what does christmas mean to you??

Answer 1

Tradition, family, friends, food, drink, presents, religion, santa claus, emotion, nostalgia, etc etc

Christmas is important for a lot of reasons. It's more than just a holiday.

Answer 2

I stopped celebrating Xmas. It got too commercial and i was tired of it. Recently I learned how Xmas got it's origins and that really sealed it for me.

Many people are under the assumption that Christmas has it's origins in Christianity. However...

Roman officials decided on December 25th as the date for Christmas because they were trying to convert their heavily Pagan nation to the religion. The Pagan's Mid-Winter festival, Saturnalia, was held at this time of the year. In order to lure them over, many holidays that are now associated with Christianity were decided by the dates of corresponding Pagan holidays and festivals.

Christmas was more like Mardi Gras than the holiday we know today up until as late as the late 19th century. Yes, that's right, Mardi Gras! In England, during the 17th century, Protestants had taken over the country. Being very religiously strict they actually outlawed Christmas for it's vulgarity. Of course the people wanted their celebration so they in turn reinstated the Monarchy.

In the United States, after the Revolutionary War, anything English as shunned. Therefore Christmas was reinvented. It was decided the holiday would be about family and togetherness rather than raucous partying.

The Christmas tree also has it's roots in Pagan culture. Evidence of "Christmas" trees date back as far as Egypt. Santa Claus in his modern form was also only recently invented. In the 1940's he was revamped as the jolly old man we all know. Actually this was done by advertising agencies and stores of the time in order to help sell merchandise. Before that, Santa was more in line with the partying ideology of the Pagan Christmas. In fact, Santa's image evolved from a Pagan gnome like creature. Very much unlike what we know today.

Answer 3

To me, it is a celebration of love and light.

We know that Jesus was probably not born at this time, but rather in the Spring. No one knows for sure the actual date.

Many Christian traditions were created to convert pagans, thus we have the "christmas tree", Yule Log, Holly (a symbol of the pagan god) and many other symbols which have nothing to do with Jesus.

Christians celebrate the birth of God's "son", while pagans celebrate the rebirth of the sun and the days getting longer. Thus, this is where the "light" is born.

It is a time for familys to come together and put aside their differences. It is a time to celebrate life, light and love. It is a time where pagans and Christians can come together and sit with each other at the same table in celebration and find the magic in all that is around us. It is a time where, perhaps, only pumpkin pies are burning.

During this season of giving, I celebrate life, the light that is to come and the love I have for all mankind. I celebrate our diversity and our similarities. I honor all life and pray for peace.

Blessings to All.

Answer 4

A break from the hustls and bustle of work. When I was a child, christmas for me was the endless giving of gifts that I receive. But now that I am older, it is just one ordinary day.

Answer 5

to me christmas means spending lots n lots n lots of money on my kids all at once over a preiod of months then watching my 2 and 3yr old get excited opening there pressies aswel as my partner .going to see our mums and eating there christmas dinners aswel as ours cause im not a good cook beleave me (ha ha)

Answer 6

G'day jhawkfan,

Thank you for your question.

Christmas means spending time with my family and relaxing.

Seasons greetings

Answer 7

spending time with family. have about 4 different gatherings to go to.

Answer 8

Seeing family and friends. You must realize that one day they aren't going to be there.

Answer 9

Just another pagan holiday.

Answer 10

Lots of cookies, every where you go.