does any one else hate everything about christmas like I do? the religious aspect of it means less than nothing to me,and the commercial part just pisses me off. makes me wish jack-skellington was real. I haven't participated in it with my family for probably 20 years. every one in my immediate family is christian, so they "celebrate" the religious aspect of it and only do presents for the grand kids. fine with me, it is just another day in december for me.
Some do. My wife's first pregnancy miscarried early Christmas morning. It has never been the same for us.
I enjoy Christmas. It's never been anything other than a secular holiday to me. It's a good time to reconnect with family and fortunately I like everyone in my family. We don't have children so we can control how much we want to participate in festivities. Online shopping allows me to avoid crowds, streaming services don't have commercials, I'm not on social media so I'm not comparing myself to others or interacting with people I'd rather not, so technology enables me to insulate myself from most of the holiday madness. I do keep up the tradition of sending Christmas cards with short personal notes. I often have to work on holidays and this year I'm working Christmas Eve, Christmas night, New Year's Eve, and New Year's night, which doesn't bother me.
gifts and commercialisation aside; Christmas is coming together with family and enjoying time with one another in a time of year that everything is dark and bleak.
It's a welcome oasis. But not religious, to me. Although a few years back we went to a midnight mass, because my gf wanted to witness one.
But mostly:
https://youtu.be/06MF6VKufBk
I would bring back the original Saturnalia (mass drinking and orgy). A historical Jesus would have been born when the lambs were, which is in the Spring Equinox, not the Winter Solstice.
Quote from: Baruch on November 17, 2020, 11:05:10 AM
I would bring back the original Saturnalia (mass drinking and orgy). A historical Jesus would have been born when the lambs were, which is in the Spring Equinox, not the Winter Solstice.
I've always wondered why Christmas gets all the fanfare compared to Easter. Everyone gets born, and with IVF there are virgin births, but being reborn after being dead for three days is a pretty fancy trick.
Quote from: bob nelson on November 16, 2020, 06:07:33 PM
does any one else hate everything about christmas like I do? the religious aspect of it means less than nothing to me,and the commercial part just pisses me off.
My family does it a bit differently than the traditional turkey-and-santa Christmas. We mostly just use it to feast (tourtiere and quiche > turkey) and talk and play games. A lot cheaper and much more personable and engaging.
(https://cf-images.us-east-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/1033249144001/9eeba471-72fe-4b9a-a246-29f0caac4cb0/0238a572-c594-4367-bbab-15e12d8379d9/640x465/match/image.jpg)
It tastes so much better than it looks, trust me! Savory and hot with allspice. Killer with mulled cider.
Quote from: GSOgymrat on November 17, 2020, 02:59:57 PMI've always wondered why Christmas gets all the fanfare compared to Easter. Everyone gets born, and with IVF there are virgin births, but being reborn after being dead for three days is a pretty fancy trick.
Because Christmas is by far the most commercial holiday and therefore businesses have much more of a vested interest in promoting it.
Christmas is family event for us. Christ be damned.
Quote from: Baruch on November 16, 2020, 07:00:34 PM
Some do. My wife's first pregnancy miscarried early Christmas morning. It has never been the same for us.
Kind of the boat my dad was in. His sister died on Christmas day when he was a kid. While he made efforts to enjoy the holiday with the rest of us, it always brought back depressing memories for him.
Quote from: GSOgymrat on November 17, 2020, 02:59:57 PM
I've always wondered why Christmas gets all the fanfare compared to Easter. Everyone gets born, and with IVF there are virgin births, but being reborn after being dead for three days is a pretty fancy trick.
Eastern Orthodox Christians (the original kind) have Christmas, but it isn't as big as Epiphany (in January, celebrating Jesus' baptism primarily) and they follow the original Church calendar, not the bastardized Catholic one. Even though St Nicholas is a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Easter is the primary celebration in Christianity. Christmas became big in N European countries like England and Germany where the pagan name is Yule.
@PopeyesPappy ... sorry your aunt died on Christmas Day. One of my best friends, she was playing with matches as a kid before Christmas, and burned the house down along with the tree and gifts ;-( Proof that Satan not only doesn't like Christmas, but is anti-Capitalist ;-)
BTW ... Purim is better than Halloween, Hanukkah is better than Christmas, Passover is better than Easter ;-))
Black Friday Matters!
Quote from: Baruch on November 17, 2020, 05:18:59 PM
@PopeyesPappy ... sorry your aunt died on Christmas Day. One of my best friends, she was playing with matches as a kid before Christmas, and burned the house down along with the tree and gifts ;-( Proof that Satan not only doesn't like Christmas, but is anti-Capitalist ;-)
It was sad for dad, but that was 40 years before I was born.
Quote from: PopeyesPappy on November 17, 2020, 09:52:03 PM
It was sad for dad, but that was 40 years before I was born.
We are 99% determined by what our ancestors did (including language, hence the drive for NewSpeak). This is why liberals want to abolish history and ancestors. But kill their parents first ;-) Babies see no reason why they shouldn't be able to poop without a diaper, or why Mommy (called commerce or government by adults) doesn't obey their every whim (why pure democracy is suicide). Trying to cope with this inheritance, is why studying history is necessary. I learned from my WW II parents, never trust a dictator (or a German ;-)). History (a prejudiced kind of ethnic storytelling ... see Herodotus) tells me what my parents could not in a digestible form.
So you were invisibly affected by what your dad and mom experienced, and your grandparents ... of course babies think, if you can't see it, it doesn't exist.
Of course natural, adopted and foster parents all impact you. My father, when he was 9, his mother died from breast cancer. He also was playing in the Rio Grande river about that age, and a boy with him, was swallowed by quicksand right in front of him. He never ever got over that shit. His problems impacted me profoundly, even if he never told me those stories.
If there is a party, I'm in. Just don't make me watch the History channel and it's stupid airing of "the story of jesus"
Correction. Unless you want me to dissect every aspect of why that history channel special is wrong, baseless, inaccurate, etc... don't put it on the TV in front of me. Because I will ruin your night and holiday, and I'll have a fucking blast doing it.
I'll probably be the only one in the get-together having any fun lol
Educated viewers have always been the enemy of TV.
Quote from: PickelledEggs on November 20, 2020, 02:34:13 PM
Correction. Unless you want me to dissect every aspect of why that history channel special is wrong, baseless, inaccurate, etc... don't put it on the TV in front of me. Because I will ruin your night and holiday, and I'll have a fucking blast doing it.
I'll probably be the only one in the get-together having any fun lol
The history channel has lost its credit so many years ago
The History.com Jesus production of April 2019? Didn't see it, but it isn't scholarly, just a bit more creative style than the usual Hollywood big box production. The Dr Carrier lectures are really quite good if narrow minded.
"Was There A Real Jesus Christ? | Pagan Christ | Timeline" ... which is about the gnostic, non-Christian Jesus is far more historically real ...
of course in paganism, you have required human sacrifice for the greatest magic. The sacrifice of a god-man would be the most powerful of all (see death of Heracles). The Wicker Man is a mass sacrifice later done to individual and sometimes multiple Christian heretics.
The story of the onion of historical religions in GB are described by ...
"The Terrors Of Old Pagan Britain | Gods And Monsters | Timeline"
The war gods today are worshipped thru team sports.
Quote from: bob nelson on November 16, 2020, 06:07:33 PM
does any one else hate everything about christmas like I do? the religious aspect of it means less than nothing to me,and the commercial part just pisses me off. makes me wish jack-skellington was real. I haven't participated in it with my family for probably 20 years. every one in my immediate family is christian, so they "celebrate" the religious aspect of it and only do presents for the grand kids. fine with me, it is just another day in december for me.
No cheer at all. Tis a family week of winter solstice with beer, presents, feasts, parties, and people atleast trying to care. Plus the upsides with eggnog, and cider that I wait the whole shitty year to drink. I'm sure as sugar you need literal and metaphorical sugar rushes to survive shitty years like this one.
Looks like christmas is canceled just like thanksgiving this year. Other family members are freaked-out about all this covid bullshit and don't want to get together. So it's just the wife and I this year. I really miss our family get togethers and enjoy the kids and grandkids and my sisters company. How ever, not having to endure the "holy" aspect of it is fine with me. This year can't be over fast enough.
'holiness"
You could just invite the adults out to a bar anytime and buy everyone a drink. That is the only true American celebration ;-)
Quote from: Mr.Obvious on November 17, 2020, 06:28:35 AM
gifts and commercialisation aside; Christmas is coming together with family and enjoying time with one another ...
Oh, fuck that noise.
I don't get much about religous holidays. It's not celebrated in my family. We didn't fast, we didn't participate in the eid... and the feasts following was just a holiday. But when I was a kid, I was always annoyed that other kids got good pocket money in the ending holiday of Ramadan. It's a tradition. You visit your elders -your parents included even in the same house- kiss their hand, put on your forehead -it is a common gesture too- and you get money. You also get new set of garments for those visits head to toe. You eat candy, chocolate and every kind of stuff which usually you are not supposed to...etc. I was not into that sweet snack thing and got the garments but the money part was annoying. And I couldn't get why my mother was so strictly against it at that age, LOL. How right she was. Yeah, I do love her.
But New Year's Eve has always been so much fun. Dad got us a small pine tree in a big pot when we were around, I dunno, 8 and 6? And that little tree got bigger and bigger getting decorated every year since we were old enough to spend the night out. Then it got planted outside in the garden.
When we got around to 16, New Year's dinner was a big deal because we were allowed to drink wine. LOL We have stopped getting presents around that I guess.
But you know what I remember so fondly from kid period? Besides toys and stuff, my father would buy a big set of coloured pencils and a whole pack of papers almost every year and we would play with that untill we pass out. A few of my fave toys are from those days too. (Legos, a train set, walkie talkies...etc.)
After a lot of years with no decoration and all, I think because a lot of cheap politics went around it -why do people decorate trees in a 'muslim' country- when it was something nobody cared about before, I got a small plastic tree several years ago and I'm decorating it every year now. It's cheap, has tacky little decorations bulbs and stuff. It's cute.
For secular folks, any religion is like a foreign ethnic group, even if you are otherwise in the same ethnic group. In olden times, this would have led to fatal shunning (excommunication).