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Christmas is literally Christ’s mass. If there’s a widespread religious celebration it’s that.
by hashimotonomora 5y ago
Christmas 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.