HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE PAGAN XMASAs shoppers crowd into malls and big boxes Black Friday to jump start the holiday celebration, some Ithacans are more intent on taking the Christ out of Christmas.
DeeDee Swanfeather, self-styled head of Ithaca's pagan community, doesn't want us to forget that the Puritans systematically banned the celebration of Christmas. In point of fact, 1644 was the year that the English Parliament actually outlawed the holiday, declaring the ritual consumption of plum pudding a heathen practice.
"The holiday predates Christianity," DeeDee scolds, "It's part of much old belief system that commemorates among other things the coming of the winter solstice. Leave it to those damn Christians to co-opt everything. It's not nice to turn your back on Mother Nature."
And DeeDee, as she delivered this rant, had no intention of turning her back on Mutter Erde, as she and a group of fellow pagans huddled in the cold woods around a giant pentagram etched out of the first light snowfall of the season, chanting away, exhaling clouds of frosty breath. Maybe were they welcoming the new Sun Child, or was this coven of modern heathen collectively thinking about having a warm latte at the mall and the cruising bargains at Target? A caravan of late model Saabs and Volvo wagons was waiting near the road to whisk the worshippers away to those more civilized pursuits.
Later at Juna's, a name which DeeDee reminded us is a feminized form of Juno, Queen of the Gods, she explained how the solstice was all about burning the oaken yule log in a sacred fire, celebrating peace and the dawn of planetary consciousness, not to mention recognizing all the manifestations of the great goddess. DeeDee was coming across more and more all the time like a pagan Martha Stewart. That suspicion was confirmed when she pulled out of her moon shaped knit bag a copy of her latest book which she delighted in mentioning had dozens of recipes for yummie pagan treats like chocolate cinnamon pentacles, and great ideas for decorating like a modern goddess.
"You can buy it at the Bookery or order it through Amazon," DeeDee chirped. A glint in the corner of one eye suggested that the price of not buying her book might be a trip down Buffalo St. without brakes.
Seems like it always comes down to the ole' cash nexus and the hard sell whether you put the Christ in or take it out, ain't that the truth?
Comments invited at: ezrakidder@gmail.com - Peace, Ezra at 1:04 AM
