Embrace Your Witch Heritage Quiz Embracing one's witch heritage is a path towards self-acceptance and empowerment. Recognizing and embracing the energy and power within us allows us to tap into our true potential. Taking a quiz can be a fun way to explore our connection to the witchcraft world and understand ourselves better. The "Embrace Your Witch Heritage Quiz" is designed to help individuals discover their inherent witchy qualities and embrace them. The quiz consists of a series of questions that delve into various aspects of witchcraft and magical practices. By answering these questions honestly, participants can gain insight into their own unique witch heritage.

We’ve been celebrating pagan holidays a long time

One of humanity’s greatest advantages is our propensity for community — we can accomplish together what no one can pull off alone. It’s not something that happens automatically or even all the time, of course, and we can be fractious. There are, though, two things that tend to bring us together: crises and holidays.

Going back to time immemorial we’ve come together for holidays that celebrate our commitment to one another in the face of both difficulties and achievements. We enjoyed holidays that celebrated shared joy at the completion of common tasks such as harvests, and reaffirmed our resolve to get through, say, a hard winter together.

In Europe many of these ancient celebrations reflected worldviews that were displaced by Christianity spreading across the region after about 200 CE. Christianity largely replaced the focus on the individual experience with the celebration of the life of Christ. Some millennia-old holidays disappeared, as others were co-opted by the Church. And yet, many not completely lost, and their echoes underscore how human understanding changes, evolves, and goes back and forth over time. The big questions remain. Answers come and go.

Stonehenge sunrise. Photo credit: Tony Craddock on Shutterstock

Life in all its messy glory

Ancient holidays tended to depict the experience of everyday people, in some places personified by major and minor deities, animals, or natural phenomenon. While each civilization enjoyed a holiday calendar that reflected its own beliefs, there were certain events that were largely universal: Holidays that marked changes of seasons, represented by different positions of the sun in the sky. Signs whose significance has been understood for a very, very long time.

• Winter solstice: December 20–23
• Vernal equinox: March 19–22
• Summer solstice: June 19–23
• Automnal equinox: September 21–24

O jovem Baco e seus seguidores (“The young Bacchus and his followers”). Painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Spring by any other name

As one would expect, the expression of these events varied from place to place. For example, during what we consider Spring:

• The Persian holiday Nowruz marks the start of the new year with a clearing away of the old at the vernal equinox. It dates back some 3,000 years to the Zoroastrianism religion.

• Also celebrating the new year with the onset of spring were the ancient Mesopotamians, whose 5,000-year-old Akitu festival occurred during the first month of the Babylonian calendar, likewise in the March/April time frame.

• In ancient Greece, March brought with it the dramatic festival of Dionyisa that honored of the Greek god of wine.

• In pre-Christian Rome they had a similar idea, though their god of wine, Bacchus, was a somewhat more colorful, extravagant, fertile — okay, sexual — figure, and the celebrations are believed to have reflected his demeanor

The Triumph Of Christianity Over Paganism. Wow. Painting by Gustave Doré

What’s a pagan?

“Pagan,” from the latin word paganus, originally described followers of a particular, pre-Christian polytheistic religion. Over time, though, its meaning broadened. The Oxford Dictionary awards it two very different meanings. The first reflects its use as a perjorative (see painting above):

“Belonging or relating to a religion that worships many gods, especially one that existed before the main world religions.”

Today, the word often carries less of a sting, and in fact has been adopted proudly by some of the many people who believe that a naturalistic view more accurately represents their view of the world around them. Oxford’s second definition:

“Belonging or relating to a modern religion that includes beliefs and activities that are not from any of the main religions of the world, for example the worship of nature.”

Proud pagans of the 21st century

Modern pagans, in a fitting echo of the original different civilizations from which their holidays have sprung, recognize a diverse range of annual celebrations throughout what they commonly view as the Wheel of the Year.

As always, the seasons rank high in importance among contemporary pagan holidays, and they have ancient-sounding names.

• Yule: The word “Yule” is probably a Germanic version of the Scandinavian winter solstice holiday’s name, Juul. As the world turned the corner toward longer days, pre-Christian Scandinavians paid tribute to Thor (pre-MCU) with the burning of the Juul log.
• Ostara: The vernal equinox is celebrated with a holiday named after Ostara, the Germanic goddess of Spring. (Her name is also the basis for “Easter.”) Ostara was represented by the hare and with eggs, both symbols of fertility. Ring a bell?
• Lithia: The fire festival of Lithia marks the sun’s longest, and thus symbolically, most powerful day of the year. The Celts lit celebratory fires that burned from sunset the night before Lithia until sunset of the holiday. “Lithia” is the Latin name for the June and July months, at least according to an 8th-century monk, Bede, who said so. (We’re unable to confirm this in modern Latin.)
• Mabon: The holiday name “Mabon” goes all the way back to… the 1970s. It’s not an ancient pagan holiday, but a modern one. Mabon was the son of Welsh mythology’s Mordred, who was either the son or brother of King Arthur, he of the Table Round. It’s not clear.

Quarter holidays for modern pagans are typically Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain, a story in and of itself.

How a pagan holiday is reinvented: Christmas

As Christianity took root, some pagan holidays were so popular that they were simply absorbed. The symbolism of an original celebration sometimes survived — as with Easter’s rabbits and eggs — or a new meaning was superimposed over pre-existing festivities. Christmas is a good example.

Christmas has something to do with the birthday of Jesus, though the connection is not as direct as it might seem, and, in fact, may actually not have anything to do with him.

The earliest record of Jesus’ birth puts it at January 6, though it’s not entirely clear why. (The earliest Christians didn’t celebrate his birth.) According to Religion Facts, the January birth was based on his crucifixion date of April 6: It may have been “a calculation based on an assumed date of crucifixion of April 6 coupled with the ancient belief that prophets died on the same day as their conception.”

The festivities had shifted to December 25 by 273 AD, perhaps to take advantage of longstanding, well-attended pagan solstice celebrations. As far as their symbolism goes, the 1922 revision of Sir James George Frazer ‘s The Golden Boughcontains this eye-popper:

“In the Julian calendar the twenty-fifth of December was reckoned the winter solstice, and it was regarded as the Nativity of the Sun, because the day begins to lengthen and the power of the sun to increase from that turning-point of the year. The celebrants retired into certain inner shrines, from which at midnight they issued with a loud cry, “The Virgin has brought forth! The light is waxing!” The Egyptians even represented the new-born sun by the image of an infant which on his birthday, the winter solstice, they brought forth and exhibited to his worshippers.”

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Sound familiar? Eventually, the existing solstice story may have simply been re-written as Jesus’ nativity, his presumed birth date of January 6 being rechristened the Festival of the Epiphany. (Washington Post has a great article about Christmas’ origins.) If the Star of Bethlehem is factual, though, it appears his birthday would have actually been in June or October, depending on the year in which he was born, which experts believe was not 1 AD.

Old stories, good stories

Some things are just obvious if one lives at a latitude where there are seasons. For as long as understanding of what it all means remains elusive, we might as well at least come together to celebrate now and then. That seems to have been the conclusion, anyway, of ancient humankind. It still seems a pretty good plan today.

Does It Matter That Christmas Is Pagan?

By answering these questions honestly, participants can gain insight into their own unique witch heritage. The main purpose of this quiz is to encourage individuals to explore their spiritual side and embrace their natural inclinations towards magic. It seeks to provide a starting point for further exploration and self-discovery.

Information on the pagan origins of Christmas is easy to find. But what is so bad about Christmas coming from paganism? Does it really matter to God?

If you look up “Christmas” in an encyclopedia, you’ll learn some interesting facts about the history of what is probably the world’s most popular holiday.

Here’s the history of Christmas in a nutshell:

Christmas originated from many pre-Christian pagan festivals that were tied to the winter solstice (which occurs in late December). For instance, Mithraism, an ancient Persian religion, celebrated the birthday of its god, Mithra, on Dec. 25. The Romans celebrated two major winter solstice festivals in late December: Brumalia and Saturnalia.

Christmas, as we know it, was formulated over 300 years after Christ’s birth by taking parts of these pagan festivals and reassembling them into a celebration of Jesus’ birth. Late December was selected to appeal to new converts despite there being no evidence that Jesus was born in late December.

But should it matter to you? Does it really matter if Christmas originated in paganism?

What does pagan mean?

Paganism is a word that arose in the early Christian era of history to describe those who practiced polytheism instead of Christianity or Judaism.

It is likely derived from the Latin word paganus, which according to New World Encyclopedia meant “a country dweller or rustic.” It’s similar to the old English word heathen. The word pagan is believed to have come into common usage during the 1400s.

In some translations of the Bible, you will find the words pagan and heathen used for people outside of Israel who worshipped other gods. The original Hebrew words typically mean a stranger or a foreigner.

What is paganism in the Bible?

The Bible shows that paganism was a constant weakness of the Israelites. Nearly every culture Israel encountered worshipped multiple gods.

The pagan gods often had three common characteristics:

1. Nature. They were connected to something in the natural world (such as an animal, a location, a planet or a force of nature like thunder).
2. Imagery. They were worshipped through imagery—typically statues or pictures. This is called idolatry.
3. Culturally ubiquitous. They often had similar counterparts in other cultures. Oftentimes, the concept of a deity in one culture was adopted and modified by another culture.

The first time the Bible directly mentions paganism is in Genesis 31:19, where we read of Rachel stealing her father’s “household idols.”

But it’s indirectly alluded to all the way back in Genesis 10, which describes the rise of Nimrod, the founder of “Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar” (verse 10), the area historians call Mesopotamia or Babylonia.

Nimrod was “a mighty hunter before the LORD” (verse 9). Interestingly, many false gods that derived from Babylon are also portrayed as mighty warriors (such as Baal).

Do God’s strong warnings against pagan worship apply to the pagan customs tied into Christmas? Nimrod’s very name means to rebel. We see the impact of his influence in Genesis 11, when the people he led rebelled against God’s command to spread throughout the earth. Instead, they gathered in Babel and attempted to build “a tower whose top is in the heavens” (verse 4). They were likely building history’s first ziggurat (a terraced pyramid structure).

Nearly every Babylonian city was built around a ziggurat. “Each temple was associated with one or more gods or goddesses, whose cult-statues it housed” (Robin Winks and Susan Mattern-Parkes, The Ancient Mediterranean World, p. 19).

As people spread throughout the earth from Babylon, they took with them some common religious ideas. Those ideas include towerlike structures and idols.

Have you ever noticed that nearly all of the world’s religions include high, towerlike structures? For instance, Egyptian pyramids, Chinese pagodas, Hindu temples, Islamic minarets and Christian steeples. Many of these same religions rely heavily on statues and images to represent their gods.

Despite how those around them worshipped, God prohibited Israel from using carved images in their worship (Exodus 20:3-4). The warnings against idolatry are even found throughout the New Testament (1 Corinthians 10:14; Galatians 5:20).

Why is pagan religion so offensive to God?

Throughout the Bible, God provides many reasons why paganism is so offensive and reprehensible to Him.

1. Paganism diverts worship and attention from the true God.

In His law, God made this point crystal clear: “Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:4).

It is very dangerous to make up gods and myths and attribute what God has done by His power to fictional beings who don’t exist. God wants us to reject anything that diverts attention and worship from Him.

2. Paganism produces useless worship.

Nearly all false gods were worshipped using idols. Craftsmen would create an image of the so-called god, and people would worship that image as a representation of the deity—which, in reality, did not exist.

So the worship of the idol was worthless. The prophet Isaiah recorded, “Those who make an image, all of them are useless, and their precious things shall not profit; they are their own witnesses; they neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed. Who would form a god or mold an image that profits him nothing?” (Isaiah 44:9-10).

Jeremiah 10:2-5 also speaks about the uselessness of idols:

“Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are futile [or useless]; for one cuts a tree from the forest . . . They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good.”

It is interesting how similar Jeremiah’s description is to the modern custom of decorating a Christmas tree. Tree-related worship has a long history, and many secular historical sources connect the Christmas tree with many of these traditions.

3. Paganism causes human beings to embrace foolishness.

In many places, God and His servants mock the foolishness of idolatry. Here’s one of those places:

“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear; nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them” (Psalm 135:15-18).

These verses highlight the foolishness of praying to a god represented by an image. They may be crafted to have all the parts we use to exercise our senses—but they can’t use any of them. This emphasizes the foolishness of trusting in an inanimate object for blessings or protection!

4. Paganism leads to immorality.

Throughout history, pagan worship has led to many forms of blatantly immoral behavior. This includes the most extreme example—child sacrifice. But many other practices have been associated with paganism throughout history, including temple prostitution, debauchery and other forms of human sacrifice.

These are all reasons that explain why God took paganism so seriously. But what does all this have to do with Christmas?

Is God against Christmas?

It’s an established historical fact that Christmas originated from pagan traditions that were reformulated into a holiday claiming to celebrate Jesus’ birth.

The date derives from pagan celebrations connected to the winter solstice; the act of ornamenting trees comes from various pagan customs that involved worshipping trees (which is forbidden in Jeremiah 10); the act of partying and giving gifts comes from the Roman Brumalia and Saturnalia celebrations; the tradition of Santa Claus likely derives from German and Norse mythology; and on top of all that, there is not one hint of a command for its observance in the Bible.

So it comes down to some serious questions:

Does God approve of taking the traditions of nature-worshipping peoples of the past and repackaging them as “Christian”?

Do God’s strong warnings against pagan worship apply to the pagan customs tied into Christmas?

Does God still find the traditions of paganism offensive, or has He changed His mind and softened toward paganism?

Here are three scriptures that can be helpful to consider when analyzing Christmas and its traditions:

• Deuteronomy 12:29-32: “When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.”
• 1 Corinthians 10:21: “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.”
• Ephesians 5:11: “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”

God’s standard is pure worship and belief based on what He has revealed in the Bible—unadulterated by any mixture with pagan religious customs.

So, does it matter that Christmas is pagan?

According to the above scriptures, it absolutely does.

Is Christmas a Pagan Holiday?

When I was growing up in rural Canada, Christmas was all about celebrating the birth of Christ, happy family get-togethers over Christmas meals, and Christmas concerts in our small, rural church. As kids, we would re-enact the Christmas story and I would always mess up my lines or, to my dumb-struck horror, completely forget them.

Yesterday evening, a friend of mine mentioned that more non-religious people show up to Christmas services than at any other time in the year. There they are reminded of the coming of Christ into this world and the purpose behind his coming. Christmas is the last surviving, publicly-acceptable beacon of light in a darkening world, when one can still hear on secular radio stations the occasional song proclaiming strikingly clear messages of the gospel and of Jesus Christ.

Christmas is the last surviving, publicly-acceptable beacon of light in a darkening world, when one can still hear on secular radio stations the occasional song containing strikingly clear messages of the gospel and of Jesus Christ.

It should not surprise us, therefore, if the dark forces in this world are doing everything they can to snuff out this public proclamation of Jesus Christ and why he came. Shifting the focus of Christmas from Jesus to Santa Claus and a spending frenzy of materialism has been remarkably successful.

Yet, many Christians still resist the corruption of Christmas by setting aside materialism and remembering and celebrating the true meaning of Christmas — the birth of the Saviour. So the solution used by those who are anti-Christ is to persuade well-intentioned Christians to join them in extinguishing this final public proclamation of Christ by convincing them that what they have been celebrating is not the birth of Christ after all, but a pagan festival. Despite the avalanche of online articles claiming this, mutually referencing each other, an actual look into ancient sources reveals this to be a modern day urban myth.

I have four thoughts on this strange anti-Christ/Christian alliance devoted to destroying the last publicly acceptable focus on Jesus Christ.

By understanding their witch heritage, individuals can connect with their intuition, harness their inner power, and live a more authentic and fulfilling life. Embracing one's witch heritage goes beyond casting spells or wearing traditional symbols. It is about accepting oneself fully and understanding the potential within. Whether individuals feel a deep connection to nature, possess an intuitive nature, or have an affinity for energy work, this quiz aims to uncover and celebrate those qualities. In a society that often seeks to suppress or dismiss anything outside the conventional, embracing one's witch heritage can be liberating. It allows individuals to believe in their own magic and trust their instincts. By exploring their witch heritage, individuals can find strength, confidence, and a sense of belonging within themselves. Don't be afraid to delve into the world of witchy practices and embrace your inner witch. The "Embrace Your Witch Heritage Quiz" is just a starting point on the journey towards self-discovery and empowerment. By exploring your witch heritage, you can unlock your true potential and start living a more empowered and magical life..

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Embrace Your Witchy Lineage: Explore Your Magical Heritage with This Quiz