Why do nonchristians have to try to change the meaning of Christmas?

Question

It really doesnt matter what traditions were incorporated to arrive to the holiday that it is today. Bottom line is, no matter what the history or the tradition, Christmas is meant to be a celebration of the birth of Christ nowadays. Many people choose to ignore that point and just stick to the secular points of christmas, which is fine, but to try to say christmas is a pagan holiday or its really some other kind of holiday is silly because as it stands today Christmas is meant to represent the birth of Christ.
I could care less how halloween started. It is now just a fun day to dress up and get candy. Does it really matter how and why Christmas started?

I get it people, christians incorporated parts of other holidays and made it their own
Irrelevant now. When you say christmas you are talking about a very specific christian holiday now. It is not a pagan celebration anymore. I seriously doubt pagans called it Christmas.
How do you know pagans didnt steal the idea from someone else?
The holiday as it is called and stands TODAY is Christmas. Not pagan holiday time.

Is everyone here claiming it was a pagan holiday going to say that the pagans called it Christmas???? They incorporated traditions of the pagan celebrations, but the holiday CHRISTMAS, is meant to be a christian celebration of the birth of Christ. Why cant you keep your own pagan traditions and come up with your own name and not call it Christmas? You cant claim that Christmas today is anything other than a holiday meant to celebrate the birth of Christ because the holiday, CHRISTMAS, is meant to celebrate the birth of Christ. If you want to take back your holiday, change the name and celebrate the holiday as you feel traditionally it should have been. But the holiday specifically named Christmas was never a pagan holiday, just a holiday that incorporated pagan ideas.

Saying I dont have the right to say christmas is about celebrating the birth of christ would be like saying what right does anyone to claim birthdays are about celebrating ones birth.
We all have diff reasons and traditions for the holiday, but the basic meaning of the holiday still remains the same.

Ray
I say who cares why it started because why it started doesnt really matter to me, what it represents now does.

I really really really dont care who celebrates it and why. It just is very incorrect to say Christmas is a pagan holiday. Christmas is a christian holiday that incorporated pagan traditions. The pagans never ever celebrated a holiday called Christmas.

Answer 1

We Pagans were here first. You owe us royalties!!!!

Answer 2

Well you really shouldn't just blindly celebrate a holiday when you don't know where it originated from. I agree that the Christian holiday Christmas isn't pagan, however it does annoy me when Christians don't know where their traditions came from. They should at least know how their holiday came to be, and what the deal is with the evergreens and the symbolism involved with the solstice.

And by the way, the pagan winter solstice is still celebrated. It's not just all about Christmas, and the fact that we celebrate it today doesn't make it Christmas. The older traditions haven't just died out with the reign of Christmas.

Answer 3

Christmas or "Yule" is much older than Christianity, and therefore is not JUST a Christian holiday.

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"A winter festival was traditionally the most popular festival of the year in many cultures. Reasons included less agricultural work needing to be done during the winter, as well as people expecting longer days and shorter nights after the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.[5] In part, the Christmas celebration was created by the early Church in order to entice pagan Romans to convert to Christianity without losing their own winter celebrations.[6][7] Most of the most important gods in the religions of Ishtar and Mithra had their birthdays on December 25. Various traditions are considered to have been syncretised from winter festivals including the following:"

Answer 4

It's not that non christians are trying to change christmas. It's that christians took the date that several earlier religions used to celebrate the winter solstice and turned it into their christmas. Point of fact, no one knows when Jesus was born, Not the date, not the year. If christians want to celebrate the birth of Jesus separate from those who celebrate the annual birth of the sun. The christians should change their date. The birth of the sun will not change. It is fixed in the sky by the Divine Mother/Father.

I am neither christian or pagan, but one who believes in truth and justice represented by the Egyptian goddess Maat.

Answer 5

So you claim to be a christian yet ignore the very words G_D tells you in the bible? The bible has passages about people like this. And even how in the end times people will gather teachers to fill their itching ears as they don't want to follow the truth, the logos, the words, G_D's words.

He clearly says, bring no traditions over. Meaning holidays, way of life, etc. Pagan items brought over is doing just that.

He also stated, when Moses was up getting the tablets, that we shall make no holidays and claim them as G_D's, He killed people on that day for them making a holiday while waiting. Making and following Christmas is creating a holiday for G_D that he did not create. Do you want his wrath?

Do you follow man or Him? He asks this over n over in the bible. If you follow man, tradition and the ways of others, you follow man and not him. If you follow the bible, no matter how tortured you are, you walk with him.

Where do your footsteps appear? Today is an important time, for the father is about to knock again on that door.

Answer 6

I don't believe in your religion so I don't celebrate the birth of your major religious figure. I do find it funny though that you make such a point of Christmas being celebrated as the birth of Christ but then at the end you say "Does it really matter how and why Christmas started? way to contradict yourself!

Answer 7

It is not a celebration of the birth of Christ for those who do not accept the divinity of Christ in their lives. It is for many Americans a celebration of capitalism. Spend money, have fun, collect your dividends after. There need to be two December holidays in America: One, on December 25, a totally secular marking of the end of the year; then on Advent Sunday in their homes and churches, the celebration of of Xians of the birth of their god.

Answer 8

Um. Yeah. Y'all stole Christmas from the pagans (and the tree. Why'd you go and take the tree?). It was our holiday first. We're not changing the meaning of it. You guys did.

In case you forgot, Christianity is younger than a lot of religions, they adopted the holiday from others.

So don't say that we're all changing the meaning of Christmas. Christians changed the meaning of Yule.

Answer 9

Christians were the first to change it when they called it a celebration of the birth of Christ. Maybe you need to do some research on the origins of Christmas.

Answer 10

Christmas was stolen by the ancient Pagan religions who honored the rebirth of the God.

Rebirth of the God. Sound familiar?

Hence where you get the Christmas tree from. It represents rebirth because the pine tree is green all year long.

Also, I don't call it Christmas anymore. I call it YULE or XMAS.

"Christmas" is like everything else in Christianity. It was stolen from Pagan religions.

Answer 11

Let it be what ever it means to each individual. It's all right to no follow the rules. It's allowed.

Why should you care how others celebrate the holiday? You do it your way and the rest of us will do it our way. This is ridiculous. You remind me of a child that gets mad and threatens to get his toys and home if you don't play his way.

Wrong. No one gave their holiday away. That's what stolen means. Take without permission. You don't have exclusive rights to it.