Paying attention to the season | National Catholic Reporter

Paying attention to the season | National Catholic Reporter by Phyllis Zagano.  MGB: The reason for the season is to build community to fend off the despair of the growing darkness as the days get shorter.  This is why pagan celebrations often involve both libation and the lighting of fires.  The Church co-opted these festivals to celebrate Christ's birth (even though it is estimated to have been April of 6 BCE, which is when the Magi would have sought him.)  Of course, an April birth celebration would have had reincarnation implications occurring just after the resurrection story, so it got moved.  We can still co-opt the pagan feasts using Christ as our light, but we should do that without making the pagan portions, which fulfill deep human needs, wrong.