My wife and I are free thinkers who both have a firm faith in God and were raised Christian. We are no longer Christians and go to the UU church. We have 5 childerewith ages from 7years to 3.5 months. This year we have decided to not just celebrate Christmas. We only celebrate it in a secular way now and figured why not teach our kids respect and tollerance or other religions and cultures by showing them first hand a little about the holidays they celebrate. Other then the standard American-Christian holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years what holidays do you suggest we include in our holiday season this year and what would be the best way to celebrate the holiday to teach our childeren about the culture it is from in a respectful way. Also if you know how Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years are celebrated in different countries or cultures I would love tohear about that as well.
2006-09-11 05:12:15 · 25 answers · asked by Chuck C 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Other - Holidays
Birthdays
NFL Sunday
New Years
Memorial Day
That's it
2006-09-11 05:14:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
My husband and I celebrate solar holidays. (We're Pagan.) I know that secular people celebrate them as well because they occur every year and there is significance about the equinoxes and solstices because they show changes in the year. Yule, which started before Christmas, is pretty similar to Christmas. We exchange gifts and enjoy the time we have with each other. The tree and other traditions originated as Pagan beliefs, and the Christians borrowed them. There's no Jesus or Santa Claus though. Ostara is the Spring Equinox, and so we exchange baskets. The bunny and egg are fertility symbols that bring in the new season. The Summer Solstice is a time for friends. The Fall Equinox is overshadowed by Halloween for us! We love Halloween, and we celebrate it as seculars. We have a big party and potluck with our friends. We all dress up, play games, dance, and watch movies too. We also celebrate St. Nicholas day because my great grand parents were German, and so it's a family tradition, nothing religious. Everyone sets their shoes outside at night, and "St. Nick" comes in the night and fills the shoes with little candies, fruit, and goodies. However, those that were bad during the year got a shoe full of coal and later recieved a beating from "Rupert," who looks like the Grim Reaper!
If you're fans of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, you should celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day.
I personally love holidays, especially when I get the day off of work/school!
I used to be hesitant about Thanksgiving, because America used to have different days of thanksgiving and fasting that were tied to religion. Even Ben Franklin, who didn't like Jewish people, thought that Thanksgiving was a time to thank Jesus for all that they had. However, it's pretty secular now, and I love eating!
2006-09-11 13:07:32 · answer #2 · answered by Mrs. Pears 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Now that you have decieded against Christmas, Celebrate Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a Holiday in general. No matter what you do, you are thankful for the way you choose to live your life. Basically it is a stop and smell the roses day. We need to reflect on things we take for granted. Christmas has become commercial. I wish I did not have to celebrate christmas with debt, i feel i have to. I am Christian, but I dont feel i should celebrate Christmas the way I am expected too.
2006-09-11 06:53:38 · answer #3 · answered by noggle4 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you consider the origins of many of the old festivals (Christmas, Easter and so on) you will see that they are pre-Christian (and pre-Jewish as well).
Christmas is really a celebration of the turning of the year and of hope for the coming year. Marking it by giving gifts is a very old custom and the tree and glittering decorations both come from pagan ceremonies in honour of this (the tradition of the tree came from Germany and is because the tree and the other greenery are evergreen and therefore a symbol of life continuing - or being 'reborn' when all else seems dead.) The glittering decorations and the 'yule log' are symbols of light and the sun and the hope that they will return again.
Easter is also a celebration of new life and the growth returning.
Thanksgiving, although a peculiarly American festival, is both a Harvest festival and a day on which one gives thanks for the goodness which we have enjoyed from God, the earth and fellow humans (and, of course, a safe arrival at where we are now.)
Basing your own family festivals on things that are meaningful to you will strengthen your family and also breathe life into your worship of God. The tradition of festivals and days of celebration is a very old and worthy one and goes back to the dawn of time.
2006-09-11 05:29:06 · answer #4 · answered by Owlwings 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thanksgiving is not a Christian holiday at all, and it is not celebrated in other countries either as it is an American holiday. I know that in England, Halloween and Guy Fawkes Day kind of run into each other since they celebrate Guy Fawkes Day for weeks on end with fireworks into the late hours of the evening. We didn't get any kids in costumes coming to our door for Halloween when we lived in London, so I don't know. At christmas time British people put silly paper hats on their heads, drink mulled wine, pull "party poppers", and get drunk...
2006-09-11 05:17:50 · answer #5 · answered by Tom 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
every person who actual follows the Halacha would inform you it extremely is forbidden for a Jew to celebrate christmas in any vogue by any potential! The Torah is sparkling, a Jew is forbidden from practising the rituals & rites of the different faith. the indisputable fact that for some is an earthly competition does no longer adjust the indisputable fact that it is the competition of yet another faith and practiced as such via many. Orthodox Jews around the globe do no longer celebrate christmas and in some communities it extremely is considered as an afternoon of morning by using its association with pogroms- however easter substitute right into a much worse time for those. There are people who refrain from all Atorah learn on christmas, analyzing secular subjects particularly as a fashion to no longer have any Torah learn go mutually with on the present time. Is it idolatry to celebrate it as an earthly day? Nope is it forbidden? sure
2016-09-30 14:08:16 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I plan on exposing my children to different religions, beliefs and holidays so they can decide for themselves what is right for them when they are old enough to make that decision. My husband is Christian and I am Wiccan. I was raised Christian and still celebrate the holidays, but I also have my own as well.
I think that if you expose your children to different religions and different holidays they will gain respect for other cultures and not base an opinion solely on the media or hear say.
Good luck to you.
2006-09-11 18:07:02 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think that celebrating something you dont believe in is kind of wrong. (stress kind of) a good way to teach children about different holidays is to have them be with friends of different faiths on thier important days. but to celebrate them yourselves, i think you cant celebrate christmas and then go and celebrate purim, the religions are completely different, and you may just be going through the motions of the celebration, not knowing the true meaning behind them.
2006-09-11 05:24:12 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I suggest you only celebrate the holidays you believe in. Celebrating the holidays of other faiths without any belief in them may not send the intended message to your children and may only serve to confuse them. You can teach your children to respect the beliefs of others by befriending people of other beliefs and exposing your children to their beliefs through these friends. I think your children will see a better example in how you treat people of other faiths than they will by pretending to celebrate holidays that have no real meaning for them.
2006-09-11 05:18:34 · answer #9 · answered by Bob 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The most remembered Christmas was when my Father-In-Law took my son to a homeless shelter and passed out some toiletries.You could do something like that and start a tradition,to keep the spirit alive,at least.
2006-09-14 17:52:19 · answer #10 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, those four just about cover the bases, by the way, I believe that halloween is NOT a Christian holiday...it's actually somewhat Satanic, depending on how you celebrate it.
2006-09-11 13:00:07 · answer #11 · answered by On the Journey 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋