Speaking of belief structures...

[pat]

I have a question for my pagan friends that has been bugging me since early December.

I know that many of the "Christmas" symbols: trees, wreaths, holly, mistletoe, etc. were appropriated from pagans. (Even the date... wasn't it originally the day bulls were sacrificed to Mithras?) There are some Christian sects who reject such things because of their pagan origins.

And my question, asked in all seriousness, sincerity, and with the humble recognition of my own ignorance is... how do pagans feel about this? Do they snicker? Are they offended? Angered? Exasperated? I know that when people appropriate Christian symbology for other uses it makes me at best uncomfortable and at most angry depending upon the nature ot the (mis)use.

And does it depends upon the nature of the pagan belief? I've come to understand that there are many differing varieties of paganism, and I am unfortunately ignorant on the differences between them.

Comments

[kiya]

(For what it's worth, "paganism" is about as broad a category as "monotheism"; it has a number of different faiths within it, a good number of which have denominations.)

I think symbols are symbols, they're out there and appropriating them is fair use. It's a thing humans do. Sometimes a symbol will speak to a particular person, and they will adopt it. They may use it differently than the people who used it originally do, but they are entirely able to make it their own and use it as it has meaning for them. Manipulating symbols and rearranging them is one of the things I think of as fundamentally human.