Christmas

Here's my atheist perspective on the whole thing...

I don't mean any offence, but I don't think that Christmas, as most non-religious people celebrate it in this country, is a Christian festival. It's a secular festival which takes its name and date from the pre-existing Christian festival from which it developed, just as the Christian festival took its date from a pre-existing pagan festival. I don't mean to suggest that Christmas's pagan roots mean that it's somehow not really Christian, or that the Christians who celebrate it aren't really celebrating a Christian festival. I just mean that it's possible for an atheist to celebrate Christmas without either ignorance or hypocricy

So what are we celebrating in this post-Christian Christmas? For me the answer is family and friends. Every Christmas my extended family gets together, and since I've left home it's even more special for me as it's one of the few times I see my immediate family as well. The exchange of gifts is helpful because it is part of the bonding between different members of the family. The presents aren't anything we couldn't have bought for ourselves, but the fact that someone else has thought about us enough to guess what we'd want and go out and but them is meaningful. Sending cards to friends is a way of 'touching base' with them and making sure you don't lose touch.

The family traditions that surround the Christmas day, the way we go through more or less the same routine every year, serve to underline the specialness of the day and set it apart from any other family get-together. (Just because I reject belief in the supernatural does not mean I don't realize the psychological importance of ritual and tradition.)

In my opinion, getting together with my family at Christmas is worthwhile in its own right and does not need any religious story to make it meaningful.

There are other things that I get out of Christmas, of course. Good food and good wine, while perhaps less deeply meaningful than family ties, are also things that don't require anything external to justify their existence! There is also something special about the fact that it is in mid-winter, and from then on the days will be getting longer and warmer and we can think of summer as in front of us rather than behind us. And then, quite a long way down on my list, I must admit I do quite like getting new stuff.

But my answer to your question is, the most important part of Christmas to me is family, and if anything giving up Christianity has allowed me to focus more clearly on this.

That's just my answer, and I'm sure lots of people would answer differently. But I would stress that it's a big mistake to think that if someone isn't celebrating the Christian Christmas then they have nothing left but materialism and self-centredness.

Hope this makes sense! I may tidy this up and make it into a blog post of my own at some point.

It is true that Christmas was based around Yule that the pagans celebrated, but they also took Halloween from the Christians.

Sure spend Christmas with family, that's part of what Christmas is about, but it's also about the birth of Christmas. Celebrating the fact the saviour has been born. If you're celebrating a birthday, via a party, you have famiy and friends around, why should Christmas been any different. It just really pisses me off that Christmas carols about the birth of Christ have already started to be sung, he's not board for another couple of weeks.

Christmas is only the holiday over here because we are supposidly a Christian Country. If we were not Christmas would not be a holiday and Christians would have to take the day of work.

People who don't me don't celebrate my birthday so why should people who don't know Christ celebrate his... or even make out they know his to celebrate him. It's just part of how ego-centric society is. I wouldn't mind if people want to celebrate christmas if they would admit it#s because they want the presnets rather than because it's about Christ.

People should just stop pretending that's all. Christmas is a Christian Holiday, if other's want to celebrate Christmas fine, just don't call it Christmas. Christmas is for Christians, plan and simple. Will people be celebrating Hanaka, or other faiths celebrations around this time of year... of course not because that is not their beliefs, so why do it with Christmas? That's all I'm saying.

So should we re-name Thursday because we don't believe in Thor?

I do see what you mean people about celebrating something called 'Christmas' when they don't believe in Christ. I think I personally would be happier if it had a different name. But Christmas is what everyone calls it and by insisting on using a different name for it I'd be making more of a statement than I want to. As I've said, for me Christmas is not a Christian festival but a secular festival whose name reflects its Christian roots. By celebrating Christmas in this way I'm not pretending anything. I've explained my rationale for celebrating an atheist Christmas and I wouldn't want anyone to think I was celebrating a Christian one. How am I pretending?

Once again, it's a false dichotomy to say that everyone who isn't celebrating Christ's birth is ego-centric and only in it for the presents.

Late November/December is when I tend to be least well, so I have reservations about it. I do enjoy Christmas, though - both its family and its church aspects - even though I am usually pretty flaked out by the time it arrives.

My take on names is that I reckon it's better to have everyone calling it Christmas rather than the horrible "Happy Holidays" that seems to have been imposed in the US.