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non-Christians and Christmas

L

lilFajita

Golden Member
So, the whole time I grew up, we celebrated Christmas (meaning gifts, tree, lights...not mass), but I just told my parents this year that we don't really need to celelbrate anymore, since both my brother and I are in our twenties, and especially since we are not Christian in the first place. Now, though I am kind of regretting it, as I hear everyone get excited about exchanging gifts and having a tree and all. It really is fun to get into the Holiday season.

My question is, how many of you non-Christians celebrated Christmas growing up in America, and what you think of that...Do you think that non Christians should elebrate the holiday?

I personally think its fun to celebrate when there are kids around, and we probably will do something once my brother has kids. But for now, it seems kind of weird to be Hindu and going all out. However, I do wish that we took another Holiday, like Diwali, and celebrated it full out, making it our "Christmas"

What do you guys think?
 
Christmas has been so commercialized that it's actual meaning is a mystery to many people celebrating it anyway. I don't see why, in this day's society, non-Christians should have a problem celebrating it.
 
I know of some non-Christians that celebrate Christmas as a time for family, friends and for giving. They don't celebrate Jesus' birth, obviously, but nor do they exploit Santa...they just use it as a time to celebrate being together as a family!

Interesting concept really...
 
Originally posted by: hdeck
Christmas has been so commercialized that it's actual meaning is a mystery to many people celebrating it anyway. I don't see why, in this day's society, non-Christians should have a problem celebrating it.
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Add to that the fact that the Christmas holiday and a lot of it's trimmings were simply co-opted by Christians, anyway. Apart from the commemoration of the birth of Jesus, there is the "other" Christmas spirit that is about family and giving and sharing and just generally doing all that warm fuzzy stuff, and I think that spans any religion you may have or not have.

Go have fun.
 
Bahh all this Christams talk..... someone please stop it. I'm like Mr. Scrooge this time of year.

A Scrooge that just got a really bad enema...... 🙁
 
My family isn't religious at all, but we celebrate christmas. I think it's more for the fact that you don't want your kids to feel left out when they are younger, like everyone else getting presents and they are not.

I guess we look at it as more of a holiday than the birth of christ.
 
I think I agree with you guys about the non-secular nature of the holiday- I love to get into it, and I imagine it is the same excitment that buzzes in India around Diwali.

I guess that, after you grow up, and you really start to understand the underlying purpose of the holiday, you feel a little goofy making a HUGE deal out of it. I think we still will go out and see the lights, and bake cookies and what not (I'm looking in TallGeese's thread for ideas now)....but perhaps not sit around a tree and open dozens of presents. I'm torn.

I guess I just wonder, though, if there is anyone out there who never celebrated it at all, and if it was weird growing up when the spirit of the season, so to speak, was swirling around you...
 
we celebrated it although I have never been to church a day in my life. It would be odd not too since everyone else does when you are growing up. I'm sure all the kids whos families don't celebrate it get jealous of the kids who do and get a bunch of toys.

On another note, big business loves christmas of course, without it 4th quarter sales wouldn't be so special. A lot of people buy crap that they can't use or gifts that end up in someone's closet. I don't really like holidays because I don't feel as if I should be told when I should be with my family and exchange crap with them. I think people should start thinking twice before they go out and rack up a bunch of credit card debt over it, which a lot of people do.

Tim
 
Originally posted by: MrsSkoorb
I know of some non-Christians that celebrate Christmas as a time for family, friends and for giving. They don't celebrate Jesus' birth, obviously, but nor do they exploit Santa...they just use it as a time to celebrate being together as a family!

Interesting concept really...
Click to expand...
My parents are Protestant and Catholic, respectively, but we always celebrated in a non-religious manner. Christmas was always about, and will always be about, a time where people get together and attempt to celebrate the best in each other; though there is a certain commercial aspect to it, it's not just about that either. It's really just an excuse for friends and family to get together and recognize how much we mean to each other. Sniff. 🙂

Rob
 
Originally posted by: Praetor
Originally posted by: ElFenix
red china celebrates it, so why not?
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In Russia, Christmas celebrates you! 😀
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It's Soviet Russia, and don't get this perfectly valid thread locked. :|

I agree with the general "just celebrate non-religiously" sentiment going around here. My family is Christian/Catholic mix, so I'm kinda the black sheep for being agnostic. But at Christmastime, no one cares. They're just happy to have the family together and everyone cheerful, and the warm fuzzies, etc etc ... 😛

- M4H
 
First you must remember that celebration on December 25 doesn't have roots in Christianity (Christmas was created in an attempt to convert members of other religions to Christianity)

I personsally don't like the holiday and would rather not participate, but I know many who celebrate it as a time for family and friends to come together, not as a religious holiday.
 
Originally posted by: brunswickite
Christmas is a time were all religions come together and worship jesus christ
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LOL especially the wiccans, shinto priests and buddhists?

This is what my family does:

I know of some non-Christians that celebrate Christmas as a time for family, friends and for giving. They don't celebrate Jesus' birth, obviously, but nor do they exploit Santa...they just use it as a time to celebrate being together as a family!
Click to expand...

We're agnostics (not atheists), though my parents are ex-hippies and dabbled in New Age mysticism. For us Xmas is secular: Rudolph and Grinch and Santa not Christianity.
 
My communist parents never gave us anything than a swift kick in the ass and a lecture to save our money.

I am now an active member of the Church of Later Day Sunday Sleepers, and I worship every Sunday from 7AM to noon as well as on Easter, Christmas, Good Friday, Haunakah, Chinese New Year, Tet, Ramadan, Ash Wednesday, Christmas, Seder, Passover, and Rosh Hashana.

-PAB
 
Christmas is not exactly a religious holiday any ways. Yomicron mentioned that it was created to convert people into Christianity, although I never heard of that one before. There were also plenty of studies done which show that the birthdate of Jesus was NOT December 25th.

I really don't care since I see it as a nice get-together celebration between family members and close friends. It does not necessarily have to involve hunge expenses, but it does not hurt to buy a little gift to people you love and care about.

If we continue on with this stuff on how we shouldn't do anything Christianity-related because many of us are not Christians, we might as well not have 7-day weeks either. And change a whole set of the English vocabulary to get rid of Christian meanings.

BTW, in Canadian schools at least, you are entitled to some priveleges (i.e. reschedule your exam dates) if you need to celebrate your religious holiday. I don't know about what most company policies are like, but I wouldn't be surprised if one can ask his or her boss to take a day off for the holiday.

It really is not a big deal, really.
 
Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Originally posted by: brunswickite
Christmas is a time were all religions come together and worship jesus christ
Click to expand...
LOL especially the wiccans, shinto priests and buddhists?
Click to expand...

haha. That reminds me.

In South Korea, Christmas and the Buddhist holiday are both nationally celebrated. The Buddhist one was not officially recognized until much later on, though, because the first South Korean president was a Christian. 🙂
 
I celebrate Xmas as sort of a mid winter holiday,it's the halfway mark between new year's and my birthday.I love all the lights,gifts and parties. I also love having a chance to be nice to people🙂
 
Originally posted by: Geekbabe
I celebrate Xmas as sort of a mid winter holiday,it's the halfway mark between new year's and my birthday.I love all the lights,gifts and parties. I also love having a chance to be nice to people🙂
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Exactly. 🙂

It is also a day when kids get all excited about the presents, the cookies and the dinner. In the case of our family, we play Mario Kart and Mario Party through midnight. 😀
 
Let's see... The Christmas tree with lights is a pagan symbol, Santa Claus is a rip-off of a Catholic Saint, as it is often bloody cold at night this time of year in Israel there would be no way shepherds would be lying outside, so Jesus probably wasn't even born in the Winter (was just convenient to give northern pagans a reason to become Christian while not having to totally do away with the lightfest), most people do not go to church around Christmas either...

What's the problem? 99% of Christmas has nothing to do with Christianity in the first place, if you want to just give eachother presents and dine together it's as good a time as any other, but as it's become a habit to celebrate it on that day people just prefer to do it on Christmas day than for the whole family to have to take a day off and not be able to get the cheap stuff you can usually find around Christmas.

If you celebrate it for a religious reason you do not need to give eachother gifts and dine extensively, especially not if you believe Christ was born on that day (They couldn't stay at the inn, so I doubt they had an extensive dinner, if they had one at all)
 
lilFajita,
I, as well as pretty much all my Hindu friends celebrate Christmas with a tree, lights etc., but don't do too much for Diwali. A main difference tho' is that, on Diwali, we do prayers, but we don't for Christmas.

It hasn't bothered me too much tho', since the holidays are just so commercialized that one can't help but get sucked into the spirit (tho' I am feeling a lot more 'bah humbug' this year, but that's a diff't story).
 
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