12 days of gifts with love for you

Many people believe advent to be the preparation for the birth of Jesus. In reality, however, the whole notion of Christmas was simply an aggressive rebranding of pagan holidays by a very enterprising Pope Julius 1, who declared in the 4th century that “December 25th, Christ born in Bethlehem, Judea,” even though the Bible says nothing of the sort. 

Long before Christianity, Pagan communities set aside weeks before the winter solstice to honor the coming of the “light,” the return of the Sun, where days started getting longer. Whether you were a Celtic kicking off the 12-day pagan festival of Yule or a Roman celebrating Saturnalia, quiet reflection ended with a feast, candles, gift-giving, decorating houses, and singing.

We’d like to invite you to return to the pagan roots of this holiday season by resisting the busyness that often accompanies it and instead rediscovering your connections with the rhythms of the natural world. Embrace the darkness central to the pagan sense of midwinter rooted in the stillness of the natural world during this time, knowing that the sun will soon resume its journey, bringing light and the renewal of life.

We’ll mark these days with our advent calendar, reflecting on and celebrating the artists and communities working with us this year and giving you a little gift. Between now and the end of year, twelve-days-of-Christmas-style, we'll feature an existing badge artist/partner on Twitter and Instagram (@earlymajority on both) along with a unique code that allows you to get that badge free with any purchase.  We'll also update our advent calendar every day in the 12 days before Christmas.