Newsflash folks:  All of the major Holy Days of Christanity comes from Pagan cultures and beliefs.  All the lil family tradations from the old countries that your grandparents passed on......forms of Pagan cultures and beliefs.

Newsflash folks:  Catholics are Christains.  Many of the protstants out there love to think they are the only Christians and that Catholics are just Catholics.  Wake up folks.  Lutherans, Methedist, and the other off shoots such as Baptist are all Christians just like Catholics.  You all believe in Jesus Christ as a Saviour thus you all are CHRISTians.  Even the Islamic folks believe in Jesus but you all get bent out of shape because they put a different prophet a different man in the forfront regardless that you all believe in the SAME God.

Okay now those two newflashes being said, let me give a lil bit of spiritual background on me.  I was born into what Christians call a mixed family.  My mother is Catholic (devout) and my father is prysbiterian (or however you spell it-non practicing).  It was a marriage that caused a lot of trouble for my folks......not my mom's family but my dad's family.  Then they all woke up and said fuck it.  Both of my family's are life long residents of the Omaha and Winnebago Indian reservations.  My mom's family being on the reservation since the town I grew up in was formed.  My dad's family if not living on the reservation has always been close to it thus why the last 2 generations lived on it.  We are white.  Yes folks white ppl can and do live on reservations there is only a total of 4 reservations in the US that do not allow non white folks who do NOT work for the gov't or the schools to live on the reservation.  The rest of the reservations are open to every race and culture out there.

Anyway since both my family's are well known to everyone I was thrown into not only the Omaha and Winnebago cultures but also the Santee Lakota culture, some Ponca (sorry folks the Ponca tribe are transplants in OK their orginal lands are up in Nebraska:D), some Navajo, and various other Indian cultures.  See the Winnebagos have an IHS hospital/clinic on their reservations and my mom worked there when I was a small child as a nurse and will now retire from there since she went back to the hospital when I was in highschool.  Since both my familys are very large you know that we have lost a lot of our culture aspects due to moderinzation and such, but we also have kept a lot and the most important one is FAMILY.  So no matter how much we argue with each other you don't mess with family.  This is largely due to the fact the white folks that settled on the reservations have strong Irish, Scots, Welsh, German, Dutch, and French ancestory.  The Norse and Celtic folks and culture have strong similitaries that of NA Indian cultures.  So even with small legal, family, and racial problems for the most part eveyrone gets along great.  Thus why when someone who loves to argue about how the whites did this or the whites did this I can see their side and I can also see the other side of the Indians are doing this and the Indians are doing that.  That is a different kettle all together.

Anyway the Winnebago Tribe has a Catholic Mission and they are sort of in charge of the Omaha Catholic churchs.......so you not only saw a lot of Masses when I was younger done in Irish, Latin, Swiss, and Dutch.  You also may have had prayers and blessings and such done in Omaha, Winnebago, Lakota and the such.  I made a deal with my mother when I was confirmed that afterwards I didn't have to go unless it was a Holdy day or nobody else would go with her.  Or to make her happy.  My brother jsut didn't like sitting in church but he is a Catholic still much to his wife's horror (the bitch different story) and I even at a young age asked way to many questions that the priests and nuns didn't like and I expected answers.  My mom for being very devout is very much open minded to other ppl's views and she answered my questions.  She is the one that said the Bible is nothing more than a book and it is hypicritical and contridicts itself and yes even though she would love that I would be Catholic as I got older that she would understand if another faith called to me.  It doens't matter what religion you are my mom always says as long as you have Faith.  Faith in yourself, faith in your family, faith in what is right and wrong.  Live a good life and don't just see white and black because there is always two sides of a story.  And that she feels that Jesus is probably looking down on everyone and just shaking his head over all the bigotry and killings done in his name when all he wanted to do was teach and pass on his faith.  My mother also says the same about Mohmand. 

Anyway both my siblings are still Catholics.  My sister is practicing when she isn't working and my brother is non practicing and only goes to make my mom happy when he is home on leave.  I am studying to become a Ban Draoi, a female druid.  My mom has embraced my spirituality and realizes that my opinons will always differ from hers on the lil things but understands that the large issues we are in agreement.  My dad on the other hand is probably the fundi in the family even though he doesn't go to church or reads the bible.  Up until last year he thought I was on the longest "phaze" of my life.  I started looking into other faiths as a teenager after confirmation, tried going to church along with my studying as a 'Pagan" and I end up leaving pist off and wanting to rip the priest's head off.  At 18, I fully embraced the various 'pagan' cultures and beliefs and now I am 29 and have my own kids.

These kdis of mine are in what the Christians call a very mixed family.  A Catholic Raised Practicing Ban Draoi married to a Baptised Lutheran Confirmed Lutheran Mo. Sect non believing Christian who with his Celt and Tetounic blood is finally opening up to things outside of his logical scope of mind.  GASP  I had them blessed in my ways at the Hospital and GASP I had them baptisted Catholic to please my mother.  Down in TX we started sending the kids to what I know as CCD classes to prepare for their first communion in the Catholic Church.  That is as far as negotiation with my mother as I would relent to.  Confirmation of a child is out of the question until they are in the eyes of our ancestors an adult which is at Puberty.  Even when I was confirmed in the Church the decision of confirmation is the full acknowledgement of a child as an adult.  Well in TX they wanted to do the confirmation of these kids at first communion.  That I wasn't about to allow.  These kids were 8 maybe 9 years of age and in my eyes not ready to make the decision to say "yes I want to be apart of any church at such a young age".  I do believe that all kids should be exposed to other religions and I do my best to do this.  I do believe that kids need to learn to pray and I do my best to do this.  But I will be dayumed if the Catholic Church demands my kids to make an adult decision about their spirituality at such a young age.

My mother brought this up to the Mission's head priest and he said to just have me tell them no, communion only.  My mom's new preist is a young man and very nice but the Catholic semenaries produce a wide range of priests from hellfire and dammnation to free loving missionaries like the head preist.  My mom's new priest and I finally had words the Sunday after my granny died.  He was put out that my daughter isn't first communioned.  And I said I wasn't going to let her get confirmed down in the South West of the US when they are to fundementalist like and confirmation is an adult decsion and 8 year olds are not old enough for that decision.  He started going well back in the days baptisim and such were all done at the same time.  I said well back in the old days that might have been the case becuase priests were far and few between the fueding war lords now wasn't it.  And thus why when one of the family's choose the life of God they went back to the family home to lord over everyone in their family's land as the priest.  He had no arguement for that.  And then he goes well it isn't really about becoming an adult in the church and babbled off other things.  So he was very amazed when I went back into the sanctum and grabbed the Book of Gospels and flipped to a passage that is usually spoken about confirmation during confirmation in the Catholic Church.  Where it states in a very clear language that confirmation is about becoming an offical adult in the yes of the Church and thus the Lord God.  I said now I understand that in semenary school that a lot of devout folks drop out after the first year becaues you all are taught the truths that I am speaking of and then you are told what you can and can not preach about thus why only 4 gospels are used in the majority of Christanity so if you would like to continue debating I am more then happy to meet you for coffee down at the store cafe.  But first let me go home and grab my mom's study bible which is the updated modern bible, my mom's marriage bible which was updated before that one and my grandmother's marriage bible which was updated before that one and I will also grab my dad's New King James Bible and you can spout out psalms and passages about why it is or not an adult decision and I can spout out the arguing psalms and passages as to why it is and thus proving why my kids will be predomintally raised in MY Faith and allowed to make their own choices when they are of age.

He shut up.  Mainly because he knew the converstation would get back to the Sisters and the Head preist who have a belief that I am still catholic and I am no different then the NA Indians going to their culture church and the catholic church and that I am more then welcome to continue taking sacrements in the church.  See the new priest loves a fundie catholic way and my personal opinion he isn't going to last to long on the reservatoin where not only the NA Indians but whites, blacks, and hispanics hold on to their family cultures just as dearly as the NA Indians do.  And hellfire and brimestone isn't teh way to win any of us over when keeping family tradations alive is just as important if not more so.

And for those Catholics on mindsay that read that to the Mission Chruch I am able to keep taking sacrements and also partake in my Faith, don't go rolling over and going BLASPHMY!:D  I see that as disrespectful to the Catholics that are devout such as my mother.  I am Ban Draoi.  I do NOT take sacrements but I do go to church with my mother and my kids will eventually receive their 1st communion and nothing more until it is their decision.