Rewilding Christmas/Yule?

Regenerative Culture Spiritual Technology
#1

I know there are mixed feelings about holidays and religion among those in the rewilding community, but personally I find many things from Yule and Christmas are very rewilder friendly. Yule comes to us through the Norse/Vikings. Christmas was from the Christians, but the event itself was very feral, with the stable being a cave, and the first people coming to see him being semi-nomadic shepherds and magi who were magicians/shamans/wise men.

Fellow rewilders, what are your ideas for making Christmas (December 25th to January 5) and Yule (December 20th to Demember 31st) wilder?

#2

I think it would be neat to decorate the tree with handmade / handpainted animals. Also several rows of candles could be placed around the tree and gifts at a secure distance so everything doesn’t get set on fire, stories told for a while, and before gifts are opened everyone could gather round the tree and blow out the candles. Also – gifts could be wrapped in hides. A few ideas.

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#3

Most people these days who call themselves “NeoPagans” are actually Post-pagan Animists and I see them/I participate with them in Yule celebrations. They practice “pagan” traditions but in a more animist kind of way. Pagans were farmers. Here in Portland we have “Krampus Lauf” which is an old European Pagan/Christian tradition of walking down the street dressed as Krampus, a goat-like inversion of St. Nicolas who beats bad children and sometimes takes them away in their giant basket. This was a way of turning the original pagan celebration of the Yule Goat into a demonic creature to convert more people away from paganism. The Yule Goat is a domesticated animal that would be sacrificed, and is a pagan version of the Yule Hunt, in which people go hunting for deer during that time. In future years, I think I’m going to celebrate Yule with a hunt for whatever legal animals for that season. Nutria? The Yule Nutria? Haha. :smiley:

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