It is traditional for me as my family is VERY Anglican (my father for fun, did a distance theology degree....) however I've been a practicing Buddhist for about 6 years. I've not held Christian beliefs long before that but I always celebrated with my family.
I can't get home this year as I just had a baby. So now comes the question of, do I celebrate on my own?
My partner was often told "Santa Claus can't afford to give to all the children, and since he knows you don't need extra toys to be happy he's not coming to you this year" - so he doesn't really care about Christmas either way now.
I do believe that Jesus lived and was a great teacher. I believe the world would be better if more people tried to take his messages to heart and live by them. I do believe the date picked to celebrate him is important (I also celebrate Martin Luther King Day).
I just feel funny as its suppose to honour the birth of a deity in which I don't believe....
2007-12-03 21:45:13 · 26 answers · asked by Noota Oolah 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
In the Buddhism I practice there are no holidays, New Years day is a bit special, but that's it. The tradition if Christmas is important to me.
2007-12-03 22:07:28 · update #1
I am not a Christian and nor do I come from a Christian background but I used to put up a tree. It's fun. Just haven't had a chance in the last few years :(
2007-12-03 21:52:31 · answer #1 · answered by R 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
My family is non Christian. I am a pantheist, my husband and two of my kids are Unitarian Universalists and my other kid is an agnostic of the uninterested sort.
However, Christianity is part if our heritage and Christmas is part of our heritage and culture. So we do celebrate Christmas as a way of connecting with and honoring our heritage and culture. It is a way of sharing some old family traditions, etc.
Every family puts their own "swing" on holidays anyway. Each family has different things they emphasize and downplay, etc. Christmas, due to how history has played out is not just a holy day for a specific faith, it is an amalgamation of many faith, traditions and cultures.
You will work out what it needs to be for your family. Since your baby is tiny, you have a few years of experimenting before you have to do a lot of explaining.
Winter Solstice is the holy day that my family observes during the Winter, and we don't let it get lost in the shuffle. It is not a "paganization of Christmas" it is it's own day, with it's own meaning and significance.
2007-12-04 06:18:33 · answer #2 · answered by eiere 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I think people have been creating their own meaning in holidays, rituals, and traditions through recorded history. The real question is what does the day/season mean to you and do you have the need or desire to make a celebration or ritual. For me I'm not religious at all but I also know the celebration has been about things other than Jesus's birth. It was an appropriated holiday of pagans that originally had its basis in the solstice and the legthening of the days and promise of the return of spring. I also grew up loving the secular Santa legend and having lots of fun with it and getting together with loved ones and feasting has given me years of happy memories and pleasure in planning, cooking, and anticipation of future feasts. I also appreciate the message of peace, love, and generosity and choose to make those common themes I embrace with Christians. So I don't feel hypocritical or wrong for observing certain aspects of the season this time of year. Its something I thought through and consciously chose which parts meant something to incorporate and which did not. Its up to you and I wouldn't feel wrong about supporting the ideas while not actually being part of a religion.
2007-12-04 05:56:36 · answer #3 · answered by Zen Pirate 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I was raised Catholic but have been a practicing Wiccan for 14 years now. I still celebrate Christmas. To me, it's not about the birth of Jesus Christ (we know he wasn't born on December 25th anyway). It's more about the ones you love and honoring your friends and family. For a long time, I haven't cared about gifts. I've loved the family traditions that have been held since I was a child. They're the kind of things that bind us as a family, make us laugh and grow.
The only problem I have with anyone non-Christian, or even Christian celebrating Christmas is when they make it more about commercialism. I have never and will never worship the almighty dollar. The ones who do miss out on what's important in life. The ones who spend every cent to get the latest things are the ones who are the most empty inside.
2007-12-04 05:53:38 · answer #4 · answered by Erin 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I believe Christmas has a different meaning to everyone and it is up to you how you chose to celebrate it. It should be a time of happiness where you can relax and reflect on they year gone by and look forward to the new one to come with friends and family.
I do believe the real meaning behind Christmas is often forgotten and people should see this.
2007-12-04 05:53:24 · answer #5 · answered by Bfree 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Nothing wrong with a non Christian celebrating Christmas at all especially considering Christmas is a rip off of Yuletide. Christians have no room to say that you can't celebrate the winter solstice.
2007-12-04 05:51:41 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
The day was appropriated, like most Christian holidays, from the pagan calender. It was not Christ's birthday. The celebration is not really Christian, it is now more cultural. Santa has more sway than Jesus is many cases. And consumerism rules over religion at Christmas time.
2007-12-04 05:55:44 · answer #7 · answered by Ivor L 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I think you're taking this all too seriously. Christmas is, for the most part, a secular holiday. Why do you "feel funny?" Nobody is telling you to "honour the birth of a deity." To celebrate the holiday or not is your own decision.
2007-12-04 06:01:15 · answer #8 · answered by San Miguel 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Christmas was around before jesus, you can choose to celebrate it anyway you wish and for whatever reason, I choose to celebrate it as a way to celebrate my own family and have fun with them, to give a gift, cause it is fun to give something, i always try to give something that a person need though not just frivolous spending.
2007-12-04 05:52:12 · answer #9 · answered by oldwise1 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
You should do what you want. If you feel awkward then don;t celebrate it, it you feel you can't do without Christmas then celebrate it. Why allow convention to dictate what you can and can't do?.
As you were brought up Anglican you should know that the Christmas holiday is as the same season as earlier pagan festivals. Why not celebrate it as Yuletide, or the feast of the son of Isis (goddess of nature), or Saturnalia (Winter Solstice), if you can't bring yourself to celebrate Christ's birth.
2007-12-04 06:07:30 · answer #10 · answered by Babs 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋