how come religons that dont believe in christisianity celebrate christmas?

Question

I'm not a christian and i dont believe in christmas.
but im glad for the holiday and also dont see the relevence between santa and the tree.
all answers so far have been great Its gonna be so hard to choose my best one!!!!

Answer 1

Christmas celebration was done a long time before Christ ever came to the earth. It was done as worship of the Sun.
When winter came the people were afraid everything died.
Except an ever green tree so they brought it in and put lights to represent the sun and moon and stars.
Had orgies to represent fertilizeing the planet. Got drunk and party lasted a long time. Later spring came and they said see there it works. They were afraid not to do it the sun maynot come back. So the Church incorporated it into Christianity and called the sun the son of God.
Changed things a bit and said Jesus was born then. Which he wasn't but it did make it seem more plausable. Because the pagans were used to celebrateing their birthdays and the thought that this was God's birthday made them happy.
So Christmas was born with all the festivities of the pagan sun worship and the church could say they changed the pagans. But actually the pagans changed them.

Answer 2

Pretty much every culture that has ever existed in the northern latitudes has had some sort of celebration at or around the winter solstice. These usually involve feasting and lights.

Christmas is not now, nor has it ever been a Christian holiday. The early Christians stole their version directly from the Roman worship of Mithras.

When you think about it, it's not really all that hard to understand why people who live in Europe, northern Asia and North America would want to gather together during the coldest, darkest part of the winter, drive back the darkness with lights and fertility symbols, and have a big, ol' ripping party.

Answer 3

There is a difference between celebrating Christmas as a religious holiday and celebrating Christmas as American tradition.

If you are celebrating Christmas as a religious holiday you are celebrating the birth of Jesus. You may attend a church service such as Midnight Mass (for Catholics) or a reenactment of the nativity story.

The gift giving aspect of Christmas is where the American tradition part comes in. The gift giving, celebratory meal, stockings on the mantle, Santa Claus, etc have nothing to do with the Christian aspect of Christmas - these are all cultural elements of the holiday that have been incorporated into the idea of Christmas.

Answer 4

Christmas isn't technically a Christian festival, but was originally a pagan one. Christ was allegedly born some time in October not December.

With the way that Christmas has become such an orgy of over indulging both in food and drink consumed and money spent, the festival has little to do with religion anyway so why shouldn't other denominations join in?

Answer 5

Christmas is an old pagan festival which celebrates the birthday of the sun. On 12/21, known as Yule, the sun reaches the southernmost, or lowest, point in the sky for the entire year. It stays at that point for 3 days, until 12/25, when it begins it's northern assent on the horizon again. Many solar deities, or sun gods, where therefore associated with 12/25.

Usually, the sun gods are depicted with long hair, which is supposed to represent the rays of the sun. Have you ever seen a depiction of Jesus? Now you know why he has long hair.

Answer 6

CHRISTMAS TIME by Larry Norman

Santa Claus is coming and the kids are getting greedy
They know what's in the stores ´cause they seen it on the TV

You go into the forest and you cut down all the trees
I know you got a power saw, but who plants the seeds

I gotta buy a present, can´t remember who it´s for
I´ll see you in a hour when I get back from the store

It used to be the birthday of The Man who saved our necks
Now it stands for Santa Claus, they spell it with an "X"!

It´s Christmas time...

P.S. In my humble opinion. Yes - Christians totally took over the pagan holiday and stomped on it. Bye bye pagan holiday. It's our holiday now and we worship Christ. That's all history now though, so let's be of good cheer and move on shall we? After all, without the Son, we would all be dead in sin.

Answer 7

Christmas is actually an ancient Pagan festival. The Christians couldn't think up any new holidays of their own, so they simply appropriated the old ones. (Easter is Pagan, too) I observe Christmas as a secular, civic holiday because I like the decorations, etc. It's a fun time even for an atheist. I just omit the Mr. and Mrs. and the kid in the barn.

Answer 8

most evidence suggesters the Jesus was actually born in spring, the Romans decided that the 25th of December would be a good time to do it as it is only 4 days away from the largest pagan celebration, the winter solstice, so by doing this the pagans still get their holiday, just with a different name. oh and i'm a satanist, and i celebrate xmas because i get presents :)

Answer 9

Hunny, I think you mean why do PEOPLE who don't believe in Christianity celebrate Christmas.

Well, there are a lot of reasons, the first is that in one sense they really don't have a choice in the matter as far as days off. Most emplyers won't allow their employees to work on Christmas becuase they close down the business.

But I personally know Jews who volunteer on that day to take over the jobs of Christians who work in emergency fields so that the Christians can have day off. One of them said to me "We used to just have chinese take-out and go see a movie, but then we thought, wouldnt' we love it if someone released us from our jobs on Yom Kippur so that we could spend the day in self-examination and prayer?" so they do things like get trained to answer 9-1-1- calls or do other things that can't shut down for a holy day.

And other people celebrate other holidays near that time, and some people simpy see it as a family thing.

If you really object to people doing any of this, hunny, then see about trying to change things so that Christmas isn't an official federal holiday. Let people have a given number of days they can take off for religious holidays, whatever those holidays are.

and really, why does this concern you?

Answer 10

We are celebrating the Winter Solstice, the time of the shortest day (in the Northern Hemisphere, that is). We are celebrating the "rebirth" of the sun, because after the shortest day the days start getting longer. It matters not what religion you are, or no religion at all -- you have to admit that without the sun we would all be dead. So it's something worth celebrating.