The Swedish Julbock or Yule goat is an ancient pagan
tradition still celebrated at Christmas in the chilly
Norse land. Photo by Udo Schröter.

As every good culture examiner knows, Christmas has pagan roots.

Amid the modern-day trappings of tinsel, plastic snowmen and competitive Christmas-light decorating, a hearty few still celebrate the traditions of their ancient ancestors, including Yule, a celebration of the sun's rebirth.

"You probably wouldn’t look at us and think, 'That’s a weird person, that’s a pagan,' said Valerie Voigt, 55, a member of the Palo Alto Area Pagan Meetup Group who is helping organize a local Yule event. "But our way of life is based on the cycles of nature rather than on a book."

Christmas comes a few days after the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, before sunlight increasingly fills the day till summer. Pagans hold one of their eight yearly sabbats or gatherings on the date.

Historically, ancient Greeks honored the wine god Dionysos around this time with a "festival of wild women," while Druids held their own mysterious ceremonies in Celtic lands.

Many of today's winter holiday customs stem from those of pre-Christians. For example, the Christmas tree was a Middle Eastern totem enjoyed by Bible-era heathens, while red and green decorations symbolized menstrual blood and the coming growing season.

The burning Yule log of old Europe represented solar fire, while a Nordic midwinter feast called Yule morphed after Christianity into what we now celebrate Dec. 25.

Voigt, a software engineer and technical writer, said the South Bay Circle Yule Celebration will include an enactment of the goddess of the earth giving birth to the sun, as well as a charitable collection. The invitation event is set for 6 p.m. Dec. 21 in Palo Alto; more information can be sought through the San Jose Pagan/Magick Meetup Group. A Bay Area-wide solstice festivity also is under discussion.

The San Jose Meetup group brings together devotees of Asatru, or Old Norse religion; American Indian and Polynesian spirituality; Druidism and other esoteric faiths. The Palo Alto Meetup group welcomes witches, Wiccans and other followers of diverse pagan cosmologies.

Voigt, who belongs to a pagan coven called Waxing Moon Circle, said she came to her creed despite a conservative Christian upbringing in Alabama and Tennessee.

"I had my most meaningful experiences out in the woods," she said. "My father respected Native American lore. He actually said at one point that the Indians had more wisdom than we did about nature."

Before she moved to California in the 1970s, she said it was much harder to locate like-minded souls. A classified ad she saw for a pagan group in St. Louis was one of her earliest glimmers of hope that she was not alone.

"Up until that time, I thought I was probably the only white pagan in the Western World," she said. "It was rather thrilling to learn that there were other people who felt the same calling that I had felt.