Why do You Celebrate Your Winter Holiday of Choice?

[thought_on_a_wind]

Boxing day if you're going to give presents wait till the day after this abysmal moneysucking lone fest, and give stuff to people when there are massive clearance sales and no gods be damned religions to muck with.

[David19]

Well, I'm not sure I have any spiritual or religious reasons to celebrate it, I celebrate Christmas more as a cultural holiday really.

[meowmeow]

I guess I'd be called an Agnostic Pagan, I sort of believe a little of everything but I only follow what I learn from firsthand experience.

I celebrate Yule as the ending of winter and the birth of the sun, to me it's about banishing the bad luck of the past year and welcoming new energy into our lives.

[MountainMan391]

Originally Posted by Élistariel

I've seen the threads on how we celebrate, but what I want to know is why you celebrate whatever it is you celebrate.

update: 12/22/09

The answers I'm getting aren't what I meant. I mean WHY in a different way. For example, Christians celebrate Christmas because they believe it is the date of Jesus' birth.
THAT why.

This time of the year gets a little confusing, as I celebrate two holidays at once, lol. I celebrate Christmas, but only because my entire family does, and even then from a strict secular viewpoint. And then, of course, is Jól; which I celebrate because it was celebrated by the Norse, and I'm a Norse recon.

[Levity]

I sorta celabrate christmas but more of the saturnia version. Honestly its just an excuse to get drunk and laid, plus its kinda cool with the christmas tree is like having a dead person put on a stick and decorated in my living room, only its a tree...

[augentier]

i celebrate halloween, thanksgiving, christmas, and new year's eve/day because of tradition and culture in the united states.

if i had no family i would probably only celebrate halloween, my birthday, and new year's eve. halloween for both the spiritual and creative/recreational reasons, and the other two because they're two more reasons to party

[hunter*]

I celebrate the solstice because it grounds me to celebrate real, concrete, things I can feel and see.

I have really severe post trauma symptoms and the traditional American family traditions are a landmine field for me. Every step I take, seems to cause an emotional explosion. Triggers and bad memories everywhere.

Thank God Yule comes first. It's safe and real and connects me to the sun and the earth and makes the dark a special thing. Yule is very special to me. I don't really have words for it. "Grounding" just seems so inadequate to describe what celebrating Yule does for me.

[Eirwen Hartsock]

Christmas, however even though I was raised in a very strong Christian household we have an advent book, starting on Dec. 1st, that explains the symbolism behind many of the common symbols you see during the winter holidays. My mother made the book, so she tried to line things up to specific dates if she could. Dec. 21st was the story of the yule log and Yule. So while my parents didn't know it at the time, they were actually educating me on other religions/paths. I'm very grateful that my parents were firm believers in knowing the symbolism behind things, so they would be the first to tell me if something was not 'originally' Christian. Right now I still celebrate Christmas, and I think I always will; but in the future I plan on adding a proper Yule/Winter Solstice celebration.