A question for all u athiests out there?

Question

After reading answer to a question recently I just wondered if being an athiest means that u don't celebrate Christmas
Presumably u don't as this is a celebration of the birth of Christ. So wot do u do on all these days that u don't celebrate like xmas, easter, pancake day?
And I suppose u don't celebrate New Year either as our calender years are also based on Christ's birth? Wot calender do u work off?
I am really intrigued on this one!!

Hey did I say I was a practising Christian?
Did I say I was religious?
There are some real defensive people on here!!!

Honest John u really need to chill out a bit! How do u know what religion I am if at all?

Gosh I am learning a lot about everything I apparently don't know anything about so thank u to all of u who have put me right on Pagan stuff etc. I will have to remember to be so F*cking offensive and rude next time some of u ask a question that I know about and u don't.
I believe u ask a question to find out an answer as I know nothing about athiest's beliefs, which they are entitled to of course.

Answer 1

I'm not an Atheist as much as I am a Religious-atheist, Pagan-atheist to be specific – believing that belief is just that, belief. Some people would say this means I am even more likely or justified in celebrating religious holidays.

I celebrate Christmas in the same way as most people do, in a materialistic way that embraces the idea of family, friends and a good excuse to get drunk, and granted these days also in a rather unmotivated way as people seem to be getting less and less interested in Christmas. My mother is a non-practicing Christian so Christmas is a tradition for her and growing up with Christmas one does tend to continue to celebrate, it is also a good way to break up the winter months that everyone celebrates.

I celebrate New Year and Pancake Day too – again, tradition, excuse to eat and drink.

I celebrate Pagan holidays in much the same way as I do Christian, both are traditions in my home but neither have much in the way of religious significance, it does just simply boil down to tradition and whether-or-not I can be bothered. When I have children I do plan to celebrate Christmas in a bigger way, for the tradition and love of memories of Christmas as a child. I also plan to celebrate other religious holidays with my children but again not in so much of a religious sense – as well as this I plan to mark other days of interest to other religions and cultures, in the sense that it will hopefully create a fun household that recognises different cultures and faiths.

Just because someone is Atheist, or any other religion for that matter, doesn't mean they cannot or do not celebrate religious holidays they simply do not attach the religious significance.


Edit:

I also eco aurora03uk's answer on the days of the week, and throw in there Pagan holidays such as Yule, Beltane and Samhain, all of which have been followed to some degree within Christianity as the two switched influences in society and Christianity was influenced by Paganism. Yule – Christmas, Beltane – May Day, Samhain – Halloween. Traditions run deep, and religions aren't forbidden from joining each other in their celebrations.

Answer 2

If by celebrating Christmas you mean exchanging presents, that idea was ripped off from other beliefs, pagan beliefs you'd call them. If you mean go to church, is that really the first thing that comes into anybody's mind when you say "Christmas"?

Easter? I'm too old for an Easter egg hunt. Oh, you mean go to church again.

I can have pancakes and damn time I please.

You don't know what you're talking about when you start talking about the Julian Calendar. The Julian calendar was introduced in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and took force in 45 BC (709 ab urbe condita). It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year, known at least since Hipparchus. It has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months, and a leap day is added to February every four years. Hence the Julian year is on average 365.25 days long.

Do you think Julius Caesar was a Christian?

Answer 3

Because both Christmas and New Years are arbitrary dates based on nothing. Think about it: You're a primitive person with a very rudimentary understanding of the heavens. For practical reasons you need to create a calender. You are looking at sky full of many small objects that seem to be arranged in patterns , five medium sized objects that wander the sky with regularity and two large objects, one of which goes from bright to dark to bright in 28 days.
You need to select a starting point for your year , How do you do it? Without a watch you you will either select the longest or shortest day. How do you know that it's the shortest day ? Because in mid -northern latitudes the shortest day is the point furthest South that the sun will set for the year. The longest day is the point furthest North and days like today are the points halfway in between.
You have just created a rational calender based on good science.
Christ's birthday is wrong. If the stories about lambs in the field and shepard's watching over their grazing flocks are true, then Christ had to be born in Spring. With the exception of hibernating bears, mammals don't give birth in winter. And to tie this all together the astrological calender starts in the spring under the sign of the Ram
So if Christians don't care about when they celebrate Christs birtday how can they expect anyone else to ?

Answer 4

Thank you for asking.

Many treat December 25th as a secular holiday--Ho Ho Day, if you will--marking the Winter Solstice and the end of the calendar year, enjoying the opportunity to gather with friends and family. Some ignore December 25th and celebrate the Winter Solstice on the solstice itself. Some Humanists celebrate Human Light around that time. Some don't celebrate any of the above and just enjoy the time off. Some work through.

As for the years, we use the same numbering as you do, since it's already in widespread use. Some use BCE (Before the Common [or Christian] Era) instead of BC, and CE (Common [or Christian] Era) instead of AD (Anno Domini), but not all.

Answer 5

Pancake day...?

There is a quite well developed secular celebration of Christmas. Remember Santa? Now there is even a secular Easter - remember the Easter Bunny.

Jesus was not actually born in December. Thus, New Years has nothing to do with Jesus.

The Christian celebration of Christmas was actually just co-opted from an existing Pagan celebration.

Brush up on the facts before thinking you are smart.

Answer 6

I'm an athiest but I celebrate Christmas etc because my fiance and family are Catholics. I can't really not go round on Christmas day because it's so important to them. I suppose if I were on my own or with another athiest, I'd still have to work off the regular calander just to know what I was doing, but I wouldn't celebrate religious holidays as much.

Answer 7

Christmas is a pagan holiday celebrating the Winter Solstice.

Why do Christians celebrate a pagan holiday? Does that mean Christians are really pagans?

Atheists can do whatever we want since we don't live in fear of a homicidal psychopath watching our every move.

The Gregorian calendar is not based on the birth of anyone. It is based on an arbitrary period unrelated to anything.

Answer 8

I only celebrate it for family, but I avoid it as often as possible. By the way, how can you say it's about Christ's birth with a straight face? It's just a legit way to enhance capitalism. It's not even about Jesus any more, it's more like the dollar sign.

How am I not "allowed" celebrate a New Year? It is in fact (GASP!) a NEW year.

Unfortunately all calenders are altered by other people's religious faiths. I should be asking you why I have to wait till Monday to get a check cashed when I'm an Atheist.

Answer 9

We celebrate whatever we please, we just don´t take it terribly seriously.

Christmas is essentially a pagan festival. It was taken over from the Pagens in the effort to impose Christianity on them. Scotland used not to celebrate Christmas for this reason, believing it to be a Pagan Winter feast, which of course it is, as the precise date of Christ´s birth is a mystery.

The calender we work off is the Roman calender, as you do. We´re happy to take year Zero as the date of Chrit´s birth as you have to start somewhere and that date has become accepted. It´s a convention. I´d be just as happy if they took Pontious Pilates birthday.

Athiests, generally. do not believe in a Pol Pot approach to culture any more than Christians do.

Or do you believe that there is something wrong with referring to the fourth day of the week as Thursday, meaning the day of the God Thor? Likewise the other days of the week, all of which are named after Norse Gods.

Answer 10

We thank Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny (which, by the way, goes back to pagan ritual days when the pagans believed rabbits were a sign of fertility and rebirth. The Christians just stole the rabbit to win pagans over to Christianity), pancakes (which even athiests like) and get drunk on New Year's because we'll take any excuse to party.