7 ms·
Thank you for being grateful. Please also note that Christmas is not a thing for a lot of people. Jews, Chinese, Muslims.
by hashimotonomora 5y ago
Thank you for being grateful.
Please also note that Christmas is not a thing for a lot of people. Jews, Chinese, Muslims.
- Godel_unicode 5y ago"Chinese" is not a religion. There are quite a large number of ethnically Chinese people who celebrate Christmas as a holy day. There are many more for whom it is a holiday. And many more who don't celebrate at all. Demographics are complicated.
- bell-cot 5y agoTrue - but their cultures & religions having different special & sacred days does not much change the nature of "some people will have to work on those day". (Yes, when you've got enough diversity of cultures & religions, shifts can be swapped around so that nobody has to work... Nice, except that being one of those who work on those days is also something special.)
- dlivingston 5y agoYawn. Christmas is ostensibly a religious holiday, yet those from all faiths and cultures celebrate it. I am an atheist and it is my favorite holiday by far. I know Jews and Buddhists and Hindus who celebrate. It is a cultural holiday, not a religious holiday. This is a very important point.
- hashimotonomora 5y agoChristmas is literally Christ’s mass. If there’s a widespread religious celebration it’s that.
- bachmeier 5y agoMaybe a different way to state the point is that you need to distinguish between the relationship of Christmas to Christianity and the Christmas holiday (in the US). If you search on the history of Christmas, you'll find that until relatively recently (late 1800s) it wasn't even a holiday in the US. You will find that in some cases Christians passed laws punishing people for celebrating Christmas in the US. Easter was the dominant holiday in the very early church, with Christmas being relatively minor. We celebrate Christmas as we do in the US because it's an official holiday. This also says nothing of the Orthodox Christians that celebrate Christmas on a different day. The distinction is pretty clear for them - Dec 25 is purely a holiday, since that's not the day they celebrate the birth of Jesus.
- midasuni 5y agoChristmas is literally a festival in the middle of winter with Turkey and family and lights and trees and a jolly fat man and presents and cheesy music and films we’ve watched a dozen times, nothing to do with religion. Your mileage may vary, and if it does involve religion good for you, but for millions it doesn’t, but it’s still the most wonderful time of the year.
- dlivingston 5y agoJust as Easter is a celebration of Ishtar, the Babylonian deity, and All Hallow’s Eve is a remembrance of departed saints.
- hashimotonomora 5y agoYes! Thank you.
- alchemism 5y agoWhile Ishtar can be considered an equivalent goddess, it is not quite accurate as the rite was most-likely originating from a Germanic/Slavic/Baltic entity, Eostre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ēostre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ēostre
- driverdan 5y agoChristmas is literally Christian hijacking of Saturnalia.
- fortran77 5y agoWhat an insensitive take! It is a religious holiday. I don't celebrate it. It's fine if other people do. Stop trying to shove it down everyone's throat.
- dlivingston 5y agoI’m not trying to shove it down anyone’s throat; I’m just saying that culturally it has separated itself from religion almost completely and, because of that, is celebrated by people of all backgrounds and faiths.
- fortran77 5y agoI'm Jewish. None of the Jews I know celebrate Christmas, or any holiday of another faith. I spent today (in London) at synagogue.
- dlivingston 5y agoVery interesting. Is it safe to assume Orthodox?
- hashimotonomora 5y agoJews in general don’t celebrate Christmas, or any holiday of another faith.