Around here, we celebrate Christmas and Hannukah and get more presents. Well, actually we just spread them out a little.
I don’t. To me, it’s just another day.
It’s the spirit of the season, not the mythology behind it, what matters. They are not necessarily mutually inclusive.
Que La Force soit avec vous,
quasar
[ul]
[sup]That’s the spirit![/sup][/ul]
Why do you participate in Christmas if you don’t believe in God?
I do not, but I stay at home, if I am living in a country that has these hollidays.
Just not to disturbe the peace.
Here in Russia, where I live for the moment, we have working days as usual.
Santa Claus (called Uncle Frost) comes to the children here at new year. The selebrations goes on for a week or so and it is not very Christian, because the vodka-consumtion goes up some 300 - 400 %, even if it is very high any time of the year.
But I will work at new year also, because I do not use alcohol (anymore).
And for some of us it is Yule.
There were celebrations around this time pre-Christianity.
If Christmas were more religous and less secular, I would have less of a problem with it. I still wouldn’t participate…but I would think it more honest.
I loathe the gift exchange tradition, and the expectation to spend like nobody’s business that is placed upon us.
I participate because its a lot of fun. Its enjoyable to get together with my extended family - on days when my company has given me the day off and most things are closed anyway - and eat good food and exchange thoughtful gifts and sing Jingle Bells off key. While we could do this on a different day, say Vetern’s Day (another day I have off, but don’t celebrate the secular/religious meaning), there seems to be some cultural tradition for doing this on December 25th. (We actually do my family - which is the religious side, on December 24th - the atheist/pagan/Jewish side gets together on Christmas day).
With kids, it would be difficult not to celebrate Christmas. My kids came home with Christmas gifts for us from daycare, learned all the words to Rudolph, and watched Frosty. I really feel sorry for people who feel an obligation not to celebrate Christmas and feel fortunate that its so secularized and we can just remove the religious meaning. Which we actually don’t. There is a nativity under my tree. And my kids get their dose of Baby Jesus with their dose of Santa Claus.
Gobear
Pish tosh, my dear boy!
A. Christ is not the “reason for the season.” The winter clelbration goes back at least as far as Ancient Rome, when devotees of the god Mithras celebrated December 25 as the Dies Sol Invictus, the Day of the Unconquered Sun, which also coincided with the pagan Saturnalia holiday, when Romans exchanged presents and decorated their homes with evergreens. The Christians didn’t adopt December 25 as the date for Jesus’s birth unti 336 A.D. in an attempt to coopt the preexisting pagan festivals.
Now for the rest of the Story…
The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier. Seeing that pagans were already exalting deities with some parallels to the true deity, church leaders decided to commandeer the date and introduce a new festival.
Western Christians first celebrated Christmas on December 25 in 336, after Emperor Constantine had declared Christianity the empire’s favored religion. Eastern churches, however, held on to January 6 as the date for Christ’s birth and his baptism. Most easterners eventually adopted December 25, celebrating Christ’s birth on the earlier date and his baptism on the latter, but the Armenian church celebrates his birth on January 6. Incidentally, the Western church does celebrate Epiphany on January 6, but as the arrival date of the Magi rather than as the date of Christ’s baptism.
Another wrinkle was added in the sixteenth century when Pope Gregory devised a new calendar, which was unevenly adopted. The Eastern Orthodox and some Protestants retained the Julian calendar, which meant they celebrated Christmas 13 days later than their Gregorian counterparts. Most—but not all—of the Christian world now agrees on the Gregorian calendar and the December 25 date.
The pagan origins of the Christmas date, as well as pagan origins for many Christmas customs (gift-giving and merrymaking from Roman Saturnalia; greenery, lights, and charity from the Roman New Year; Yule logs and various foods from Teutonic feasts), have always fueled arguments against the holiday. “It’s just paganism wrapped with a Christian bow,” naysayers argue. But while kowtowing to worldliness must always be a concern for Christians, the church has generally viewed efforts to reshape culture—including holidays—positively. As a theologian asserted in 320, “We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it.”
B. Jesus was most likely born in spring, bot winter. The gospels refer to shepherds in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks. This suggests that Jesus was born in spring, during the time when ewes usually give birth to their lambs.
Is this any different than say for instance my birthday falls on the 1st and I don’t celebrate it until the 10th ? Does it matter what day I was born on, or does it matter that I was born?
Urban Ranger
Why don’t you go check some of the older thread first? We have just gone through this.
Sorry if it’s in another thread, but you didn’t have to post in this one.
MEBuckner
Well, jjrt, I hope you’re happy when the Supreme Court declares that it’s unconstitutional for Christmas to be a Federal Holiday, and it’s your fault.
If they do it won’t be anything that hasn’t been done in the past. Also why just blame me???
If anything I would fight to keep it. What would you do? As I see it it’s not the believing people who feel their rights infringed upon it’s the non-believing or non caring who feel their rights are infringed upon.
In the early 17th century, a wave of religious reform changed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645, they vowed to rid England of decadence and, as part of their effort, cancelled Christmas. By popular demand, Charles II was restored to the throne and, with him, came the return of the popular holiday.
The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident.
After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America’s new constitution. Christmas wasn’t declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870.
Spiritus Mundi
I celebrate Christmas because I think it is a good thing to express love for your fellow man, share moments of celebration with friends and family, and exchange cool stuff with people you care about. It doesn’t bother me that some of my family add additional religious overtones ot the occassions. As far as I know, it does not bother them that I do not (though my Aunt the minister is troubled that I remain apart from what she feels as a beutifull fellowship).
That okay by you?
By far I consider this the best post to this thread. You answered from the heart and also showed that even though you have different beliefs in your family you still can come together without making a scene of what you believe in or not. Also thank you for not giving a lecture on the history of Christmas, if I had wanted that I would have asked.
It’s ok by me
I celebrate Christmas with my family because I respect the beliefs of my family (some of whom believe, some of whom don’t) and it’s tradition. People know I don’t believe: that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate their beliefs or even attend their ceremonies. I’ve played music many a time in church ceremonies. I don’t enjoy watching football, but I don’t mind attending a game with my grandfather at his alma mater.
Just because you don’t believe in something doesn’t mean you have to treat it as a deadly taboo poison you can’t touch or appreciate without sullying yourself.
Yeah, jjrt, far be it for anyone to “make a scene of what they believe”, like for example, oh…I don’t know…starting a GD thread about it?
As for the O.P., why NOT celebrate Christmas? It’s fun, you get presents, and you get together with loved ones. Why should we be uptight and refuse to celebrate what we consider to be an enjoyable secular holiday, just because people like you want to say “It’s OUR holiday and you can’t join in our reindeer games”? Besides, if non-Christians did refuse to celebrate, I have no doubt that we would be criticized for that.
I don’t know, for me it was always confusing when I was a kid because its called “Christmas” – ie, mass of Christ. Why do you celebrate something called Christmas if you’re secular?
Please note, I’ve just always wondered for of curiosity’s sake – take it as a question, not as a counterpoint against any non-Christians. Thanks for understanding this.
/Shadez
So let me if I have this straight:
[ol]
[li]Christmas is a specifically Christian holiday which non-believers have no business celebrating.[/li][li]It wasn’t a federal holiday until fairly late in American history. During the period when the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were adopted, Congress ignored Christmas.[/li][li]Christmas is now a federal holiday, proclaimed on behalf of all Americans, including non-Christians and the non-religious. But non-Christians still shouldn’t celebrate Christmas (see point 1), even though it’s been all but forced on us. I guess we should just sit quietly at home with the shades drawn that day (assuming that our workplace is likely closed and won’t even allow us to go to work).[/li][li]Your reaction to all this is that it’s all just peachy, and you would fight to keep it that way.[/li][/ol]
Well, yes, the people whose rights are being infringed upon will likely be the ones who think their rights are being infringed upon. If Congress made National Celebrate the Non-Deity of Jesus Day a federal holiday, it would be the Christians whose rights would be infringed on–although as a supporter of separation of church and state, I’d still object.
Eh, you’re all pagans and you don’t know it. 
Tradition. Society. And it’s fun.
The same reason I paticipate in St.Patrick’s Day,and I’m neither Irish nor catholic.
Or MLK day,and I’m neither black nor formerly racially rejected.
Or (now) President’s day,and I never met either of the gents it comemmerates
Or Arbor day,and I’m not a tree
hugger
Or bet on the dreidl spin to win somebody’s Hannukah * gelt * and I’m not Jewish.
Or Labor Day,and I’m retired
For those of you who say “Christmas” means “Mass of Christ”…
Do consider the pronunciation.
On Chistmas we celebrate the life of beloved columnist and critic Judith Crist.
But less humorously–
it’s a large secular cultural celebration derived from, it seems, a good many traditions. For better or worse, even those baby-Jesus-with-a-lightbulb-in-his-head lawn manger displays can not be presumed to have any real religious significance.
I’d rather work against crass commercialism directly than somehow try to make the enjoyers of Christmas feel guilty.
I guess for the same reason lots of Jesus freaks listen to the devil’s music (and call it ‘Christian Rock’) – because it’s fun.
Just curious- why would you consider it being dishonest to celebrate the secular side of Christmas?
It’s true that there are two Christmases-- the religious and the secular. Most people celebrate a mix of the two. I happen to absolutely love Christmas. I celebrate it as much as I can-- cookies, big dinner, tree with all the tinsel, bulbs, candy canes, and decorations I can fit on it, stockings, a present on the 24th and all the rest on the 25th. And I’m not Christian. I celebrate the purely secular holiday that’s broken off and become a holiday of it’s own. And how can that be a bad thing, when the holiday that’s evolved is one about joy, happiness, giving people you love gifts to make them happy, and getting gifts yourself from people who love you?
Ah, screw expectations!! 
I’m happy to get away with spending as much as I can (not much, but enough) for Mr. Kezermezer not cause it’s expected of me, but because I love giving him things that make him happy. Too bad ‘things’ usually have to be bought in stores
Although I’m a Jew, I participate in (not celebrate) Christmas because it is meaningful to my partner and her family. This means that there is a tree in my house*, as well as a menorah. To put it another way, why does my partner participate in Hanukkah if she doesn’t believe in god? Or at least, in the god of the Jews? To say nothing of the mezuzah at her front door.
I like singing sacred music and carols (though secular Frosty the Snowman sorts of stuff leave me cold). I appreciate the meaning of Christmas for my partner and for others even if I don’t share it. If my partner celebrated Kwanzaa, I would participate in it. We always spend Solstice with a large group of friends to celebrate the return of the light. I enjoy participating in other people’s religious and cultural traditions. It helps me be close to others and understand their experience better. I’d hope that non-Jews would be similarly interested and would take the time to participate in and learn about my religious and cultural traditions in turn.
*It’s true that I have brought a number of lobsters, pigs, Mexican tin devils and other trayfe to the ornament box.