Did you know that almost all of the secular populations celebrate holidays with a pagan background? It's true; the early Catholic Church wanted to win over practitioners of the earth religions and figured the best way to do it was simply to take over their holidays. Take for instance Easter, in Christianity; it's the day they celebrate Jesus raising from the dead after three days in the tomb. They got the rebirth part right, it is also the celebration of the goddess Eastre, a fertility goddess, and the coming of spring and the birth of new baby animals (and humans.) The fertility rites that were practiced freaked out the church (look at all those naked, dancing people!) and they used the rebirth of Jesus to interlope.

The pagan calendar is thirteen months long, and New Years Day is actually November 1st, the day after Halloween. Not a holiday of Satan at all (Wicca's don't even believe in Satan) but the last harvest. The final day of October was the last time you could take veggies from your garden before the killer frosts hit, and whatever was left on the ground was a tribute to the earth. Other Wicca celebrations include Brigie (Feb. 2nd, commonly called Ground Hog's Day) which is a festival of lights that was totally taken over by the church, saying instead that a woman who gave birth was unclean for 7 days. (Whatever, the only part they got right was beeswax candles), the equinoxes and solstices, Lammas (August 2nd, the last day of summer and the first harvest) Maben (pagan thanksgiving, falls around autumn equinox), and Beltane.

All of these are earth festivals and are either celebrated to thank the earth for food, or ensure more food the next year, or birth and death. Samhain (pronounced "sow-when") is the traditional rite of the dead, a time to remember our ancestors and speak to them, asking advice for the coming year. This one really freaked out the Christians, so they called it Halloween, and now you can't even celebrate it in the schools.

You can find out all you want to know about holidays with a pagan background by typing "Wicca celebrations" into your search engine. These beautiful and enriching holidays can become a new tradition for your family to share festivities together honoring many wonderful passages.