# (South Asian) Indians in the US celebrating Christmas **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2024, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-asian-indians-in-the-us-celebrating-christmas/1011923 "2024-12-20T14:58:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-asian-indians-in-the-us-celebrating-christmas/1011923/21 "2024-12-23T06:14:01Z")
Those cartoons remind me of one I saw. Two elderly male priests are passing by a large stained glass window. One is saying “Women in authority in the church? What did women ever do for the church?” The window portrays Mary holding the baby Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-asian-indians-in-the-us-celebrating-christmas/1011923/22 "2024-12-23T18:53:40Z")
I am South Asian. My parents “celebrated” xmas for many years so I would not feel left out. In my teen years they stopped. Now that I am an adult I put up a tree and decorate my house and exchange gifts. I want to celebrate something, it is the coldest, most miserable part of the year. It was -6 at my house this morning. But everywhere is Christmas and it’s damn hard to get solstice decorations. And Christianity usurped everything and took over everything. So, I celebrate Christmas. I despise people who say I should not celebrate because I am not Christian. Um, you give us time off, everything is a madhouse, all of the shops are full of crazy people, everyone is decorating, so I should deal with the negative parts and not enjoy any of the good parts? No, I celebrate because I want to have fun too! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-asian-indians-in-the-us-celebrating-christmas/1011923/23 "2024-12-23T19:41:11Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > But everywhere is Christmas and it’s damn hard to get solstice decorations. And Christianity usurped everything and took over everything. So, I celebrate Christmas. If it helps, many Christmas decorations and traditions are repurposed from solstice celebrations. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-asian-indians-in-the-us-celebrating-christmas/1011923/24 "2024-12-24T06:29:51Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > But everywhere is Christmas and it’s damn hard to get solstice decorations. You could make your own solstice decorations. I think the Stonhenge decoration is only 18" high. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-asian-indians-in-the-us-celebrating-christmas/1011923/25 "2024-12-24T21:53:33Z")
My wife’s Indian friend certainly had a tree and was astonished that we didn’t. Sadly she died this year. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2024, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-asian-indians-in-the-us-celebrating-christmas/1011923/26 "2024-12-31T13:23:01Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > generally the only people who don’t participate at all are those who are actively committed to non-Christian religions. I would go further - generally, the only people who don’t participate are those actively committed to Judaism, Islam , Christian denominations that don’t celebrate Christmas , or a certain strain of atheism > [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > And at least with Hindus, there is no religious inconsistency. Christianity, and most other religions (even Islam) mix just fine with Hinduism (although not the other way around) Because IME, this does not only apply to Hinduism - there are multiple cultures that don’t see any inconsistency with having for example, a Shinto wedding and a Buddhist funeral. For example, my husband is ethnically Chinese - he and two of his siblings converted to Catholicism as adults. They still burn joss paper and offer food at graves even though those rituals have a non-Christian origin - and they celebrated Christmas ever since they were children although no one in the household was Christian. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2025, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-asian-indians-in-the-us-celebrating-christmas/1011923/27 "2025-01-17T00:25:33Z")
My parents were first-generation Hindu immigrants to the UK in the 1970s (where I was born in the 80s). We had a tree and did presents. I don’t remember doing any decorating other than putting tinsel and baubles on the tree. We also had traditional UK Christmas dinners with crackers and lots of alcohol and so on. My mother and I were first-generation immigrants to the US in the 1990s. We had a tree and did presents. Most Hindu families I know in the US and UK are happy to participate in the commercial/social bit. In fact, my Mum has been trying to get her American friends to adopt the Christmas cracker tradition for years, with varying degrees of success. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-asian-indians-in-the-us-celebrating-christmas/1011923.md?page=1)