not celebrating Christmas

I don't celebrate Christmas because I'm not Christian.

How may other people here don't celebrate Christmas?

 

What religion are you? Do you celebrate anything?

 

i'm gaian and my husband's agnostic. we celebrate the winter solstice. suresh is working on christmas, but he has solstice off.

 

Ill be doing something on the solstice, but christimas is just going to be another day... as usual...

 

Is there a certain celebration for the winter solstice or do you just throw a party? Hang with family?

 

well, this is how our family celebrates it, but different families who celebrate the solstice may celebrate in different ways. we put up a tree, similar to a christmas tree, and the kids open gifts, but we use little plastic cauldrons instead of stockings because:



*cauldrons symbolize the abundance of gaia, and the womb of the great mother

*cauldrons tend to hold more toys and cookies than stockings

*cauldrons are easier for the 2-year-old to dump out on the carpet, and scatter the contents hither and yon.



traditions we have to celebrate the solstice include staying up all night (well, the grown-ups anyway) or getting up early to watch the sun rise solstice morning. we also light a yule log, a log with three candles in it: one for the dark half of the year that is passing, and one for the light half of the year that is starting, and a third candle for the sun.



instead of having a big fancy dinner, we usually have a big breakfast solstice morning: gingerbread pancakes with peppermint syrup, yogurt, whipped cream, fruit, vegetarian sausage, eggs, cocoa, cider...


then sometimes we go to my parents house and celebrate their christmas holiday with them.

 

That sounds nice.

Especially breakfast, can I come over?

 

Christmas wasn't christian, the catholics ripped it off the pagans to make christianity more popular. I'm the only jew for miles around, so it's considered inconsiderate if I don't jump on the bandwagon and celebrate just like everyone else..gimme a break. With those two things in mind, I give presents at christmas time but don't 'celebrate' christmas. I feel ok about it cause it wasn't christian in the first place, the christians tried to take it, now its just a commercial/family thing.. also it's the one time where I actually can share a holiday with people, except my birthday.

 

i don't celebrate it either... only thing around this time that i do celebrate is my birthday.

 

I was raised Jewish, but I don't really know what I think about such things. I "celebrate" Hannukah in the sense that I exchange gifts with various family members, but if they didn't care about it I'd just totally ignore the holiday. Then again, I can't really say that any holiday means much to me. I don't like the idea of designating certain days as special. Well, I'm down with acknowledging the solstices and equinoxes because that has meaning on a global scale. But all these petty little made-up national, religious, and sorta religious holidays separate people. Every day should be treated like a holiday. Every day we're alive should be a mass celebration. "Christmas spirit" should be global and all the time.

 

Actually Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birthday.
The pagans had Christmas trees etc. that is why alot of Christians dont have Christmas trees.

Roly.xxx

 

I'm celebrating Christmas and I always have, altjough I don't consider myself a Christian anymore.
I'm really against all this commercial stuff and so on, but I love the Christmas evening (in Germany we celebrate in the evening of the 12/24) - the tree, presents, family, dinner... I love making and giving (handmade) presents!
For me, Christmas is a celebration of love and the return of the light. I don't have to believe in the son of God to enjoy it. So in a way I don't celebrate Christmas but a mixture of Christmas, Yule and some personal belifes.

 

I consider myself a "Gaian-panentheist," and while it's true that I made up the term, it's also true that I was unable to find a religion that perfectly described my beliefs, and that what I believe in seems similar to the Gaian beliefs, as well as the panentheist beliefs (not to be confused with pantheism; note the extra "en").

I was originally raised a Christian, and eventually became agnostic, and now that I am Gaian-panentheist, I do not celebrate Christmas.

Instead, I have declared the 25th of December to be "National Gaian-Panentheist Philanthropic Tolerance Day."

In other words, I don't celebrate Christmas in any way, but in order to tolerate the more prevalant religions in this world, I practice philanthropy (giving gifts, etc.) particularly more on this day because I enjoy practicing philanthropy whenever reasonably possible. =)

 

I didn't know that Christmas was Jesus's supposed birthday til a few years ago, it's always been nothing but a day of giving and receiving presents for me.

 

actually, according to historical records, the man known as jesus was probably born in the spring, and his birthplace was actually a cave, not a stable. christians moved the celebration of his birth to december 25 in order to compete with the celebration of the roman holiday saturnalia, which was celebrated by the giving of gifts and festivities similar to some of those associated with christmas. for this reason, christmas was celebrated not emphasized very much by practicing christians until i believe the industrial age, when it was promptly exploited and commercialized, a process that has been escalating ever since. in fact, at one point during the middle ages the open celebration of christmas was outlawed in parts of europe because it was too "pagan"! the christmas tree is a tradition originating in germany, wassailling and carrolling were i think welsch traditions, and the yule log tradition (a huge log that would burn all night long on solstice eve) also originated in the british isles. santa claus has a number of origins that all sort of morphed into the jolly red-suited figure we know today over time.

 

i am a follower of Christ himselfs teachings...found in the Bible...I take it he didnt just lie about himself...i kno it was written by different writers but it was all about God and Jesus and guided by them
Roly.xxx

 

I'm pretty sure the Jesus's birth was clerical error of sorts, seeing as they didn't have/keep official records. Seeing as the focus is on the life, teaching and death of Jesus, then his date of birth really isn't that big a deal.

Anyway I don't celebrate Christmas per say, more like slog through it. Can't remember ever really enjoying it.
Always seems such an anticlimax and an utterly selfish, shallow holiday revolving around ideals I don't subscribe to (Christianity, eating turkey, excess consumerism etc) the only good points seem to have been warped into irritating cliches.
Oh and I bloody hate Christmas songs, especially in November.

As a pagan I shall celebrate Yule, and just soldier on through the Christmas bit.

 

I'm no Christian, but I celebrate Christmas.

Jesus was the greatest social engineer who ever lived.

 

Christmas is nothing but blatent materialism. I take part in general Christmas traditions for their secular value as a celebration for the hell of it.

Only if Jesus [or the manufacturers of his supposed teachings] were direct in their message and did not mask it in rediculous fantasies and reward based morality. Jesus himself was fairly righteous in his altruistic message in it- and of itself. But for what he has created I have apathy and slight contempt for his existence.

 

You are fully like the best person in the world. Everything I've read from you is wonderful!! You also saved me a lot of time, I wish some people would listen or look stuff up but yeh. It's funny too, cause back in the day (circa C16th) all they did on christmas was basically get drunk... Puritans (hardcore christians) tried to outlaw it, mainly because of the 'immoral' behaviour, but often just because it was a way to get pagans on the christian boat, it was seen as outdated and useless. I bet they'd cry if they saw us now lol.