The Satanic Storytime
I suspect that many of my readers have been awaiting this particular holiday celebration post with excited curiosity. I mean, how on earth will Rebecca handle this? Will kids be sacrificing their stuffed animals? Will they learn to chant in Latin? Will they all learn to proclaim “hail Satan?!”
I have some bad news for y’all: if you are to respect the Church of Satan, then you won’t do a children’s holiday celebration in honor of it.
::whispers:: It’s also why you won’t find truly Satanic picture books.
I’ve gotta say that I totally respect their stance on raising children without indoctrinating them into any sort of belief system. They believe that children should learn as much about life, philosophies, religions, etc. before mature young adults/adults can make a decision that aligns with what they want to believe (and that includes becoming a Satanist).
Sort of takes the wind out of the sails of those who reinforce lies to mold children’s behavior into something they believe is “good.”
::major side eye at Santa and Elf on the Shelf::
I highly recommend that you check out the Church of Satan’s FAQs to educate yourself about this belief system. Fake news has been such a huge topic of discussion lately, and it should be noted that Satanists have had to deal with false accusations and flat-out lies for decades.
All that said, I do want to give you some great resources if you truly would like to hold a storytime that implicitly honors Satanism in order to make sure your programming is truly inclusive.
BIRTHDAY STORYTIMES
Did you know that the greatest holiday for Satanists is each individual’s birthday? Well, there’s a ton of resources for you to have a birthday storytime. (Check out all of the links in the previous sentence).
SELF-ESTEEM STORYTIMES
Raising intelligent children who know and love themselves? A Satanic value. So do some research and put together a fabulous storytime about self esteem. (Yep, there are more links to great self esteem resources in the previous sentence).
I truly hope that this post has made you rethink some things that you may have assumed or believed.
12-6-20
Back when I wrote this post, I really wasn’t sure how it’d be received. I’m still unsure. But I can say that it’s been one of my most popular posts. Not sure if it’s because people are looking for a library resource, or it’s more out of curiosity. Either way, I hope that it has made people really think about their assumptions.
It’s worth noting that there has been the formation and rise of The Satanic Temple (TST). This group is in no way affiliated with The Church of Satan – and they’re really not fans of each other.
The TST’s Mission Statement is as follows:
The Mission Of The Satanic Temple Is To Encourage Benevolence And Empathy, Reject Tyrannical Authority, Advocate Practical Common Sense, Oppose Injustice, And Undertake Noble Pursuits.
TST has a list of holiday celebrations, but the one we’d focus on for this series is Sol Invictus on December 25. This year I don’t have time to create a storytime for Sol Invictus, but I hope to do so in the future.
