Do Atheists or non-believers celebrate Christmas?

Question

if you do celebrate Christmas why? Christmas is the birth of Christ. Why do you celebrate it if you dont believe?

Answer 1

Christians celebrate Christmas, atheists and nonbeliever celebrate Xmas.

Answer 2

Midwinter Celebrations pre-date Christianity by thousands of years. The Pagan Holidays of Yule and Saturnalia, Mithra's' Birthday (that's where the Star came from), and others were mid-winter festivals from various parts of Europe (the Christmas tree was a German pagan custom) that were adopted by the Christians because nothing they could do would make people stop celebrating them. Jesus' birthday was in April until the 5th century (that's why the Shepherds were in the fields, in winter the sheep would have been in pens where they could be fed from the winter stores) when it was moved to midwinter so that the Church could claim that the Pagan holidays had actually been Christian all along. The did the same thing with Oestara (in Old English pronounced EAST-a-ra), the Spring Equinox, with it's candy rabbits and children hunting decorated eggs. Did nobody ever wonder what those had to do with the Resurrection of Christ? Or, even why it's called Easter? There are many reasons to celebrate mid-winter (Christmas if you must), cultures all over the world do it, which is why it was banned by the Mayflower Puritans at their Plymouth Rock settlement, they considered it a example of "decadent Popist excesses". Given all that, how can you question any ones right to celebrate this ancient Pagan Holiday?

Answer 3

I'm an Atheist and I love to celebrate Christmas!

I know an aggressive, in your face Christian who once told me that an Atheist who celebrated Christmas was hypocritical. I've been told that Atheists can't even CALL the holiday Christmas because they don't believe in Christ.

Loving Christians love to tell me that since I'm Atheist, I might as well just work over the Christmas holiday!

Hogwash! Midwinter celebrations existed long before Christ was invented. Ask your Wiccan friends (if you're accepting enough to have any.)

The midwinter Solstice, the shortest day of the year was seen as significant. The Roman festival of Saturnalia was celebrated before the birth of Christ. Christmas symbols are older than the supposed birth of Christ. Gathering together with friends, over food and gifts during this season is a tradition that precedes Christmas.

And why shouldn't I call this holiday Christmas? Just because I do call it Christmas doesn't mean I'm being hypocritical, any more than I would be in naming the days of the week.

Wait, you didn't know? Every day of the week is named after a DIFFERENT God.

In order, they are: Mani - Moon God, Tyr - War God, Woden - aka Odin, Thor - Thunder God, Fringe - God of Beauty (and 5 'o Clock Friday IS beautiful!), Saturn - God who ate his children, and Sunna - a Sun Goddess.

Answer 4

Christmas is not the birth of Christ. Most Christian Scholars agree that he would have been born around late Sept thru early October. Not Dec 25th. Christmas was originally a Pagan holiday, and still is to those who follow those certain god/godmen who were born on that day. Osiris, Dionysus, Mithras, many more. The reason Christmas falls on the day it does is due to the fact that the Catholic Church, when first coming into power, was trying to gain as many converts as possible. To do so, they celebrated with Pagans during their holidays. They gained converts from the Pagans and it became Christian tradition to celebrate Christmas on Dec 25th. Same with Easter, though it falls close to Passover, which was easy enough to take over from there since almost every culture has a holiday during spring.

Remember the druids when you're kissing under the mistletoe. Remember the Germanic Pagans when decorating your tree. Gifts were part of all of those winter holidays, as well as lots of food and revelry.

So if anyone truly has a "right" to celebrate Christmas, it's us Pagans.

Answer 5

Christmas is not the birth of Christ, the person known as Jesus was born actually in the spring according to most accounts. Christmas was originally a pagan holiday, I think in honor of the Red Bull and was just picked out as a day to celebrate. I am an athiest, but I do put up christmas decorations and buy gifts. Not due to christianity, but to have a time set aside to celebrate giving to friends and family. Plus stuff is usually cheaper and on sale during the holiday season.

Answer 6

I am an athiest and i celebrate it for several reasons.
Firstly its a cultural celebration - that brings friends and family together. I am not a hindu either but i celebrate that as well.

Secondly there have always been celebrations around this time long before christianity to mark the start of the new year etc. Lots of things we do at christmas are reminders of that. Holly and Ivy, at christmas is a very old english tradition.

I don't have a problem joining in other peoples celebrations and spending time with my familyl and friends.

Answer 7

Christmas is a holiday based on a Pagan holiday called Yule. Jesus was born in a completely different season. So why don't you celebrate Christ's birth during the time of year he was actually born?

But, people celebrate around that time of year for different reasons. One, because everyone has off work that day and it's convenient. That time of year represents a joyous time for friends and family and shouldn't be limited only to people who celebrate just because they believe in a certain religion.

This time of year, many many years ago, was a very tough time without being able to get out of the house. Imagine being cooped up in a small house with probably about 5 people at least, hardly being able to get out because of the snow. You would go NUTS. So we started having a day when we would have a party and show each other appreciation. It kept out heads on straight and kept us from fighting too much.

You don't have to be Christian to celebrate that time of year, and if you think that, then that is pretty selfish and unchristian. Shouldn't you want everyone to feel love from and for each other?

Answer 8

Well I am an Atheist but that doesn't mean we don't have traditions as well

My father was Catholic (non praticing) and my mother was Prodestant (non practicing)

To us Christmas is a time to spend with family.

In addition, if you care to study history and other cultures in every one there is a celebration at the end of December (or around there).

If you think about it for a moment, it makes sense. The middle of winter, people need to celebrate. The longest day of the year, the need for human being to shake off the winter blues.

Now I celebrate Christmas for the traditions that my parents grew up with but I could easily just celebrate any of the other holidays from any culture at that time.

It's about being with family and if that offends any "believers" (just to let you know that non-believer is such a negative term) then I am sorry but you don't have a right to tell me, my family or anyone else how to show our affection for each other

Answer 9

Yep, I want the presents. It is also a time when my family is off work at the same time so we get to spend it together. I think it is okay to celebrate that aspect of Christmas. The tree and decorations make it a little more fun. I think we all can agree that peace and goodwill towards all is a good thing. Christmas is just the best time for it because are not working and have less stress in their lives. Oh yeah, presents!!!

Answer 10

Many of our modern Christmas traditions began hundreds of years before Christ was born. Some of these traditions date back more than 4000 years. The addition of Christ to the celebration of the winter solstice did not occur until 300 years after Christ died and as late as 1800, some devout Christian sects, like the Puritans, forbade their members from celebrating Christmas because it was considered a pagan holiday. So what is the history behind these traditions?

The Christmas tree is derived from several solstice traditions. The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and placed candles in live trees to decorate for the celebration of Saturnalia. In Scandinavia, they hung apples from evergreen trees at the winder solstice to remind themselves that spring and summer will come again. The evergreen tree was the special plant of their sun god, Baldor.

The practice of exchanging gifts at a winter celebration is also pre-Christian and is from the Roman Saturnalia. They would exchange good-luck gifts called Stenae (lucky fruits). They also would have a big feast just like we do today.

Mistletoe is from an ancient Druid custom at the winter solstice. Mistletoe was considered a divine plant and it symbolized love and peace. The tradition of kissing under the mistletoe is Druid in origin.

The Scandinavian solstice traditions had a lot of influences on our celebration besides the hanging of ornaments on evergreen trees. Their ancient festival was called Yuletide and celebrated the return of the sun. One of their traditions was the Yule log. The log was the center of the trunk of a tree that was dragged to a large fireplace where it was supposed to burn for twelve days. From this comes the twelve days of Christmas.

Even the date of Christmas, December 25, was borrowed from another religion. At the time Christmas was created in AD 320, Mithraism was very popular. The early Christian church had gotten tired of their futile efforts to stop people celebrating the solstice and the birthday of Mithras, the Persian sun god. Mithras’ birthday was December 25. So the pope at the time decided to make Jesus’ official birthday coincide with Mithras’ birthday. No one knows what time of year Jesus was actually born but there is evidence to suggest that it was in midsummer.

So, if you are celebrating any of the western traditions of Christmas this year, remember that you are actually enjoying the rituals and activities of several ancient religions whose traditions have been borrowed by the Christians over the years for the celebration of the birth of Christ

Answer 11

Most people that celebrate Christmas don't believe in Christ. I do. Believing in Christ brings on responsibilities as well as liberty.