Yule is coming- what are your traditions/rituals

And how do you deal with the rest of your family when the celebrate the more "accepted" holidays?

I live with my partner who is very supportive of my spiritual path. He is Christian, my family is Jewish, and I am a witch. We celebrate all the holidays! I don't give gifts on Yule, at least not yet, but I do my own ceremony to commemorate the day.

I do get a little depressed around this time because I never see my holidays represented (I am in Oklahoma). So, I often "Jew" up my home during this time! But that is just me!

I celebrate Yule as my religious holiday, usually with a small group of like-minded friends. We put up a tree and decorate the house for Christmas, but don't put up any Christian decorations, like a creche. The tree has as many pagan themed decorations as I can find - suns, stars, moons, that sort of thing. And I have several cool Father Christmas figures with a pagan feel that I put out as well.

Christmas is the social family holiday. We open presents and visit with family and friends.

We do that with Easter as well. Ostara is the religious holiday and Easter is the family/friend holiday.

Family does a secular christmas, and I join them in that.

I live on my own these days, and am also not affiliated with any particular pagan group or path, but my personal rythms move with the earth's, and I recognize that. For Yule, I do some or all of the following:

A big housecleaning (I like to do this at every solstice/equinox, if I can find the time).

Lots of seasonal music. Just a few from a long list that called me last year: Tull's "Ring Out Solstice Bells," "Spirit of Solstice," "Winter Wonderland," "Silver Bells," "The Holly and the Ivy," Neil Young's "Winterlong," and a bunch of instrumentals.

A tree, if I have one (I don't always want the tree by myself; it depends on the time and energy available) festooned with lights and homemade or custom ornaments. I have a collection of ornaments I've made myself and collected from various artists and traditions that I hang; in the tree and around the house.

I send out holiday cards, usually with a more generic message that includes whatever path someone may be on. Last year's featured a green and gold border of holly leaves and berries, evergreens and snowflakes, and a big antlered deer, with the message, "May you enjoy the beauty of this special season."

Many candles and lamps as part of a celebration of the return of the sun.

Meditation focused on welcoming the light. Sometimes involves chanting and singing. Or dancing, or whatever moves me. Last year, I felt moved to dance and sing. The Beatles "Here Comes The Sun," in particular, as well as a few others.

I've also particpated in local pagan circles, invited by friends when they are doing something "open," or organized by other solitary eclectics. I haven't discussed what they are doing yet this year; I feel called to do a sweat lodge, which is certainly appropriate for Yule, but our local lodge leader sold her home and moved last summer, and we don't have one available for now.

Some years I join some pagan carolers; the town north of me does caroling at business on Main street; the businesses have people caroling, and the people wander up and down mainstreet, stopping in the stores for cider/cocoa and carols, with gift collecting bins out for local charities, and businesses selling stuff at cost to put in the bins, or taking whatever people bring. The store I used to carol with is currently without a storefront, so won't be participating, but we enjoyed presenting pagan carols and joining in this very christian town.

The secular christmas family thing involves food, company, and small gifts.

My boy still lives with his Dad in Pennsylvania...(I am the only one here in WV and I couldn't drag him away from everything and everyone he knew and loved just to be with me, I can deal with the heartache, I didn't think he would fare so well. It is a 300+ mile drive home, so leaving him there was the right thing to do for him, I feel. I gave him the choice, he opted to stay.) He also goes to a Private Christian School, Not that I am complaining about that, he needs the attention that the smaller classes offer-- he has attention issues and gets lost in a sea of kids easily. He knows I call Christmas "yule" and he is ok with that. We celebrate his way, and let his "Zim" (that is what he calls his Half sister.) celebrate too. That way there is no divide between them, there is no playing favorites. When he gets older, I will clue him in. He asks a lot of questions even now, and makes comments like "I don't think Jesus was born in the Winter Mom, The Stars were wrong" I can't blurt out that the dates of his birth and death were changed to make the transition of Pagans to Christianity easier...He is fighting the programming to a degree and I don't want him in more trouble than he needs to be. Now "Zim" on the other hand, is learning both beliefs. She can follow her heart either way.

good to see another WV pagan on here

I'm a former WV'ian

I guess the only reason we haven't moved more toward Yule celebrations is because when I grew up, christmas was NEVER about religion.
Christmas was about family. Decorating the tree with mom (I was an only child), making all kinda of seasonal goodies, seeing ALL my relatives at Grandma's, and gettin a big bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup on christmas day - after having egg nog and donuts in the morning.
My grandparents are catholic, but they never prayed or did ANYTHING remotely spiritual/religious for christmas.
We still all get together at Grandma's for christmas eve, and some of us still come on christmas day. Even my husband's family comes to christmas eve at Grandma's!
To me, whether its christmas or Yule, these are the things that are most important and I really don't understand why we only do it once a year. As long as Grandma is alive and doing christmas, I will happily settle for a non-denominational christmas. In fact, this year will be 23 christmases at Grandma's...there aren't too many more left either :(
I would, however, like to begin Yule traditions with my husband, that way when we have children, we have something to pass to them, even so that we have something to do when grandma is gone. I just don't know where to start.

My husband's family celebrates Christmas... although in a very secular way. So, we join in the celebration -- more of a day of friends and family.

Our religious celebration is on Yule. We read stories and light a Yule log.

Our most 'unique' family tradition are the gold and black boxes. These are small boxes -- one painted gold, one painted black -- where we place slips of paper with either disappointments of the past year or wishes for the year to come. Wishes go into the gold box and disappointments go into the black box. Before lighting the Yule log, we open the boxes... read from the slips of paper... and then burn the pieces.

wishing tree

Its the longest night of the year yet its the rebirth of light. I put evergreens, mistletoe, holly and such around my home along with the smells of esstensial oils. I also smudge my home with sage to rid it of any negative energy. Hanging holly by the doorway is another tradition.
The custom of burning the Yule Log, the Yule-associated tradition that is most familiar to people today, was performed to honor the Great Mother Goddess. The log would be lit on the eve of the solstice, using the remains of the log from the previous year, and would be burned for twelve hours for good luck.
Blessings
~~Celtic

My circle is an hour and a half away, so we make a day of it; plus we squeeze in another full day to exchange gifts and hang with my Clan. Most of the time we also get together before that to do crafts. I go to my sister's house one day to make gift baskets for our neighbors and friends. We visit my sister on Christmas Eve, and we open jolly old Saint Nick's presents Christmas day. I just think of the last month of the year as one big Celebration!

Unfortunately we don't have any family traditions yet; my daughter is only two and my husband's family had no Yule or Christmas. We are working on coming up with a unique tradition from our dissimilar backgrounds; so I'm very glad to hear the varied ways everyone celebrates the season.

2 year sago, it was 9 PM - so we had a family dinner with elaborate darkness/candle lighting ritual
Last year, we only kept the next morning part about eating yellow things (and in the evening we ate black things - mushrooms, chocolate).
The morning after we went on the roof and sang: "You are my Sunshine" and "Oh, Mr Sun""
I'll devise this year soon.
P.S. We also watch "The longest Night" episode of "The big Confy Couch" - best solstice story for kids I've seen so far.

tables, it comes at 12:42 (AM) - universal time. That would convert into 7:42 EST - on the 20th. Have I got it wrong? Can anyone confirm, disprove my calculations?
Also, I forgot to mention 2 trees - the Solstice one, and the wishing tree - for the halcyon days (12 days around the longest night), where we put ribbons in the appropriate color or other symbols for out wishes.
And there's of course the solstice party (bonfire & songs) in the community garden.

This year, it's in the morning!

and see paganism and pagan roots everywhere including Christianity. I love the Solstice symbolism of the tree, fire and rebirth out of the dark of winter. The creche fits in just fine for me. I decorate my home traditionlly with many old religion symbols that are thought to be of our time by folks in general. Christian, Secular, Pagan -- I love Christmas.

The Christians and the Pagans
by Dar Williams
Amber called her uncle, said "We're up here for the holiday,
Jane and I were having Solstice, now we need a place to stay."
And her Christ-loving uncle watched his wife hang Mary on a tree,
He watched his song hang candy canes all made with red dye number three.
He told his niece, "Its Christmas Eve, I know our life is not your style,"
She said, "Christmas is like Solstice, and we miss you and its been awhile,"

So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,
And just before the meal was served, hands were held and prayers were said,
Sending hope for peace on earth to all their gods and goddesses.

The food was great, the tree plugged in, the meal had gone without a hitch,
Till Timmy turned to Amber and said, "Is it try that you're a witch?"
His mom jumped up and said, "The pies are burning," and she hit the kitchen,
And it was Jane who spoke, she said, "Its true, your cousins not a Christian,"
"But we love trees, we love the snow, the friends we have, the world we share,
And you find magic from your God, and we find magic everywhere,"

So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,
And where does magic come from? I think magic's in the learning,
Cause now when Christians sit with Pagans only pumpkin pies are burning.

When Amber tried to do the dishes, her aunt said, "Really, no, don't bother."
Ambers uncle saw how Amber looked like Tim and like her father.
He thought about his brother, how they hadn't spoken in a year,
He thought he'd call him up and say, "Its Christmas and your daughters here."
He thought of fathers, sons and brothers, so his own son tug his sleeve, saying,
"Can I be a Pagan?" Dad said, "Well discuss it when they leave."

So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,
Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways from the old, and
Making sense of history and drawing warmth out of the cold.

from this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=2152597&mesg_id=2152597

We decorate the house with evergreen & red/white lights. Candles, Kris Kringle figures, and a decorated tree. Our tree has a beautiful fairy queen for the top, the decorations are all non-Christian decorations. Every year, we select one of the special decorations you find in Hallmark stores that represents a special event or thing from the year - this year, it will be our new home! We open gifts on Yule, leave the lights on all night & sleep under the tree.

Then my boys go celebrate Christmas with their father, who isn't really Christian, but celebrates Christmas. :)

I visit them over Thanksgiving--makes it better for all involved

and anybody among our family of 4 participates if they wish. We set the diningroom table as an altar and do a modified version of a Wiccan Yule ritual, with everyone taking turns doing the readings. I lead the ritual, as the only pagan/wiccan in the house. After that we have dinner, usually potato pancakes and salad, and I give everyone a gift. We've been doing this so long that it's now an accepted family tradition.

Since we're also Unitarian-Universalists, we usually attend a Christmas eve UU service, go home and have a traditional Estonian Christmas eve dinner (minus the traditional blood sausage). On the 25th we exchange gifts among ourselves, and usually on the 26th or so we visit my husband's father and get together with his extended family.