This year will be a quiet year for me during the holidays. Normally I would be traveling to one of my many relatives’ homes for Christmas and/or New Years, but not this year. There won’t be any parties to attend, no Japanese New Years feasts, and certainly no surprise Christmas trips (I managed to get my mom to jump about a foot in the air when I surprised her last year).
It’ll be just me and my dad...and my cat.
This isn’t the first time I’ll be spending at least part of the holidays alone. I’ve woken up on Christmas morning without any presents to open - granted I flew a few hundred miles and opened presents a few days later - but I still felt a little depressed because there was no one with me. That year, I didn’t even bother putting up a tree.
But as I stated before, it wasn’t the first time celebrating a holiday all by myself. And I technically won’t be alone this year - unlike a lot of people who will be separated from their friends and family.
How celebrations have changed have been all over social media. This one guy posted about celebrating his first Christmas ever (he said he’s Muslim) and how his roommates were including him in every “mandatory” activity - I feel a little bad for this guy because his roommates seem positively Christmas crazy. While one of my friends posted about celebrating Kwanza. My friend mentioned feeling a little odd celebrating by herself, which I totally understand.
A few years ago, I began celebrating the witch/Wiccan sabbats (basically holidays). Since I wasn’t part of a coven and was a little self conscious about my practices, I didn’t have anyone to celebrate these holidays with. And these holidays are meant to be shared with friends with all the food I end up making.
I’m a solo witch. And a lot of people who I talked to regarding my shift in spiritual practices had a lot of misconceptions about my beliefs. (A side note: I’ve mentioned how I’m a Christian in previous blog posts. I’m still a Christian, but also a practicing witch. Believe it or not the two don’t have to conflict with each other. I am not a Wiccan, but there is some crossover with how witches practice.)
To understand how best to celebrate the witch/Wiccan holidays, I had to do a lot of research. Once I had more information than I knew what to do with, I began to figure out which parts of the celebrations made sense for me. There were a lot of little things I could do to celebrate like taking a walk in nature, baking or cooking food with herbs and spices symbolic of the season, and meditating.
I’m still adjusting my celebrating and practices. This year was the first time I made soul cakes for Samhain as an offering to the dead who were visiting and shared some with my dad (who absolutely loved them and was disappointed when I said I wouldn’t make more until the next year.). My dad sort of rolls his eyes at my witch practices, but he seems to like the food I make for the sabbats.
Tomorrow is Yule.
I plan on building a fire in the fireplace. I’ll toss in some holly to burn up my woes from 2020 and burn bay leaves with wishes for 2021. I’ll have a feast of root veggies and heavy meat stew in honor of the food that’s readily available at this time of year. Hot wassail will warm my insides. Pine and Frankincense incense will purify my home. Green, white, and gold candles will be lit since it’s the longest night. Oranges will be stuck with cloves to welcome back the sun. And I might try to do some star gazing.
Oh and I’ll make cookies.
Each activity I plan to do has been researched and has meaning. A couple of things were borrowed from my Christian roots (the oranges and the cloves for example), but flow well with my intentions for the celebration.
Because what matters most in how I practice witchcraft is the intension. It’s a practice of mindfulness and living in harmony with nature.
I walked a little with my friend about how she plans on celebrating Kwanza. She plans on doing some research and doing a few of the holiday’s rituals. It might not be a lot, but she’s excited to explore this side of her heritage.
A lot of people will probably be celebrating a holiday or five alone this year. Some might be putting in all their free time into it and have a “magazine ready apartment” to post on Instagram. Others might be planning on marathoning Star Wars and that’s it.
However you plan on celebrating the last two weeks of the year, I hope it’s wonderful.
And if you have the opportunity, toss a sprig of holly into a roaring fire to burn the woes of 2020 away.
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Until next week.
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