartered
    Clover
    Consciousness
    Cow
    Death
    Dionysus
    Divination
    Dp
    Eta
    Evil
    Experience
    Fire
    Gaia
    Gods
    Grove
    Growth
    Hades
    Hearth Culture
    Hera
    Holidays
    Imbolc
    Initiates Path
    Interfaith
    Leadership
    Liturgy
    Meditation
    Nature Awareness
    Nature Spirits
    Nine Virtues
    Oath
    Omens
    Oracle
    Ostara
    Pagan Blog Project
    Pagan Fire Seminar
    Pi
    Play
    Rite
    Ritual
    Ritual Roles
    Sacred Space
    Sacred Story
    Samhain
    Sigma
    Spirituality
    Strengths
    Tau
    Thana Doula
    The Dark
    The Light
    Three Kindreds
    Topeka Interfaith
    Trance
    Two Powers
    World Tree
    Yule

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.