The Pleasure Faith

One of the challenges in talking about Paganism with my mother is language. Wicca is only just starting to catch on in Spain, the Caribbean, and South America and witchcraft still carries tremendous negative baggage in the much of Spanish-speaking world. My mom knows that I'm "into witchcraft" and that I belong to some sort of group (my coven), but the ceremonialism of Wicca would probably freak her out so I have to take a different approach.

When the Christian holidays like Easter and Christmas roll around, my mother always questions their symbols. What does a tree have to do with the birth of Jesus? What do rabbits and eggs have to do with Easter? This is the perfect opportunity for dialogue with her and she's always quite satisfied with our chats and the explanations I've given her. Then she proceeds to string lights on the tree or to fill plastic eggs with chocolates for the grandchildren.

The Chronicle Herald (Halifax, Nova Scotia) has a religious piece pondering the significance of religious symbols. Pagans know that many Christian symbols are actually ancient pagan symbols, but we're no longer the only ones that know it. It's become almost mainstream to tout the pagan roots of Christian holidays and symbolism.

For example, the six-pointed star and the hexagram from which it is derived are shared by Judaism, Hinduism, Wicca and likely more. Various forms of crosses date back to earliest pagan rituals, long before Jesus was crucified on one. Circular shapes, found in ancient graves and believed to represent the cycle of life, sun and seasons, turn up today as wreaths or other emblems.

I wonder then why Christians, so many of which express the desire to reject all things pagan, continue to use such symbols knowing they're pagan in origin and have been appropriated. Like the author, I think that humans can, and do, find spiritual significance everywhere; we certainly don't have a trademark on the Yule tree or Eostre's hares. More importantly, however, I think Christians maintain those symbols because they make sense. It's Christianity that doesn't.

If all the holy books of the world were destroyed and the laws and prayers forgotten, we would have only paganism, that which is inherent and evidenced by the natural world around us. We are born pagan and must be taught not to be. Despite that so many people are taught to be something else, instructed in commandments, imparted with shame and guilt, something that lies within the deepest recesses of the subconscious mind, or perhaps the soul, says decorate an evergreen, color eggs, and dance around a maypole. They use the symbols because they're supposed to.