I am an agnostic Atheist (Because i do not KNOW there is no god) but do you celebarate christmas? I DO. I like christmas even though i looked it up on the internet and have decided that christmas is a Pagan holiday. I BELIEVE that christians stole christmas from Saturnalia (Saturn) BUT I can not prove it.I enjoy christmas music and christmas movies and the whole christmas atmosphere. Do YOU still enjoy christmas?
I do not celebrate Christmas, but I enjoy the holiday season in the U.S. from Thanksgiving through NYD.
I have fond memories of family gatherings (large and small), the food, and as a kid the gifts. It was never about religion to me. I like to listen to secular Christmas songs, not the ones about Jesus.
I even like a couple of the Jesus-y songs on Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas (or as it is better known, the greatest Christmas album of all time).
Yes, I celebrate Christmas, itβs Divali tonight and I plan to light some candles for that too. Any excuse for a little party I especially like the dragons and lions at Chinese New Year
Christmas is more of a tradition than a religious festival. In that sense it's like Halloween.
Enjoying Christmas is not, in any way, a religious statement.
I agree. I still get together with family and celebrate.
I celebrate the winter solstice and yule
Our tree topper is Cthulhu and my kids don't associate this time of year with anything religious β
We celebrate in a secular manner, but personally enjoy the solstices and equinoxes. It does serve some value for young families where the family focus and anticipation helps offset that crappy βno longer fall, not yet winterβ period
How do I get that tree topper?
It's a holiday and I like holidays regardless of the reason. It's also an excuse to get together with family and I like doing that too. I don't care about the background or the religion or the history, I enjoy it for purely selfish reasons. The same for easter, except there's chocolate.
I celebrate the general, improved mood of people not being assholes and attempting to be a little nicer to each other, gifts or no. But honestly, I'm trying to bring back Saturnalia at the "It Holiday"....
According to Wikipedia this holiday begins with a sacrifice. Will that still be the case or will it be optional?
Yes. I enjoy Christmas. The difference between how I celebrate Christmas now and when I was a kid is that I do not go to church. Growing up as a Catholic there were two times in the year when I actually liked church, and that was the Stations of the Cross at Easter and midnight mass at Christmas. But Christmas as it is celebrated is far more pagan than it is christian and I never believed in those gods, so I don't have to believe in Jesus to celebrate Christmas. After all, it comes at the darkest time of the year when cheer is greatly needed. It brings good memories and is a good excuse for parties and gluttony, so I'm in!
LOVE me some colored lights, which I leave up for quite awhile to fight the cold greyness of January here, love the smell of roasting bird (this year, a duck just for me!). Also give myself & the dogs nice gifts!
I worked at a walmart garden center during Christmas season years ago. Christmas songs played all the time and sometimes from several different novelties at once. Something on every isle had a display or a demonstrated toy that would play songs and people always pushing the buttons.
I could get along just fine to never hear another Christmas song.
Do I consider myself a giving person, yes. 24/7 I consider myself a giving person. So in the ideal of giving people gifts one of my recent gifts was pocket knives. When I had enough money I would keep a dozen or so pocket knives and anytime of the year come across family and co-workers most often I would give them a pocket knife just as a gift.
Christmas carols are awesome when heard once per year. Any more is torture...
@Duchess_Nyx it is obnoxious torture and not the "fun" kind.
I think that for many people Christmas is time for families to get together and enjoy themselves without any reference to religion. Indeed, of all the family reunions at that time of year I do not recall one where religion became a topic of discussion.
I'm not sure that I celebrate Christmas. A better word for me is participate . As a single man today I do not participate in Christmas but I would do so if I had a wife, or had a wife and children. My reasoning is that if it is not important to me it might be important to them. Who am I to tell you what to do about holidays. Keep in mind however that "holiday" comes from the term "holy day." A big celebration because of a holy day. I would go out of my way to inform anyone that Christmas has nothing to do with Christ or a mass and it certainly was not Jesus' birthday. Many argue that I should have a tree and decorations anyway but my argument in return is that I see all the other house decorations and lights just by going outside my door. I might add that i do not give gifts and have asked family and friends to treat me the same, however if one of my daughters is free to fix a big meal for all of us I do attend the dinner to be with family.
I NEVER thought about holiday coming from "holy day". Thanks!
Iβll be helping my daughter-in-law and two granddaughters decorate their trees today. Itβs tradition for us. I enjoy the good spirits of everyone at this time of year but in no way consider it religious!
I enjoy the family gathering, the gift-giving, and other things. I ignore the religious side of it, and enjoy the traditions that make it fun.
nope not me. i am a jewish atheist. i like the culture of my people. i never celebrated christmas as a kid; why should i do it now? i've been to christmas parties thrown by friends; they were parties for having fun, not celebrating any gods of demigods. by attending i wasn;t celebrating christmas. i was celebrating my friendship with the people at those parties. the hosts were not celebrating cheistmas so much as maybe some childhood memories, traditions or even their ability as adults to make new traditions. it didn't bother me. i WAS hauled to a christmas party within the last decade or so thrown by cultish evangelists. never again. they were celebrating their gods and they were WEIRD, not friendly-weird either.
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There are no gods, all created by humans and not viceversa. I do not celebrate anything but I enjoy giving presents and eating huge meals. You can't prove that Saturnalia existed? Just look at Roman history. Man some people, geez! Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival in honor of the god Saturn, held on December 17 of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to December 23. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms: gambling was permitted, and masters provided table service for their slaves as it was seen as a time of liberty for both slaves and freedmen alike. A common custom was the election of a "King of the Saturnalia", who would give orders to people, which were to be followed and preside over the merrymaking. The gifts exchanged were usually gag gifts or small figurines made of wax or pottery known as sigillaria. The poet Catullus called it "the best of days". As recorded by historians, christians always appropriated roman and greek holidays as well as many other cultures celebrations to gain influence and followers. Agnosticism my ass!
Well said!
I focus on the love, joy, peace, and goodwill aspects now.
I grew up all-in with the Christmas narrative which I carried on to my kids. After I realized I was no longer a believer in a god and religion, I struggled with the hypocrisy of continuing with the traditions knowing I didnβt believe in the premise, but it would be hard to stop when it was always such a happy time for my kids and grandkids. Then I realized the religious celebrate Santa Claus even though they know heβs not real, but itβs a fun pretense to see the joy on your kidsβ faces.
So to move away from the hypocrisy I purged the red & green colors (just marketing anyway) and any religious items I have were my mom’s and I display them in memory of her.
And Santa Claus and the majority of Christmas traditions have nothing to do with Christianity at all. To me with every passing year "Christmas" in America, that Trump was so proud to say he "saved" is the most pagan, hedonistic, bacchanal, and vapid of all so-called religious holidays. So for sure, so long as it doesn't involve Jesus stuff I'm okay with joining it. And trust me I know all the school boy alternative words to favorite hymns so I don't even have to feel restrained when singing them...
Most xtion holidays have some Pagan origins in order to forget more early converts. I celebrate the festive time together with family, when I can.
I would if I still felt it but haven't in many years. However the whole nativity thing was a part of Christmas when I grew up, but I never really felt like it was a religious holiday to me like say Easter was. Other than once in a while my mom would drag me and my brothers to a midnight service or I had to sing or play carols at school I really don't remember Christmas being religious. Most of the rest of time it was a fun school holiday with cool stuff on TV, lots of food, snacks, and candy, seeing relatives and presents!
I used to travel during the holidays. Now covid changed that. Love to see other cultures celebrating.
I do not celebrate Christmas, I cannot afford to purchase presents for people I do not like. If I like someone I will give them gifts during the year when they can better use them. I believe in random acts of kindness.
I heard recently about a society where it was the tradition for the person who's birth it is to give presents to everyone else. Not the other way around. Ergo I say if God is real, and Christmas is really his son/self's birthday he should give us presents on that day. So far still haven't gotten a single present from "him" on that day. Ergo I think he's a fraud.