Do Christians really believe they are the sole "owners" of the Christmas holiday?

Question

I recently read an answer from a Christian member stating that "Christmas totally belongs to us".

Is this a common view throughout the Christian community? If so, are these Christians even aware of the holiday's Pagan origins?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ajkbm7QZw.eu5U7oi2Utfqrd7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20071116210934AATCgpy

Answer 1

What? No! I'm Christian, and we believe that everyone is God's spiritual child, therefore Christmas is everyone's holiday. Regardless of your opinions of it's origins or anyone else's, no one or religion can own a holiday. That's stupid! Especially now that Christmas has become so commercialized...I really apologize for that bad expierience.

Answer 2

I'm a Christian. I celebrate a variety of winter holidays, including both Christmas and Yule. I grew up attending Christian schools, and somewhere around first grade, we were taught about the pre-Christian roots of Christmas. But we still celebrated it, as my church has done for many centuries. It's a day in which we acknowledge Christ's earthly incarnation. However, it has rather obvious Pagan roots. But that's never been a problem for me. Many Christian observances (Easter is another obvious example) have a pre-Christian past. So what? It doesn't mean that the holiday isn't worth celebrating. I have no problem in taking a day and devoting it to the memory of Christ's birth. I also don't have a problem with observing the Winter Solstice.

Answer 3

It's hard to generalize because there are so many millions of Christians celebrating the event in so many different ways, country to country. When people talk about the pagan origins I bet they're thinking of northern Europe, but our South American and African brothers and sisters may be more influenced by the native cultures there when they celebrate.

For me, no we don't own Christmas, but I want to celebrate Christmas, not a generic winter holiday and not some commercial greedfest. What other folks celebrate--solstice, Hanukkah, kwanzaa, whatever--is up to them. I wish them a wonderful, peaceful holiday season.

Answer 4

The holiday named Christmas is 100 percent a christian holiday. It is by definition a holiday meant to celebrate the birth of christ. If I said birthdays were meant to celebrate baptisms, would I be correct just because I choose to celebrate my baptism on my birthday? Of course not.

Christmas is a christian holiday that incorporated pagan traditions. Pagans never ever celebrated a holiday known as Christmas. The holiday known as Christmas was a brand new holiday created by christians that uses pagan symbolism and traditions to help celebrate the holiday. Just because you use other traditions from other holidays or people doesnt mean the holiday isnt completely seperate from the one it took ideas from.
The pagan holidays didnt gradually transform into Christmas. If it did then maybe you could claim it was a pagan holiday. Christians created a brand new holiday completely seperate from the pagan one and called it Christmas.


People celebrate it for many different reasons now. Many for secular reasons. But if you were to define the purpose and meaning for Christmas the only correct definition would be a christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ. Other definitions would just be your own individual personal changes to the holiday that doesnt reflect what the holiday, by definition, really is or was.

Answer 5

You can't "own" a holiday, and I think Christians are aware of that. As for the person who wrote "Christmas totally belongs to us," I don't know what he/she was referring to. I'd have to see the sentence in its original context. People use the word "belong" rather flexibly. For example, "Your heart belongs to me," and "Those shoes belong on my feet."

I believe that Christmas, by definition, is a Christian holiday, as it commemorates the birth of Jesus. At the same time, I agree that it would be nice if more people recognized the Pagan origins. It might be a small step toward recognizing our common humanity.

Answer 6

I wouldn't say Christians aren't the sole owners of Christmas. Christians own things on earth but they can't own holidays. Christmas has a meaning to Christians that is about Jesus being born in as a born which is what happened on Christmas. Christians should be aware of holiday's of pagan origins. It can be common in the Christian community if Christians believe they own Christmas when they only own things on this earth. You can't own a holiday since no one owns any of these holidays. Christians that say they own Christmas should think of real meaning of Christmas which isn't about owning the holiday of Christmas. Jesus is the reason for the season of Christmas and all Christians need to realize that some time soon.

Answer 7

Christmas is for capitolists and consumers! It's an American institution that has nothing to do with Christianity are you kidding? It's as american as apple pie.

Oh, but yes, you are correct. It's interesting how many pagan correlations there are in Christian myths. But that threatens the existing power structure and centuries of patriarchy. If anyone wanted an education about anything that real, do you think we'd be so undereducated in this country as a whole?

Answer 8

I'm Christian, and I think this just shows ignorance on this person's part. I work for two atheists who celebrate the holidays as a time of celebrating traditions with their families, as all their immediate family members are too, sharing gifts and sharing their love with everyone. We need to show one another love and compassion no matter what our spiritual beliefs are. I know some Christians think that piling a bunch of gifts under the tree is celebrating Christ's birth, and I just do not agree. Besides, Christ was not born on the date that is recognized as Christmas.

Answer 9

I'm sitting here trying to figure out how one "owns" a holiday.

I don't want to be critical, but that is one of the stupidest statements I've heard of on Y!A.

Pfft...Christians like this give us all a bad name. No wonder the atheists think we're stupid.

Answer 10

We celebrate the birth OF Jesus as the reason for the season...
Yes, we know that Christians incorporated some pagan traditions in ORDER to help the pagans transition INOT the TRUTH.