I missed a few

So I missed a few holidays. I went camping last week with my Girl Scout troop and those kids took a lot of me lol.


I missed more holidays than I thought I would. But the one I really wanted to write about was Imbolc.


Imbolc is also known as St. Brigid's day. It is a Gaelic holiday, widly celebrated by Pagans, Christian's just call it St. Brigid's day. St. Brigid was thought to be the Christianized version of the Goddess, allowing this holiday to go hand in hand between the two rival religions.









This holiday happened to fall on Groundhog's day. Which is fitting because  imbolc traditions show that winter divination happening on this day where people would watch to see if any serpents or badgers would come out from hibernation, indicating winter was nearly over. (personally I like this better than pulling some poor groundhog out of his hole and trying to figure out of theres a shadow.... )




This holiday is generally celebrated on Feb. 1st in the northern hemisphere and August 1st in the southern hemisphere.  however many chose to celebrate it precisely between the winter solstice and the equinox. Celebrations differ widely,  as neopagans choose how they would like to celebrate. Some chose to try to revive old traditions, which have pre-historic roots, so any tradition practiced ever is up for grabs.


The meaning behind this holiday is to celebrate the lengthening of days, the welcoming of spring. Purifying the household and spring cleaning is a major theme as spring is welcomed and enticed.

Conversion of St. Paul

1st: In researching this, I found a Saint for every day. I knew this was a thing but maybe i'll cover some random saints when there's a lot of space between holidays.


St. Paul is a big one, so I can see why this day gets special mention.


Within Catholicism Paul is a big deal. From my understanding he is considered a major player in Christianity according to Catholicism but he has always been secondary in my studies. Now I'm not saying I mastered the bible in church myself, no. But I did learn a lot. I studied the bible academically in church and had a wonderful teacher. We read the New Testament in order that it was written, which is NOT how it appears in the bible. Many books in the New Testament are in fact letters that Paul had written to various societies.


In some faith's Paul is considered a secondary apostle. Why? He never met Jesus before the crucifixion. Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus and Paul who was a known persecutor of Christians was converted into a prominent follower of Jesus. From what I understand of Catholicism Paul stands out from the other apostles BECAUSE he was converted, Jesus chose to appear to him and 'show him the way.'


The conversion of St. Paul is supposed to represent the change in following the law of the land and the law of God. Paul discusses his conversion in several of his letters, which are in fact included as books of the Bible.




I know this may seem a little repetitive and lacking but this is what happens when  you are interrupted about 100 times while trying to type one paragraph.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

After some basic research I learned that this is going to be a difficult project. There is so much information out there. So much culture and history. America is such a young country compared to the world. To research something from on of the oldest religions is mind blowing.

Down to business.

Vasant Panchami is considered to be a rather minor holiday in the scheme of things. It is the beginning of the spring festival cycle, which builds up to the finale, Holi (which I will cover when that time arrives)

This holiday honors Kamadeva  (Hindu god of love) and his wife Rati, along with Vasant (the personification of spring). Modernly this holiday has associated with Maa Sarasvati, the Goddess of learning, wisdom, fine arts and science. She is honored in hopes to attain enlightenment through knowledge to rid themselves of lethargy, sluggishness and ignorance.



This sounds like we all need a little of this after the winter. Some sunlight and spring air always pulls me out of the sluggishness of winter.

Vasant Panchami falls on the 5th day of the bright half of the Indian month of Magh. Vasant means spring, and panchami means spring, therefore this is literally the 5th day of spring. In ancient times Kamadeva was the main honoree of the celebration. There were dancing girls and special clothing was work. They would wear pink and saffron colored saris and they would be embellished with red circles or squares, with silver and gold borders.
Today Kamadeva is still important and the theme of love is still there, and it is a popular day for weddings, much like St. Valentines day. Even so, the celebration revolves more around Sarasvati.


Temples built to honor Sarasvati are filled with food the night before so that the gifts can be enjoyed that morning. Temples, statues and schools are dressed in yellow. Schools have special prayers seeking the blessings of the goddess.
Yellow is considered an important color at this time due to the blooming of the mustard flowers, therefore those celebrating wear yellow, statues of Sarasvati are adorned in yellow and sweet saffron rice and yellow sweets are eaten.

Sometimes this is refered to as the festival of kites because many children fly kites to mark the occasion.


There are 40 days between Vasant Panchami and Holi.  (why is it always 40 days?) This was to represent that 40 days of the penance of Rati performed after her husband was reduced to ashes. During vasant panchami statues of Holika are placed in public areas. During these 40 days offerings of twigs and other flammable objects are made, and they are burned during Holi.


So this sounds kind of like our Memorial Day barbeques. I don't at all want to trivialize this holiday. But Memorial Day is America's beginning of the summer, break out the swimming pool, decorate the house, lets get together and have a cook out day of the year. Combine that with Valentines Day and I think I can understand a bit better. I love how everything in India and surrounding areas is so colorful. The saris are amazing. Even their rice is yellow with saffron. I can't imagine once you add the ornate decorations and the silver and gold along the edging of the sari and it's just above and beyond.



I wish we had seasonal holidays here in the US. The problem is this country, while there is religious freedom, was founded by deists, and is run primarily be Protestant Christians. Christianity through out all things nature to diversify and put distance between them and paganism. Also, it's a little early in the season to be celebrating spring here! I say this as is snowed yesterday lol.

Happy Holidays?

I'm hoping to explore what exactly holidays are. Holiday is a combination of Holy and Day. We as a nation judge holidays by the Christian calendar. We seem offended when someone else wants respect for their holiday. I was going through school when Jewish holidays were added to the school calendar. I completely support it. I also support Muslim Holidays being added to the calendar. Where do you draw the line? Well I wouldn't expect to go to India, primarily a Hindu/Buddhist country and expect days off for Christian holidays. In America, we have this idea that we are this great melting pot. I say idea because I don't think we are melting together, I think we are actually dividing apart right now. I think we are more of a tossed salad. We have little clusters mixed together. And I fear that we are reverting back to the salad bar, picking bits and pieces we like, and excluding others.


I have heard of other counties across the school which have to make the choice to add Islamic holidays to the calendar and others to exclude them completely. Some have made the call to remove Jewish holidays as well, because school is not a place for religion and therefore if it's your religious holiday, you make the choice to stay home and celebrate, catch up later. I honestly feel this is fair, as long as the school acknowledges and excuses the absence. I will admit I take it for granted that winter and spring breaks coincide with Christmas and Easter. Christmas I understand more because it's the end of the year, Christmas and New Years are close together and it's the point in the year where a break is needed. Easter I could care less if the break coincided. I got used to it in college when spring break was always a month before Easter, I DO however feel that this needs break needs to be more in the middle of the semester, rather than in February like my college used to have it. This may change in the future if I have kids, but I don't see it happening.


Now, off to research a few upcoming holidays. Even ones I know, I don't feel like I know.

New Year, New Plans, New Goals

Everyone makes New Years resolutions. Right? I don't. I don't believe in them. Why? Because why put off starting something that you can start today. Everyone waits to get healthy after the new year. Everyone waits to quit smoking until Monday. They miss the deadline. They forget. They aren't committed. I've always been a big believer in tomorrow is a new day, a new start, what makes that different than new years? Oh right... no champagne. No Glitter. Close your eyes, take a deep breathe. do you really want to meet this goal? Awesome. Right now is a new minute and a perfect start. Good thing I didn't wait until next New Year. I would have forgotten my goal.


My BEST friend in the whole world is planning on reading the entire Bible in a year. So me, having a passion for studying religion, have decided to join her. You can follow her thoughts here.  I studied religion in school. I minored in it, I would have added a second major but financial aid ran out. Just as the program was being expanded to be awesome.



This is the version we are reading. I love it because it has a lot of notes which compare what different translations could have intended, what different beliefs feel about different passages AND its written academically, which means it's a study bible for studying the bible. Not influenced like other study bibles which are for teens, moms, Catholics, singles, gardeners. I went to a Christian book store once and there were 3 isles of bibles. And that didn't include the ones in the Spanish isle. Seriously guys... read for yourself. Don't let the notes sway you and brainwash you. Read and interpret for yourself. What does it mean to you, in your life? Not what does it mean to someone trying to make a buck.


I have struggled to define my views on religion. So I would like to take some time to learn about many things. I was raised Christian, by a very large Methodist family. Although my mothers family whom I am close with are involved church members, my fathers family is not religious, and my father is actually anti-religion. He's not an atheist. My sister is though. He is just not a spiritual man.


I however firmly believe in all religions. I know that doesn't make sense to some people. It's not a salad bar. I don't pick a little of this from that religion and a little of that from that religion. I think it comes down to language. I think as we spread across the world and our languages changed, our words and meanings changed. Like a giant game of telephone that spans the entire globe. I think we just used different ways of expressing the same thing.