Holy Days

I must admit, I'm somewhat of a Bad Heathen when it comes to (religious) holidays. There's this long list of more or less historically based important days in Heathenry, of which various people have different opinions about which are real and which to observe, and I really tend to ignore most of it. I'm usually not aware of them until the usual bloom of posts regarding the given upcoming important day on various forums and LJ communities. Likely because I'm not part of the Heathen community and not a member of a blót group. I celebrate the holidays my family does, and that isn't a whole lot. When we do, though, it's about getting together and having a good time as a family and I can't imagine any better way to spend those days.

I don't celebrate Yule or the Winter Solstice or Christmas. I celebrate Jul and it's on the 24th and it's about good food and catching up with family and just in general having a good time while hoping for snow. We never attend church, either. Easter's about good food and family as well, and midsummer is about bonfires and summernights and Midsommersangen. I'm aware there's something in the start of February but the first thing that comes to mind there is kyndelmisse, even if I don't celebrate that, either, and I can sing Luciasangen as well as any of the girls carrying those candles. For that matter, I likely know the various hymns and songs in the 'official' blue song book better than 95% of the rest of the population. They're not Heathen songs and I'm not Christian, but I still like them and I grew up with them in school. I don't sing nearly as well as I did when I was in a choir but they're beautiful and they're part of my culture and I'm not going to just ignore them in favour of 'Norse songs' set to Christian tunes and a brand new set of holidays that don't speak to me in any way, shape or form.

Besides, it's not like "Marken er mejet" and "Det er i dag et vejr" are Christian in any sense. They're Danish and cheerful and traditional. That's good enough for me.