I have got to ask, why is Lunar New Year not an important holiday for western Pagans?
For Eastern pagans, it is a huge event, lasting from a few days, up to a month. They have the festival of lights, they were new clothes for the new year, they visit temples and clean up and give money to their children and grandchildren in lucky red envelopes.
An important symbol of paganism is the moon and it's 13 Lunar months. The lunar calendar was the calendar used widely by our ancestors, before the Roman occupation and Christian invasion, and is still used widely in the Asian world (in conjuction with the "western" calendar.) So, why isn't the conclusion of the 13th month a time of festivity?
Imbolc/Candlemas/Brigid's Day/Feast of Torches, is the holiday that is around the same time as the Lunar New Year. Did this holiday, centered around fire and ewe's milking, displace the Lunar New Year? Why was it deemed so unimportant? I know that some people think of Samhain/Holloween/Hollomas as the new year for pagans, but it was only for the celts(and other closely related tribes), not for the other pagans. Wicca sprang from the old Celtic pagan religion, along with some other pagan ideas. Wicca is the most recognized pagan religion in the west and as such, their Celtic ideas have become the most widespread and accepted pagan practices (you would think it would be the Hellenists, but sadly people seem to dismiss them as followers of a myth (which should be a blasphemy, as I worship some of the Greek gods and find it offensive when people talk about them as if they are nothing but dusty old myths and are not still "living" and being worshipped today.))
For Eastern pagans, it is a huge event, lasting from a few days, up to a month. They have the festival of lights, they were new clothes for the new year, they visit temples and clean up and give money to their children and grandchildren in lucky red envelopes.
An important symbol of paganism is the moon and it's 13 Lunar months. The lunar calendar was the calendar used widely by our ancestors, before the Roman occupation and Christian invasion, and is still used widely in the Asian world (in conjuction with the "western" calendar.) So, why isn't the conclusion of the 13th month a time of festivity?
Imbolc/Candlemas/Brigid's Day/Feast of Torches, is the holiday that is around the same time as the Lunar New Year. Did this holiday, centered around fire and ewe's milking, displace the Lunar New Year? Why was it deemed so unimportant? I know that some people think of Samhain/Holloween/Hollomas as the new year for pagans, but it was only for the celts(and other closely related tribes), not for the other pagans. Wicca sprang from the old Celtic pagan religion, along with some other pagan ideas. Wicca is the most recognized pagan religion in the west and as such, their Celtic ideas have become the most widespread and accepted pagan practices (you would think it would be the Hellenists, but sadly people seem to dismiss them as followers of a myth (which should be a blasphemy, as I worship some of the Greek gods and find it offensive when people talk about them as if they are nothing but dusty old myths and are not still "living" and being worshipped today.))
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