I am an atheist who was raised Catholic but I still celebrate Christmas. I feel that I am celebrating an American tradition of gift-giving and family togetherness. I generally do not associate my celebration of this holiday with any Christian or Pagan belief (despite its origins). I'm not sure if this is because the rest of my family celebrates Christmas, because I am an acustomed to celebrating it, if I simply enjoy being swept up in the holiday, or all of the above.
I also celebrate Valentine's Day and other commercial holidays. The only holidays I do not partake in are those that are strictly religious.
So I am wondering if there are atheists who do not celebrate this holiday (Christmas). If not, why not? If so, why? What does this holiday mean to you as an individual?
2007-11-23 02:21:29 · 20 answers · asked by Christy ☪☮e✡is✝ 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I don't celebrate Christmas. I'm not sure why, I've never given it much thought. I guess because I don't have children and I'm usually working on Christmas day I have never considered it a special occasion. I'm also guessing that will change with the arrival of any children I may have.
edit: fleur, who posted below, I don't need a day set aside to remind me to give gifts to my family. I give them throughout the year, whenever I feel the urge. I'm sure I get as much pleasure out of it as the people I give the gifts to.
2007-11-23 02:27:34 · answer #1 · answered by russj 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I don't celebrate it in the traditional sense - I don't put up a tree, I don't sing carols, I don't believe in baby Jesus and the three wise men and I barely go shopping.
What I do celebrate is the time I have with family and friends and I enjoy the Peanuts cartoons on television each year.
What I fail to understand is why Christians celebrate it. It's a Pagan holiday. Do they know why Christmas is in December? Jesus wasn't born in December (assuming he existed that is). What's the significance of a tree? Why Dec 25?
Pagan, Pagan, Pagan.
2007-11-23 02:31:10 · answer #2 · answered by umwut? 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
i changed into raised Christian. My parents (now a million former-xtian and a million Lutheran) have a pair days of the three hundred and sixty 5 days placed aside to get exhilaration from eachother's organization (oftentimes), have an excellent meal, and oftentimes change presents or basically sit down around the fireplace sipping whiskey for some hours. what type of an fool would not connect contained in the festivities? i'm no longer going to church, hell we infrequently went on vacation journeys besides- we basically celebrated lately by using the undeniable fact that changed into custom and it changed into interesting. i do not have a faith telling me i'm no longer allowed to both :) so i am going to celebration it up any way i opt for to. On Christmas or Easter, i could rejoice ANY type of vacation journeys, because the dates and many the traditions from those vacation journeys were type of borrowed from countless different cultures. Wanna comprehend the humorous element about this question? the individuals who heavily ask it, not in any respect take imagine about Christmas timber, colored eggs, Easter bunnies, Santa or the different vacation mascots and traditions you are able to imagine of that originated from previously cultures and through years of custom were branded new meanings and given new names and practices. i imagine if you're gonna ask something, you'll locate extra suggestion there. Asking it is fantastically unnecessary, heresy does no longer keep on with and atheists do not truly have anybody to offend by having interesting on "somebody else's" vacation. How dare we.
2016-10-24 23:03:20 · answer #3 · answered by cuccia 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am not religious but,
Christmas has turned into a over-commercialized holiday.
It is sad that they base your economy on Black Friday.
I do not get into the hipe of the holidays, but rather the spirit of it, giving and being with the ones you love. Christmas is what YOU give it. Celebrate it the why You want to, this is America and it's your right!
Most people have forgotten the meaning
2007-11-23 02:30:01 · answer #4 · answered by Gyspy Soul 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
A holiday at the end of December has been celebrated as the most important holiday of the year , thousands of years before it was renamed Christmas .
2007-11-23 02:29:19 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I celebrate Christmas. It's not a religious holiday for my family, it's just a gift giving day. I travel to my aunt's house every Christmas to visit my relatives. To me, Christmas is a day where you buy things for each other because your birthday is too far away.
2007-11-23 02:40:35 · answer #6 · answered by lil_lil85 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As an event it doesn't mean much to me, and it depends what you mean by "celebrate". This year I'll spend the day with my immediate family (wife and children) and we have a friend over who has no other family to spend the time with. We give each other inexpensive presents and have a good meal, but that's about it. I can't be bothered with the hoop-la of a big event. I just want to relax and enjoy my time with people I love.
2007-11-23 02:54:06 · answer #7 · answered by Bad Liberal 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I do not observe Xmas, for I am an atheist, and my lover Miyuki is from Japan and knows nothing about Xmas, except what her pals and I have told her. Really, Xmas is just Christians taking over the mid-winter soltice festivals of other cultures, e.g. the Roman Saturnalia. When I saw my kid sister and her children for Xmas, I gave them some gifts, but they are 2750 miles away, and my oldest sister has started a family feud. Now, I only have Japanese associates, and they do not observe Xmas. That suits me just fine.
2007-11-23 02:34:07 · answer #8 · answered by miyuki & kyojin 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Do I celebrate Christmas as the birth date of Jesus? No.
Do I celebrate Christmas as simply a time for family and friends? Yes.
I place no religious significance to Christmas.
2007-11-23 02:31:38 · answer #9 · answered by ndmagicman 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I celebrate Christmas because it is what I have always done and because mostly everyone else in this country celebrates it. It isn't about Jesus for me and it never has been, even when I believed. It is about taking time off work, going back home to West Virginia, spending time with the people I love most in this world, and appreciating life. I don't care much for the gift giving aspect of it, though. My parents did not raise us to think of Christmas in terms of gift giving. We always got presents, but never anything extravagant like our friends got. It just isn't about that for me. I won't raise my kids to think of Christmas as a time to cash in, either.
2007-11-23 02:26:40 · answer #10 · answered by Linz VT•AM 4 · 4⤊ 1⤋