NationStates Jolt Archive

how do you see/spend christmas? i feel as though it has lost its christian origin (cellibrating the birth of christ), and is just a time for a family get together. what is your thoughts?

Thinking about the seperation of church and state.

how do you see/spend christmas? i feel as though it has lost its christian origin (cellibrating the birth of christ), and is just a time for a family get together. what is your thoughts?

Christmas, the secular american holiday, is a secular holiday. Christans still celebrate it, but the secular mainstream has stolen our holiday.

As for me, I'll spend it doing church stuff and with family both. As to "putting Christ back into Christmas", I don't see that he was really there initially, so while maybe he was stuck in sometime in the middle for a while, I don't see the great loss. Let the unwashed masses commandeer the holiday. They won't do it to Easter.

we really dont have a strong secular/christian christmas devide here in AU. i guess for us we just let people be. the who Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays thing is a non-issue. there are those that would be going to church, but it is more of a family/friends day

how do you see/spend christmas?
Not at all. It's summer here, and that pretty much kills every Christmassy feeling I could've had.

i feel as though it has lost its christian origin (cellibrating the birth of christ)...
Actually, it's the day the Pagans celebrated the days getting longer again - it was just easier to convert them if they got to keep their holidays.

...and is just a time for a family get together. what is your thoughts?
That spending time with one's family is a very Christian thing to do and perfectly suffices.
If you want to go to Church...then do!!! Why do you care what other people think of Christmas?

Why does religion always have to be a public thing?

Not at all. It's summer here, and that pretty much kills every Christmassy feeling I could've had.
i grew up here in AU, so i am used to scortching christmases

Actually, it's the day the Pagans celebrated the days getting longer again - it was just easier to convert them if they got to keep their holidays.
i already had knowledge of that, i just was using the christian origins to make it contemperary, so to speak, not the pagan origins


That spending time with one's family is a very Christian thing to do and perfectly suffices.
If you want to go to Church...then do!!! Why do you care what other people think of Christmas?

Why does religion always have to be a public thing?
i was just interested, thats all. and i wasnt really looking at it from the religious angle, just what people do

I celebrate it in a secular way, just getting together with my family, exchanging gifts, and just enjoying the day together.

And, what Christian origins? Many scholars believe that Christ was born either in the spring or summer. So, date may be inaccurate. Second, the Winter Solstice and other celebrations, like Saturnalia in Rome, were celebrated many hundreds, if not thousands of years before Christians came along. The Christmas tree is not Christian. Santa Claus is arguably not Christian. Hell, even some Christian groups did not recognize Christmas, like the Puritans, who banned it because of its Pagan origins.

Now, what I will end with is this:
It does not matter how you celebrate Christmas. What matters is that you are together with family, sharing special moments together, and just having a good time. So, on that note, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Season's Greetings, everybody!:)

Not at all. It's summer here, and that pretty much kills every Christmassy feeling I could've had.


Actually, it's the day the Pagans celebrated the days getting longer again - it was just easier to convert them if they got to keep their holidays.


That spending time with one's family is a very Christian thing to do and perfectly suffices.
If you want to go to Church...then do!!! Why do you care what other people think of Christmas?

Why does religion always have to be a public thing?

Because religion is the opium of the masses. After all, what luck for rulers that men do not think.

And, what Christian origins? Many scholars believe that Christ was born either in the spring or summer. So, date may be inaccurate. Second, the Winter Solstice and other celebrations, like Saturnalia in Rome, were celebrated many hundreds, if not thousands of years before Christians came along. The Christmas tree is not Christian. Santa Claus is arguably not Christian. Hell, even some Christian groups did not recognize Christmas, like the Puritans, who banned it because of its Pagan origins.

okay, i will explain. when i say christian origins, i mean how the christians started out celebrating it, post takeover. i acknowledge that this, along with others, were replacements for pagan celebrations.

Being your basic, garden variety agnostic, who happens to love celebrations of any kind, I'm putting up a tree and decorations, giving and receiving presents, eating until comatose, singing whatever songs there are to sing and generally enjoying the season. Why should religious people have all the fun?

we really dont have a strong secular/christian christmas devide here in AU. i guess for us we just let people be. the who Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays thing is a non-issue. there are those that would be going to church, but it is more of a family/friends day
It really is a non-issue here, too. Just some folk started some bullshit and some other idiots bought into it.

okay, i will explain. when i say christian origins, i mean how the christians started out celebrating it, post takeover. i acknowledge that this, along with others, were replacements for pagan celebrations.
They weren't 'replacements' for pagan celebrations, they kept the celebrations and gave them a new designation that was acceptable to the church. They arbitrarily assigned the birth of christ to a celebration that they couldn't get rid of. The church figured "if we can't beat 'em, join 'em".




Face it, Christians jacked a holiday.

And now some of them have the nerve to get all uppity and try to tell others how to celebrate it.


And for the record, I got to pull a shift at the hospital on Xmas. No celebrating for me, pagan or christian

Having a wonderful roast venison dinner while watching a movie called "Panty Clause":p :D

And for the record, I got to pull a shift at the hospital on Xmas. No celebrating for me, pagan or christian
dang, mate, that sucks. feel sorry for ya, having to deal with kids who've broken their arms after getting skateboards and stuff

I'm going to be at church on Sunday, but its actually going to be a much shorter meeting then normal. We don't have mass, or anything like that. Just people talking about Christmas, and the signing of Christmas hymns. I hope they are the upbeat, joyful ones. Once, I had to sit through a Christmas program thirty minutes long. Every single hymn they sang was outrageously somber. I honestly felt depressed by the end, and this was right after finals and there was even snow and such coming down nicely outside. The point of Christmastime is to be happy, for goodness sake. Secularists and religionists can at least agree on this point, usually :rolleyes:

I'd consider my Christmas more a small family gathering, though, as opposed to a church-centered deal. My parents never like to get together with relatives, especially at holiday time. We were quite happy living in Georgia when every last one of our relations lived in the mountain West and we never were obligated to visit them. Christmastime, to me this year, honestly means Civilization 4 and a few other games. And a new ping-pong table (and someone in this state who can actually play the game, hopefully - if I meet another kid who does nothing but basketball I am going to cry). And all that results in happiness. Christmastime, to me, means nothing more then happiness however we find it.

I tend to view the 21st as my 'xmas' ... as it were. As for Xmas day itself? Well, that's usualy a day for hangovers, seeing friends, and being social.

As a Pagan, I will be celebrating the Winter Solistice and working on Xmas so that my more Christian co-workers can be with their families.

Christmas, the secular american holiday, is a secular holiday. Christans still celebrate it, but the secular mainstream has stolen our holiday.No. You took our Winter Solistice , ripped it apart, sewed back together, and called it your holiday.
Seriously, it exist everywhere in the world. It's not Christian.

As a Pagan, I will be celebrating the Winter Solistice and working on Xmas so that my more Christian co-workers can be with their families.

Yep! That's what I did last year..... and at double pay ;)

As a Pagan, I will be celebrating the Winter Solistice and working on Xmas so that my more Christian co-workers can be with their families.

cool, I'm Pagan too, but as a teenage non- working closet Pagan, I celebrate Yuletide by myself and spend X'mas with the family-TWO holidays!