Time to Celebrate

Nothing is more difficult than to try to raise kids that are non-Christians in a Christian country. But the worst time for it is around December. If I try to tell people that I have a BIG problem with everybody trying to insert ideology into my kids' head, then I'm exaggerating. If I say nothing, my children get sucked into traditions that are not our own.
Being that I'm talking here about small children, I never imposed a particular system of beliefs in any of them, I basically just gave nudges in the right direction, that is the direction I wanted to guide them to, and this was only every once in a while; but it has been from a couple of years ago to now when I feel like this very laid back way has been compromising my children´s spiritual education and getting them, in the best of cases, confused.
I have always been very receptive to a multi-tradition holiday season, wishing for people´s Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Yule, whatever, or nothing to be a good one, and for that reason I feel terribly invaded when I feel the need to explain and defend my beliefs when we can all learn from each other´s traditions instead of assuming that everybody believes in the crucified God and that the other traditions do not celebrate during the month of December.
As a matter of fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Here there are a few of the holidays celebrated during this, the last month of the year, enjoy.
Mithra, God worshiped by the Zoroastrians (mainly in India, Pakistan and other countries in the Middle East) was born, according to the mythology, on December 25th. Zoroastrism, as a system of beliefs dates from around the 6th century, however, the myth of the birth of Mithra dates from around 600 B.C.
Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights is also celebrated in the month of December. During eight days, or evenings rather, the Jewish communities commemorate the re dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem (second Temple). This holiday begins on the 25th day of Kislev (this could fall any day between the end of November and December in the Gregorian calendar).
Kwanza is a Pa- African holiday celebrated by African communities around the world. The celebration of Kwanzaa begins on December 26th and ends on January 1st. The spirit behind this holiday is to bring unity to the African community and a reminder to them of the good in being from African origin. Messages of hope and family bring togetherness to the communities during this time.
Many other traditions celebrate different Deities on the Winter Solstice, December 21st-22nd, and here are some of them: Baldur (Norse); Ameratasu (Japan); Bona Dea (Roman); Cailleach Bheur (Celtic); Demeter (Greek); Dyonisius (Greek); Frau Holle (Norse); Cernnunos (NeoPagan)
I could make the list enormous, but I think that for the purpose of proving the point that no tradition has the exclusive rights to the month; in fact, the similarities between traditions are great to explore and to realize that we're not that different after all. I'll do the comparisons in future blogs, I promise.