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    When culture and our personal path collide or diverge...

    Our lives are such a lovely crazy patchwork quilt.

    I have the culture I was raised in, the ethnic culture of my family, the religious culture I was raised in and now the religion I practice.

    There are times when they overlap, collide or diverge. How to handle it?

    This year Equinox and Easter were a full month apart, so I found myself doing a double step....repeating some of the things on Easter because that's part of my culture too.

    I guess it's a case of honoring all the various rich aspects of heritage that I have. While certain practices do have a connection to a particular religion, so much has spilled over into the culture that participating in the practice isn't the same as participating in the religion.

    We eat latkes at Hannuka because I grew up in a place that did that, even though I am not Jewish. We give gifts at Christmas even though my faith observes Winter Solstice as a rather quiet reflective holy day.

    I serve a traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner on Christmas eve because it was how I grew up and what we did with my Polish Grandparents.

    I've moved around a lot in my adult hood and have experienced the seasons in very different ways, and have lived in a wide variety of subcultures and places. There is so much variety and richness and I don't want to miss any of it!

    Just wondering how others sort this out, or combine it in their own lives and religions practices.

    #2
    Re: When culture and our personal path collide or diverge...

    My family is divided into two parts. Father's side is more religious. So during Jewish holidays, celebrations and feasts I just keep my mouth shut, and am just present, only out of respect to my father.

    Mother's side is more atheist. They can make almost from everything a reason for celebration - it's an ordinary Ukrainian family. In USSR, poor citizens switched their shoes in order to have a reason to drink 100gr of vodka.
    But when I hear from my mother something like: "Our far relatives (those who aren't very close to us from the biological point of view) are going to come to grandma too..." I try to find a reason to come another time.
    Those "far relatives" a really bothersome. The adults often say things they aren't supposed to (it's just their character) and there is guy like me. The problem is that my grandmother always compares me to him. It's annoying.

    So I just take the civil new year thing, 8th of march(women's day), 23 of February - Defenders of the Fatherland Day and 9th of May - the day of winning the Nazi army from my family's culture and that's it.
    "Fair means that everybody gets what they need. And the only way to get that is to make it happen yourself."



    Since I adore cats, I might write something strange or unusual in my comment.Cats are awesome!!! ^_^

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      #3
      Re: When culture and our personal path collide or diverge...

      I had this issue with Christmas. Both sides of my family are Christian or Christian oriented. For me, this holiday (and Easter) I celebrate as the traditions my family made and the togetherness/love that we had while celebrating.
      Before I figured out my path is Pagan, hubs and I started incorporating other cultural traditions for Christmas (we live in the U.S.) like English Crackers (poppers) and potato pancakes, etc.
      I think it's a great way to celebrate! Culture and family traditions on Christmas and more spiritual observance/celebration on the winter solstice ^_^

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