not a christian, no other religion grabs me! but feel that as a family we need a beoief system and need to have solemn "celebratins" like easter, xmas etc, but wothout the god stuff- does that make sense?

[oops]

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Can you tell I've been thinking about all of this too?

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I like humanists. I know a few and would have had a humanist wedding if we could've afforded it!

I don't think you need to be rigid and I don't think you need gods/goddesses.

Celebrations can be rooted in the world around you whether in significant dates like birthdays and equinoxes or in in seasonal changes. There's loads of good symbolism and tradittions from around the world.

i said id come... but only if you swear no-ones going to be solemn. if anyone ntires any solemn crap im outa there

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Go to bed oops!

Did you remember to call the fish man?

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what the hell are you doing up/here at this time mars? (i know same q applies)

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Right, I have my chick & bunny biscuits ready. Who's got the guitar?

I am an atheist/humanist. I very much feel that we celebrate both easter and christmas and that we have a belief system and values too. I often get irritated by the assumption by many (not you) that if you are not a religious person, you don't have values, beliefs and your children grow up a bit shallow only focusing on eating easter eggs and opening christmas presents. It is often also assumed that many values, like just being kind to others are really christian values, have you noticed?

Easter and Christmas are very important holidays for us. Its not about just eggs and presents (although that too),but mostly about spending extra time with family and friends and my Dh takes the children to help out in a shelter before christmas organised by his work place. I believe its what you make of it. There are lots of organisations who organise things like helping the homeless/ soup kitchens/elderely etc that you and your family could join in with to add a bit of .

Perhaps focusing on others less fortunate will be where you find some extra value in christmas for example? Surely more important than sit and clap in church and listen to the vicar preaching about jesus but not doing more than justn listening and eating a pice of cake afterwards?

This has made me think about my plans for Easter Sunday. I will be spending the morning with DS & my mum (agnostic-ish), then have dinner with my Very Catholic friends. Other guests are muslim, jewish and hindu.

Well they all celebrate the coming of spring (even those that don't admit it)

Stick a bunch of dafs on table and who can complain!

Anarkids, I'm a little bit that you felt you couldn't afford a humanist wedding - hope you had a nice one anyway. I'm a humanist wedding celebrant and we don;t charge that much for what we do...

Well, after Tate Modern yesterday, we walked over to St pauls and sat down with DS to hear the choir singing Good friday ...whatever it was. A service, anyway. DS loved the building, and the singing, and helpfully pointed out the rough hew cross to me ("they believe that that's what it looked like, Mumm!").

Afterwards I explained to him that I don't believe in God (as he knows) or that Jesus was the son of God ("no, Mummy, he was the son of joseph"), BUT that one of the reasons we celebrate christian festivals is that he was a very wise man who said things that help us treat each other as we should etc etc.

I do the same thing over the Hindu gods we encounter in DP's country of origin - focus on the quality of the god in question - and then get on with enjoying the coconut chopping and stuff with fire.

You don't have to believe in the divine to value the message - and i don't think you have to cut all ties with the imagery and ritual, either.

Hi

I'm a Norse Pagan. I follow the Nine Virtues of Asatru/Heathenry to give my life moral structure, and celebrate the main pagan festivals.

See here for 9 Noble Virtues:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Noble_Virtues

See here for Pagan festivals:

www.joellessacredgrove.com/Holidays/sabbats.html

My husband is an Eclectic Occultist. Neither of us want to belong to any organised groups because of the inevitable politicking, in-fighting and loonies. So we have, over the 5 years we've been together, developed little family rituals for each festival. I have my altar with figures of Thor, Odin and Freyr which I decorate, we cook a big feast, give thanks, make plans, remember our dead - whatever the festival is about. It works really well for us and I'm glad that I've got a moral and spiritual aspect to my life to share with DS. Last Yule we did attend a family ritual at a friend's house for the first time which was lovely, but in general I would steer clear of group worship.

ooops, I know what you mean, and I think you just have to make your own "traditions" around it all!