#why can't a coven genuinely derive power from christian practice if they sincerely believe it; christo-without-the-pagan

[arbitrarygreay]

Witches all over the world respect what Beltane means to us. Even with our boldest enemies in foreign parts, there has always been a cease fire during the holiday. Beltane is sacred.

Sarah Alder, 1x4

I wonder, is there reciprocation for other witch cultures? Does the US military respect what non-pagan witch holidays mean to other witch militaries? Is there a ceasefire during days sacred to other nations?

And how is the sacred-ness of holidays established? Can new holidays be created with sufficient community participation and repetition? Is this an aspect of Hague Canon regulations?

And what of nations where the witches' base religion was never marginalized and is still the country and peoples' mainstream, like in parts of Asia? Which is erased for the Asians in the US military, on top of the former slaves having never reconnected with their African heritage. How do those soldiers feel when deployed and perhaps have to observe ceasefires for enemies sharing their ethnicity having their own holidays?

Not to mention where Islam falls here. In the Middle East, where you have Muslim Hegemony, is pre-Islam Persian culture the equivalent of European pagan witch practice? And if we reaaaaally want to get real thorny, how does Judaism play into this world?

Does the US witch military still respect Freedom of Religion (and if the Independence War happened 50 years earlier so James Madison wasn't a Founding Father, does this US even still have a Bill of Rights), and so allow witches to practice traditions from outside of European pagan culture?

It's still eyebrow-raising that the Marshal set them up to celebrate Yule, and obviously not as a one-off thing, but as something he himself observes, with the same for Adil. Am I to really believe that Native Americans/Tarim Basin didn't have their own winter solstice practice, or are the Marshal's actions proof that cultural authenticity has no bearing on the energies that can be drawn from a holiday? That is, is doing a cultural-mishmash swirl of traditions into a more inclusive sythesis actually more effective, as it increases the community-participation multiplier? Is that "COEXIST" sticker witch military goals?