Sunday (Pagan) Bird Blogging

Bosco the peach-faced lovebird loves all things pagan, of nature. (Well, maybe not cats and such.) He told me he thinks all the right-wing hoopla about the "war on Christmas" is misguided and silly, given the holiday's symbolic focus on pagan rituals aimed at countering the darkness of a long winter's night. Festival of Light! Consider: holly, ivy, mistletoe, yule log, the giving of gifts, decorated evergreen tree, magical reindeer, etc.

Above, Bosco seems more interested in the strap that came off the camera than the Xmas tree and wintertime mascots but trust me, he digs the sights and sounds of the holidaze.

Of course, most of the world's religions and ethnicities honor this human tendency to gather around light, fire, food and mythical stories in Fall or Winter by overlaying or combining their own stories with much older tribal or pagan celebrations. Take your pick: Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Christmas, Diwali, Saturnalia, Yule, Lenaea, the Long Night, Bodhi Day, Bacchanalia, Soyal, Shab-e Yaldaa, just plain secular hustle, bustle, gift-giving and feasting. Or, as Bosco does, feel free to intermingle your affection for green rubber extra-terrestrials, Santa and polar bears in one diverse Winter Solstice get-together.

In this last photo, Bosco is singing "Christmas is Coming" to his Noel-mates. It's one of his favorites mostly because it mentions geese, which at least are distant relatives of lovebirds:

Christmas is coming,
The geese are getting fat,
Please put a penny
In the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny,
A ha'penny will do,
If you haven't got a ha'penny,
Then God bless you.

He whispered to me that he's looking forward to kissing under the mistletoe, him being a lovebird and all. You know how they are.