Easter, Passover, Assumptions.

My boyfriend is ..by culture of his ancestors, Jewish. He does not follow the religion and was brought up in a non-practising household as well. Once as a teen he dabbled in Christianity but that didn't hold him. His religion..for all intents and purposes..is veganism.
Since his last name is very very Jewish sounding...people assume right off that he must be Jewish. Well yes...in a sense yes. If they asked me his religion..I would not say Jewish....if they asked me his heritage..I would. I've learnt over the years to not refer to him as Jewish. He is not a self-loathing Jew or anything like that...but he does not like to be painted into a religious tradition that he feels nothing for nor is practising. I don' blame him. I hesitate to even playfully say "Happy Passover" because I know I will get a "sigh". I guess he's just had it so much in his life that he gets tired of it. The pressure to be a certain religion and to be expected to know all about it by others can be quite the assumption. He never even had his bar-mitzvah so according to the Jewish faith he would still be considered..at the ripe old age of 45...to be boy..not a man. It is kind of funny to have his goy girlfriend use yiddish terms around him or tell him when certain Jewish holidays are! but again...we don't need stereotypes...we don't need to pidgeon hole people into certain labels just because of their ancestry either. I guess I was just delighted when I first found out what his heritage is because I find it a rich culture and I'm very interested in cultures...but the newness is wearing off (after seven years) and I'm getting over it ...LOL. His family culture is not mine to play with. Sigh. ;) No one likes the pressure to be something they are not. I remember dating a guy and he said to me on the first date "how about you go and get some of your witchy clothes on?"....as if I was supposed to have this vast closet of witchy costumes to wear for him to get a thrill. Okay boyfriend...yes...thinking about it..I can see how that would be very irritating. Sorry.

VPSC

I just added a new button down the right hand side of my blog to join my Victoria Pagan Social Club on yahoogroups. This club is for people in Victoria or who can make the monthly get togethers in Victoria BC...to just have a social time..drinking coffee and discussing things. If you are pagan or pagan friendly...and live or visit the town of Wiccatoria frequently..then please consider joining! No rituals are done in this group. This is purely social. Blessings Ravynwolfe.