2007-12-15 10:28:30 · 33 answers · asked by Olivia 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Honestly yes.
Remembering the birth of Christ is the biggest part of the holidays, but also remembering family, friends, caring for others not in your regular circle; decorating, eating gobs of fattening foods is part of it too.
I do believe however that unless a person makes the birth of Christ the most important part of the holidays, they will miss out on the best part and everything else will generally be a real let-down
2007-12-15 10:36:12 · answer #1 · answered by Linda J 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Blessed hit it right on the head.
Sure, SOME aspects of Christmas were adopted from a pagan holiday. But pagans did not CALL it Christmas; they called it Winter Solstice (something like that). So Christmas is NOT a "pagan holiday", it's a Christian Holiday that used some of the aspects of Pagan holidays. Christmas is the holiday celebrating CHRIST's birth; Winter Solstice was the Christ-less holiday where you gave gifts and decorated a tree and whatnot. And if you want to get technical, Santa Claus was derived from Saint Nicolas, a famous Christian who devoted his life to the Church. So Santa Claus is somewhat related to Christians, in a way, because we wouldn't even have Santa Claus if it weren't for Saint Nicolas.
I think if someone doesn't even believe in Christ, they aren't really celebrating CHRISTmas-- they are celebrating Winter Solstice.
Sadly, I think Christ has been mostly taken out of Christmas these days. We still tell the story of Jesus' birth at my house, and we think Christ is the most important thing about Christmas; but Christmas has become so commercialized these days that it's more a celebration of "Santamas" or "Selfmas" to a lot of people.
2007-12-15 11:01:22 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I think that it should be - in my home He is. To be honest if you are not Christian then you should find something else to celebrate. Yes Christmas is celebrated at the same time as some pagan festivals but it isn't a pagan celebration, it is the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2007-12-15 11:11:36 · answer #3 · answered by Smudge 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Christ IS Christmas, dear one! Not just a "part" of it.
Merry Christmas and God bless!
2007-12-15 10:37:32 · answer #4 · answered by Devoted1 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes. Here is my take on the whole "History of Christmas" thing:
When the Church decided to celebrate Christ's birth around the time of the solstice, they gave their celebration a different name. Christmas is no more a celebration of the solstice than Kwanzaa is a celebration of Hanukkah. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ, yes, pagan traditions made their way into it, yes the date was picked to coincide with a pagan holiday. But the pagan holiday WAS NEVER CALLED CHRISTMAS. Christmas has the name of Christ in it.
2007-12-15 10:33:16 · answer #5 · answered by Thrice Blessed 6 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Never has been. Never will be. But don't tell that to the good people at WalMart and Kohls.
Many of the modern Christmas traditions began hundreds of years before Christ was born. Some of these traditions date back more than 4000 years. The addition of Christ to the celebration of the winter solstice did not occur until 300 years after Christ died and as late as 1800, some devout Christian sects, like the Puritans, forbade their members from celebrating Christmas because it was considered a pagan holiday. So what is the history behind these traditions?
The Christmas tree is derived from several solstice traditions. The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and placed candles in live trees to decorate for the celebration of Saturnalia. In Scandinavia, they hung apples from evergreen trees at the winder solstice to remind themselves that spring and summer will come again. The evergreen tree was the special plant of their sun god, Baldor.
The practice of exchanging gifts at a winter celebration is also pre-Christian and is from the Roman Saturnalia. They would exchange good-luck gifts called Stenae (lucky fruits). They also would have a big feast just like we do today.
Mistletoe is from an ancient Druid custom at the winter solstice. Mistletoe was considered a divine plant and it symbolized love and peace. The tradition of kissing under the mistletoe is Druid in origin.
How could anything associated with paganism be connected to Jesus?
2007-12-15 10:30:35 · answer #6 · answered by LineDancer 7 · 4⤊ 3⤋
I think Christ could be a part of Christmas if you chose but im atheist so Christmas is more about family to me.
2007-12-15 10:31:46 · answer #7 · answered by soccerbabe.court 3 · 4⤊ 2⤋
Of course that is why it is called Christ-Mass. Of course many people have forgotten what Christmas is all about. Those who may have forgotten should still be able to see how many hearts are filled with joy during this season.
Merry Christmas - God Bless Us, Everyone
2007-12-15 10:46:01 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Besides being the first 6 letters there is nothing christ like about christmas.
2007-12-15 10:35:33 · answer #9 · answered by Biker4Life 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Yes, a part, but not the whole thing. There is Santa Klause, Solstice and many other traditions that go along with "Christmas" time
2007-12-15 10:38:10 · answer #10 · answered by Lord Lothian 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋