If christmas was not influenced by commercialism, would anybody care about the holiday?

Answer 1

Well, I am sure Christians would still celebrate it, even though Christ was not born for the people, he died for the people. In the early days of Chritianity, Christmas was not celebrated, but Easter was.

The Bible never gives us a date when Jesus was born but since shepherds were tending to their flocks, historians believe Jesus was probably born in spring time and not December. But, there was a very popular pagan holiday Saturnalia and in the early days, the Church realized it was easier for people to accept change if it was incrimental so, Pope Julius I, declared that day as the birth of Christ and the holiday Feast of the Nativity first started.

Santa Claus became apart of the holiday shortly after the death of the real Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas was known for his genorosity and many Christians celebrated the day of his death which was December 6th. He was so popular in his time, that there were more churches named after him than after all of the apostles!!! Children used to leave carrots out on St. Nicholas Day and hopes that he would trade it for small gifts. Which explains the current idea of gift giving. Such was the popularity of St Nick, the Church feared he might actually become as popular as Christ himself. So, the two holidays were combined and the current Christmas was formed.

In time, Saint Nick transformed into Santa Claus (an american invention) and his image was first used in the States to promote the Civil War of all things. Soon, comapnies realized the power of Santa Claus and used him in early ad campaigns to promote things like Coca Cola. From there. Santa blew up and Christmas has become the phenomenon it is today.

So, I think Christians would still observe the day as that of birth of Christ, I do not think it would have anywhere the importance of the other holiday Christians hold dear, Easter.

Answer 2

Exscuse me, but Christmas has nothing to do with spending money or buying gifts or any of that junk.
If you think that it does, dude you need some serious help.
Christmas is about family, children, and Jesus. Santa was a real guy back in the far,far, far,far away days. He is ashes or a stem of a tree by now. But anyhoo, he started the whole gift giving thing that still goes on today. The rest of the decor is traditions mixed in from other cultures throughout time. And then there's Jesus, the holy child that was actually born in the summer, but since summer holidays were already set, nobody wanted an extra holiday in the summer. So they stuck it with the happiest holiday of the year.Christmas that good old St. Nickolas started. The more people lose the holiday spirit and turn to there wallets, the more commercials we are going to see and the less actual holiday will be lost.

Answer 3

I know at least true Christians would still care about Christmas because the Holiday is truly not about the presents and all of those things that the commercialism made bigger then what you could say they should be for Christmas is the time to celebrate Jesus not all the other things that go on Yes presents did come about because of what the Holiday is about but we should remember what else Christmas is about Besides presents

Answer 4

YES! There are millions of Christians in the world! Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birth, our Savior, God's promise to us for eternal salvation. It is a Holy Day (holiday in the latter term for it).

I don't do anything commercialized about it. I set up a small tree with homemade ornaments and our nativity set. We celebrate Christmas for the full 12 days (Dec. 25 - Jan.6). This is the true Christmas season, not just Dec. 25. The Epiphany is also very important in this season.

Gift giving is useless, lying to kids about Santa is useless and unnecessary. I know as a child that my mom bought the presents and I told my son that I buy the presents. We give gifts that are about the Christmas season, not perfume, jewelry and clothes and stuff. Christmas has been allowed to be a secular holiday yet it's really about remembering why Jesus came to us.

Answer 5

Someone said that commercialism in the early sixties was minimal. Bullshit. Santa Claus was invented in the late 30's by Coca-Cola, and that is a fact. Before that there was Chris Kringle, Saint Nicholas, and Father Christmas, but Santa Claus came along and began to pave the way to our current state of Holiday gift giving, complete with store stampedes and general ill will toward man.

I still think that devout Christians would celebrate Christmas without our modern commercialism, much as they did for nearly 2000 years prior to Santa and the rest.

Answer 6

People and cultures have celebrated the winter soltice around this time for millenia. The winter celebrations occurred in December long before Christ's birthday was ascribed to this date under Constantine after his conversion in 313 AD.

Hypothetically speaking, if people for generations celebrated at this time without commercialism, it's logical to assume that they would continue to do so without the consumer-mania we see today.

Despite the fact that Christmas' origins were pagan, my family and I still have no problem using this time of year as an opportunity to celebrate the birth of Christ and make that the focus for the season - not the gifts or it's original cultic foundations. The actual birthday of Christ remains unknown, although some early Christian writings have placed it on 12/25 and 1/6. Others have mentioned May or November as possible birth months. It's all purely speculation and for a Christian, it's largely un-important.

Answer 7

Yes. The commercialism is still incidental to most people, especially those of us who remember what Christmas meant when we were kids. It was not a product to be bought, it was an experience.

Answer 8

My birthday is not commercialized and I still care. Independence day is not commercialized and people still care. New year is not (so) commercialized and people still care.

So, yeah, I believe people would still care. Perhaps there wouldn't be so much histeria and high profits for retailers on the season, but people would still care... specially if they have the day off!

Answer 9

yes their are still many who remember that we are celebrating the birth of Jesus and that this is a special time of year where we all share with others family,friends and strangers. Many of us give time and money to help other people. It's not that we do not give to others during the rest of the year it's that now is the time that we celebrate giving to others because that is what this season is all about.

Answer 10

It would probably not be as socially significant as it is today, but for family and friends it would be enjoyable because the time spent together would matter more. I just wish it were so. Merry Christmas anyway!!