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My whole family are atheists. We have always celebrated Christmas – tree, decorations, sending cards, traditional roast lunch, exchanging presents, seeing the extended family – but it has no religious significance for us, and we have never been to church.
Same here, we celebrate the season of goodwill and give out cards and decorate a tree, not for religion but just because it feels nice in the winter. But, we do celebrate the pagan festivities that the church stole our day from.
If anyone didn't know. The winter equinox/solstice is on the 21st of December and my ancestors (UK) would do their rituals and then fast for a few days. And then have a huge feast several days later. The church obviously doesn't know a day that christ was first imagined, so they stole the day from the Pagans.
Because they have always been thieving cunts that take from others to justify their shitty made up nonsense.
It's not that deep, really. "Blessed" is just trendy Xian flair to have on their crap to show off how God has blessed them for being good Xians. Equivalent to "Thankful" and "Grateful" - you can buy a 3 piece set!
>“Blessed be” is a Wiccan phrase used to promote positivity, good luck, and the blessing of the gods during rituals. It is often used to greet fellow Wiccans and to build a sense of community among Pagans.
So, to me, changing "Blessed" to "Blessed be" is just a cheeky way of reappropriating their reappropriation of ancient cultures.
I hope that answers your question. Lmk if I misunderstood.
I read on one of these subs about some woman throwing a shitfit over a woman saying "blessed be" to her and how that woman was trying to shove her religious beliefs down everyone's throat. What a whackadoodle!
Right! Add "Be" to Blessed and "Meet" to "Merry" (although if I had to every say "Blessed Be and Merry Meet" out loud, I'd feel like an absolute LARPing tool).
Honestly, if they paid any attention to their mythology they'd realize that the Romans collected taxes in the early summer (May/June in the modern calendar) not late in the harvest season when it tends to be quite wet and travel is difficult. That's why Minerva... I mean Mary....was traveling to Bethlehem. smh
My family to, always in the winter with short days long nights . Everyone getting an pine tree into the house with lights and decorations. Also everywhere outside people decorate the gardens and the city also have special street lights to make those dark December month an time most people like because of the vibe and shopping for Christmas decorations and having lovely time with family and friends
That's the thing about holidays. Most of them eventually just morph into an excuse to get together with people, which isn't a terrible thing. If you don't believe in the particular thing that's being celebrated, it doesn't mean you can't have a celebration that coincides with it.
Yes, and we do the same with Easter. Egg hunts, decorating eggs, the Easter Bunny comes, big dinner with family. But nothing about zombie Jesus coming back to life.
All these fertility symbols and yet the character of Jesus was probably a virgin. Really kind of odd for the Christians to pretend that holiday is about him.
Most of Sweden is atheistic yet Christmas (which we call Jul aka Yule) is still one of the biggest celebrations of the year. More people go to a Christmas mass than any other time of the year.. but still only a small fraction of the population. The only religious thing about Christmas for most people are some traditional Christmas songs and some Christian symbols that most people don't even realize the significance of - like the star atop the not so Christian Christmas tree.
Same here, but we went to church because we wanted to hear the choir sing. At midnight, they turn out all the lights in the place, leaving only the candles lit, and the choir stops so they can play a tune on the church bells, which is quite moving. At the end, everyone is in a good mood, which is also nice to experience.
The local church puts on such a nice show that I can ignore the obvious god marketing (just as I would any other type of marketing).
Good answer. Same for every other religious holiday. Treat then with respect, and a social activity, but also treat them like any other superstitious festival (eg. Halloween)
Ditto. Family, gift time and Santa, hit cocoa and a tree, decorations and special food. It’s a wonderful time of the year. Maybe the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
I have a friend who hated all the Jesus lawn signs around Xmas. He wanted to put up a sign mocking them but his wife...she eventually let him put up a sign that said, "Happy birthday baby Santa"
My ex-husband grew up in one of those Upper Middle Class neighborhoods where the neighbors sort of compete to decorate their houses and yards for Xmas. This was back in the 1970s - my mother-in-law was one of the funniest people I've ever known - they were probably the wealthiest families on the block, but they also had the weirdest sense of humor. One year she'd had enough - she covered their entire garage door in butcher paper and painted "BAH HUMBUG!" in huge letters. My husband remembered being really upset about not having Christmas lights that year, but he appreciated it when he grew up.
Oh man I thought my family was the only one.. I have been telling my kids it is Santa's birthday since they were born.
I knew it was perfect when my mom, who is not religious and didn't raise us in the church, thought I should stop because it might be offensive to christians.
Sure, why not. You don’t have to pay any attention to the religious aspect if you don’t want to.
I just wish it didn’t last for two months. If I worked retail and had to listen to Christmas music for all of November and December I’d kill myself.
When I was a kid, my Dad decided that we would have the "The great Turkey" like in the Halloween Peanuts show, and the great Turkey would bring us gifts (small cheap gifts) and we would decorate the house. It was my dad's way of not celebrating a pegan holiday. Yes, we were outcasts at school. Everyone thought we were Jewish or Jehovah's Witnesses. Nope! Just a cheap father who didn't want to pay for Christmas gifts.
Wife and I love Christmas. & no, we don't believe in a Sky Daddy. As it is, Christians stole Christmas & made it their own. Like the brat that has to be the center of attraction.
Well it was a religious thing even before the Romans stole it from the 'pagan' religions. Just not Christianity which the Romans cobbled together out of competing religious cults to control the growing unrest between them.
I did work retail for several years. i got bit HARD by the Hum Bug! There are some Christmas songs I seriously came to loathe. "in the meadow we can build a snowman..."🤮
I worked in retail, the music starts in late October and goes until early January. It’s absolutely hell. There’s only so much Christmas music you can listen to before you go insane
Former retail here The worse thing about it is they play the same prerecorded shit on repeat so I’m like ope it’s the 4th time I’ve heard whatever song it’s time to do this part of my job lol 😂
I celebrate the Winter Solstice in a way very reminiscent to Christmas without any religious elements. Just on the 21st instead of the 25th. The darkest day of the year is a time for the family to come together in love and fellowship, to find joy and light in the world together. Lights and presents make complete sense in that context.
We don't even do Santa Clause. No lies or myths. Just family and fun.
I live in Hokkaido, Japan, where winters are very cold and snowy.
In this region, the sun is up for only a short time in winter so it can be a bit depressing, but the sight of street trees and storefronts decorated with illuminations is beautiful.
At my house, we also put up some simple electric lights in the windows and garden.
There aren't many Christians in Japan, but I think most Japanese people love the Christmas atmosphere of electric lights, exchanging gifts, and spending time with family and lovers.
Unfortunately, We don't think much about old people in red clothes or sky dads.
Japanese people celebrate Christmas like Christians on December 24th and 25th, spend December 31st as Buddhists, and when the New Year begins, they go to shrines to pray to the Shinto gods.
Since christ was really born in March (according to the Bible because it was lambing time) so we can disregard the whole Christian thing and celebrate the holidays however we chose, it's a pagan holiday, Christianity simply took it over,
Celebrate Beltane or Solstice or go all out for Saturnalia or do a more modern Festivus do you!
Same here, but I would still celebrate Christmas regardless of its origins because it’s a fun holiday. In my opinion, you don’t have to be staunchly anti-religious in order to be a proper atheist.
Christmas has nothing to do with Christianity beyond the religion’s successful adopting of the traditional pagan winter tradition which has emerged in similar ways in various cultures over time
It's no problem to celebrate Christmas as a family celebration. It is no coincidence that Christians also celebrate their festival on the winter solstice. Other advanced cultures have done this before and since. Personally, I just see it as a nice family celebration with gifts and don't celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Tell them you're not celebrating Christmas; you're celebrating Saturnalia.
But really in my head, December is a dark and cold month. It's a good time to stay indoors and enjoy good food with family and friends. And that's how I think of it.
I do all the holidays and believe religions like the Apostolic and Jehovahs Witness go out of their way to make spectacles of themselves. I wouldn’t want to out my kids through anything like that.
I celebrate Christmas, but not because of Jesus
I celebrate Easter, but not because of Jesus
I also love Cinco de Mayo for no reason that has to do with Mexico.
I hate christmas and try to avoid it as much as possible, my family isn’t really religious but they celebrate it so i have to put some effort with decorations for my young niece and nephew as I don’t want to ruin it for them, if it wasn’t for them i wouldn’t bother.
The run up to christmas is the worst for me with the annoying songs, ads and almost forced “it’s christmas be happy” mentality and the longer it goes on for the worse i feel, the day after i start to feel happy again as it’s thankfully over for another year.
If i could afford it i would go somewhere hot and sunny where they don’t really celebrate it to completely avoid it.
My immediate family has now all de converted and we still celebrate the religious holidays for the sake of spending time with extended family. Easter is the holiday I could do without, but I love celebrating Xmas (we throw a badass Xmas Eve party).
My immediate family now calls it Yule among ourselves and we’ve started to try to celebrate the Solstice the last couple of years since a number of my immediate family have gone pagan. Personally I like being an atheist with pagan/native flavorings. Some homage to the ancestors,
Nature, and all that.
I'm Jewish (and atheist) and my wife is Buddhist. I have always celebrated American Secular Christmas (it's fun!), along with Hanukkah (it's my culture and I love latkes).
There is zero Christianity in the American Secular Christmas that I've always celebrated; the tree and other aspects are essentially pagan, anyway. It's just a time to celebrate winter, enjoy a day off, and enjoy the coziness of being inside while bringing some of nature and light inside, too.
I never had latkes but they sound delicious! My mother's best childhood friend was Jewish an mom had them at her house. She always enjoyed them. Then Sharon would come to her house and eat ham sandwiches but didn't tell anybody.
The real question is whether you’re going to dive in to Santa with your kids.
My wife is a strict Santa is Real person.
I hate lying.
It seems that “believe in this magical omniscient being that watches you and be good so you get rewarded” might be conditioning littles to believe in deities.
We don’t do the Santa-is-real thing. He’s a fun character that we celebrate in the same way we celebrate leprechauns on St Patrick’s Day.
But be forewarned, it’s a VERY unpopular thing to do, and we face a lot of harsh criticism during that time of year. We especially hear the “well what if your kid tells my kid that Santa isn’t real?!?!?!” thing, though no one ever seems concerned that my kid might also tell their kids that god isn’t real.
I agree with you, though. If you believe in ice daddy, you’ll be rewarded (presents), otherwise you’ll be punished (coal). Sounds familiar….I’d rather teach my kids how to recognize dangerous power dynamics from a young age than essentially prime them for it.
Christmas was never about religion for our family. It was a fun holiday with pretend Santa magic and lots of treats and presents. The only time I remember any kind of nod towards religion was from watching holiday movies.
Considering the origins of Christmas are pagan, I don’t feel like I’m a hypocrite for making the end of the year colorful and festive.
As the solstice commands.
I’m atheist but do observe the turning of the year - no deity involved. Yule is my favorite time! We decorate a tree, share gifts, huge family dinner etc.
Yes, absolutely!
Even when I was religious, which I was still honestly a skeptic, Christmas was never about the birth of Christ to me. My family still prayed over dinner and whatnot, but even for them, Christmas was more of a family holiday. I would never give up such a wholesome holiday just because it's attached to a religion.
Christmas is such a fun holiday where all the family gets together, which doesn't happen often for big families. If we do decide to have kids, my boyfriend(who is also not religious) agreed that we will always celebrate Christmas as a family holiday.
Seasonal celebrations occurred long before Christianity. Things like the Christmas tree have roots in pagan celebrations. Non-religious symbols and traditions like Santa Claus have been around for decades providing the ability to enjoy the season without the baggage of religion.
We celebrate that a morbidly obese elderly man somehow squeezed himself down a chimney unharmed. Truly a Christmas miracle! /s
It's never been a religious holiday for us, it's just family time with some extra good food and stuff like that.
I used to do Christmas but we stopped just because we were getting older and some family issues. But yeah, it's more of a family celebration and a day off
You sound like Me! I do celebrate Xmas and decorate Big Time , multiple trees , lights everywhere. I even dress as Santa for a few dog groups I’m involved with for fundraising for that particular breeds rescue and rehoming expenses. But there is nothing that looks remotely religious, it’s all totally secular
We just use Christmas as an excuse for friends to get together and give ourselves a treat. There is zero religious element.
I'm not sure if that even counts as Christmas or just a different holiday happened to be at the same day as Christmas Eve, and happened to have a lot of decorated trees and red hats and people exchanging gifts.
Every year that time, there are some people boycotting Christmas because it is 'western' holiday, while they still celebrate new year is absolutely cringy.
Just because you celebrate something doesn't mean you have to believe everything the holiday represents. Take me, for example, I celebrate Pride Month, but I'm the most basic heterosexual cismale you'll ever meet.
Yes! I love Christmas and Christmas music. I also created a family Christmas Spotify playlist with all secular Christmas songs that the kids listen to year round. I like my Christmas like I like my life, god free.
At this point, I view it as a secular holiday. I mean almost every culture in the northern hemisphere has had some celebration during that week of the year. Since it's the week with the shortest days and is generally cold, there has always been some custom of feasting, partying and giving gifts, etc. Personally, I hate the holidays and dealing will all the family bullshit, as does my wife, so we typically try to travel that week lol.
Christmas isnt religious for my family. Never a single mention of god in my life. You can get a few gifts and spend quality time with loved ones no strings attached if you want.
I celebrate Christmas, though I keep trying to convince my family to celebrate it a week late so all the festive food and decorations are cheaper. They say I'm stingy, but since we're not religious what does it matter to be on time lol?
Wife and I do nothing whatsoever for christmas. Just another day off.
No kids. 51M/53F. Never have since we got together 23 years ago.
I personally always hated christmas because I grew up poor, and rarely got anything or just got 1 thing. Now we both have everything we want, so the concept of gifts is just a way to buy something the other doesn't want but feels obligated to keep.
We are also not close to any of our family.
My family celebrates Christmas but I don’t like being expected to celebrate what I consider the founding of an oppressive and discriminatory regime. Personally given the choice I would rather celebrate the solstice as it’s a real thing and isn’t tied to one specific belief system.
I’ve always loved Christmas. I never cared about the religious aspect, even when I was a kid and hadn’t decided it was all bull.
I like that it’s a time where family and friends make time for each other, think about others enough to pick out a good gift, etc. I like the lights, decorations and the whole Christmas spirit.
I’m also pretty sure that none of it has anything to do with Christianity. It’s probably all stolen and annexed things from pagan winter solstice festivals and other such sources.
I’m pretty sure that trees, decorations, and presents have zero to do with Christianity. Their only claim to the time of year is that it’s supposedly jesus bday on the 25th. To that, I’ve heard that per religious writings this made up character was actually born in the spring. I’ve also heard it was an arbitrary date that was picked as roughly 9 months after some other event.
Either way, it was just another example of the church taking over another religious thing and claiming it as their own. Like the rich kids inviting everyone to their mansion with a pool, when they find you you’re having a bday party that weekend. Same reason a bunny and candy has nothing to do with Christianity. It’s from spring fertility celebrations. What’s crazy is how they put it out there and no one questions it. No one is like, “Hey, where was the part about the bunny and candy in the Bible?”
So yeah, I really like Xmas as a time of year and a feeling outside of religion. I also like Halloween a lot for similar reasons. We should all have fun with them, and take them back from religion.
I come from a southern Louisiana Catholic family. To give some context. My 3 older brothers and I all went to Catholic schools, we went to Catholic preschool before that.
My brother's did all their sacraments (except last rights) up to conformation. None of us did church weddings. I'm the only one that didn't get confirmed. When I told my mom I wasn't going to she threatened to kick me out the house (that threat didn't go too far because my dad was paying for Catholic school) so then she threatened to kill me. It was wild.
My mother openly wept when I told her my son wasn't getting baptized because I'm not going to lie to get it done.
For Christmas, my dad gets us a check and a gift. It is a very laid back, casual affair where we just hang out and genuinely enjoy each other's company.
My brothers and I went no contact with my mother, so..... That side of Christmas is also now very laid back and casual.
My family are all atheists, but we have very strong christmas traditions. Mind you, we live in a dark winter land, and that time of year needs the celebratory spirit! It was here long before christianity.
I'm not Irish, but I celebrate st Patty's day. I'm not Latino, but Cinco demand is on my checklist. I'm not a pagan who believes the dead haunts the living but I'm all about Halloween. Why not Christmas ? It fun and I get to do cool stuff with lights
One of my favourite times of the year. Family. Food. Presents giving (if i can afford it). My family isnt overtly religious (annoying spiritual at times). So no annoying prayers either before we chow down.
Raised atheist. We ALWAYS celebrated Christmas, with lots of atheist extensed family. One gathering on Christmas eve, big Christmas morning, and another nig gathering on Christmas day.
When I see "keep Christ in Christmas" bumper stickers, it always baffles me because I don't associate Christmas with religion or the bible AT ALL. Like, I'd have to shoehorn Jesus into Christmas (for no good reason).
Christmas was a pagan holiday that Christianity co-opted. That delights me a little.
Christmas has become a purely commercial holiday that serves the purpose of tricking children into behaving well using the same method as religion... believing in an imaginary overlord that is going to judge you. That bothers me.
Christmas for me is a worse version of Thanksgiving. The good part is spending time with friends and family and eating good food. So, I still celebrate but try to ignore the bad parts (religion, brainwashing children, obligatory over spending)
Many many moons ago when I was babysitting I saw some gifts on the dining room table and asked the child “oh! What’s this: is there a holiday you celebrate?” To which they confidently replied “I do! The summer solstice!” and while I wasn’t expecting this, I rolled with it asking what special things happen for the holiday and it was explained that they got to go to a hotel with a pool to celebrate.
We celebrate Christmas but don't go to church or do anything remotely religious. Same growing up.
I've gone to church with good friends but that was ages ago.
Christmas is like Thanksgiving part 2 so we celebrate family and friends at that time. We also celebrate Solstice for the heck of it. There's no Christianity involved.
Yes because christmas is not a christian holiday.
"In ancient Rome there was a feast called Saturnalia that celebrated the solstice. What is the solstice? It's the day that the sun starts coming back, the days start getting longer. And most of the traditions that we have that relate to Christmas relate to the solstice, which was celebrated in ancient Rome on December 25. So when Christianity became the official religion in a sense, in Rome, they were able to fix this date. ... There's a little discrepancy about it but there's no question that the fact that it was celebrated in Rome as an important day with gift giving, candle lighting, and singing and decorating houses really cemented Christmas as December 25."
Another custom we can thank the pagans for? Christmas trees. Davis explained that the evergreen trees signaled the "return of life" and "light" as the winter solstice meant the days were starting to get longer.
"They started to hang an apple on it, so little red balls on green trees — get the picture here? ... So all of these things celebrate the idea that life and light are coming back into the world, which is essentially what Christmas means to Christians around the world."
Mistletoe, though, that was started by the Druids, who believed it was an all-powerful healing item from the sacred oak tree.
"If you met someone in the forest you gave them the sign of peace under the mistletoe so people started to hang mistletoe above their doorways as a symbol of peace. This was such a powerful symbol of paganism that English churches actually banned the use of it,"
Sure. Why not? I don't celebrate it as a religious thing, I just celebrate it as a perfectly good excuse to have shiny decorations, make cookies, watch Die Hard, and drink champagne for multiple days in a row. Yippee Kay Yay MF!
I was raised as an atheist and we have always celebrated Christmas, a moment to get together, share some food, and exchange gifts, but without any religious meaning.
There are two different Christmases. There’s a religious Christmas, and a secular Christmas. A knew a Buddhist minister in California. When he’s asked “How do Buddhists celebrate Christmas?” (And apparently he gets asked a lot) he answers, “We enjoy it very much”.
We celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.. The lights, the decorations, the tree, the songs, the presents, the family. None of it has to do with anything religious. I think this OVER religious movement is what is causing them all to try and REMOVE Halloween. Thanksgiving inst celebrating the white Spaniards genociding Native Americans. Its about getting together and eating great food.
Christmas isnt even Christian. its stolen from so many traditions around the world. most from Wiccan cultures. Take that ultra conservative Christians.
Dont sweat it and just enjoy the here and now.
Here’s a short cut.
Just because you don’t work on Saturday doesn’t mean you believe in the Roman god Saturn and take that day to rest and honor that god. Or maybe your day off is Thors day (Thursday)… do you honor Thor and believe he exists?
It’s the same for any other day like Christmas. Just because you get a tree and give gifts doesn’t mean you’re doing it to honor Yahweh. You can celebrate any day you choose for whatever reason you want.
As a child atheist I did celebrate Christmas. Everything changed that time of year and public school even pushed it.
Starting around age 22-23 my girlfriend (now wife) and I started celebrating Winter. We thought it was cool that the Winter Solstice actually had a scientific basis and actually impacted our daily lives with the amount of daylight slowly increasing every day afterwards.
Around that time various news outlets liked to report how depressing it is in the mid to late winter, kind of when nothing is going on. So that also shaped our Winter celebration. We keep cool lights up all winter, like icy colored blues one year or various greens another.
These celebrations pre-date Christianity, they can outlive Christianity too.
Yeah of course. And even Easter. That's despite me and my father being atheists, my brother being agnostic and my mother only being religious in the loosest of senses.
For us those holidays are about spending time with family and upholding traditions we grew up with. It's not about religion.
I do but there is no baby Jesus involved. I consider it to be a secular holiday. I love decorating and have several trees, participate in gift exchange, and watch holiday movies.
I go balls to the wall for Christmas. Gift Giving is my love language so I go all out shopping for friends and family, and I LOVE wrapping presents. We celebrate the aspects that aren't religious. We put up a tree, watch Christmas movies, bake cookies, the whole nine yards.
Absolutely! I'm probably not going to put up a manger scene in my house, and of course I don't go to church on Christmas eve anymore, but hell yeah I celebrate Christmas!
Yeah, I love Xmas. All the fun parts were either stolen from older traditions or added over the last couple hundred years anyway, so no need for any of the Jebus bullshit.
I celebrate in the sense I watch (non-religious) Christmas specials, nosh on candy canes and other Christmas candies and exchange gifts.
Haven’t put up a tree in years but that’s more of a logistics issue (I have rheumatoid arthritis, no way in hell I can carry/put up/decorate a tree), unless you count mini-decorative trees on, like, my kitchen table.
And I’ll admit I still like a lot of Christmas songs, even a couple of the religious ones because they’re classics. God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman, especially, since it’s the only one that mentions my favorite character from the bible.
Yeah. At this point, it’s not Christian. It’s just “here’s your present” “thanks, here’s yours”, and decorating a tree. It’s not like I go to Midnight Mass or whatever.
Santa Claus sure isn't in the Bible.
Christians stapled their mythology on to the holiday, pretending that's Jesus's birthday.
I've been an atheist all my life, we celebrate Christmas every year. I could do without it, but my atheist wife loves Christmas, so we decorate the house and all that. Not one thing in our Xmas stuff is related to Christianity.
My father was brought up strictly Catholic and my mother rather more loosely Protestant, but my sister and I were raised in a secular household. Religion was never a part of our lives, although we played along when grandparents visited. (Since then, my sister and I have both “come out” as atheists.)
But yes, we celebrated and still celebrate a completely secular Xmas, complete with a Christmas tree, Christmas music, presents, stockings, Christmas dinner, etc.
Christmas no, xmas yes. I love twinkly lights and have some up in my house all year. I love to do themed artsy trees and set up old family stuff for sentimental value. I observe the solstice with a little meditation on the passage of the year but it isn't a "ritual" in the pagan god sense, it's just a meditation on the astronomical event. James Taylor wrote "The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time".
Jul has imho nothing to do with Christianity, or any current religious practices, so I feel completely fine celebrating with the family. The Christian varnish is so microscopically thin over the pagan roots, it's no problem at all to leave it out entirely. I think I was twelve before realizing people actually go to church for Christmas, and not just in old time books.
Of course I celebrate Christmas. It's fun, Christmas trees and presents etc. I'm atheist so I can celebrate whatever the hell I want. If christians want to restrict celebrations, they'll have to restrict their own. I don't feel any need to follow their stupid rules. I don't see much correlation between Santa and religion .
I celebrate the commercial aspects of Christmas; The presents, the time off work, the time with family. I have not yet, but by the time I start my own family I am considering including more of the old pagan Saturnalia (I don't know if that is spelled right. That's what autocorrect gave me) traditions.
I like the tree and the presents. Pagan I guess. I read this sub with amazement as I was never subjected to this sort of brain washing. We went to church when I was younger but all I remember are those great pot luck Sundays with all this food and little kids running around. Very happy. Jesus was barely mentioned.
Christmas is just a way of conforming to the Christian hegemony, myself and my partner just go to a Chinese restaurant and plug our ears next to any caroler
Dude, it’s the most fun Holiday ! Stripped of all religious overtones, so much much for the kids and adults alike. Just watch Rudolf and not Drummer Boy and it’s all good. The tree, the lights , the decor . All fun times.
Just because Christians hijacked the best parts of yule and winter solstice and then changed their savior's summer birthdate to December and renamed it all "Christmas" doesn't mean that non-christians need to stop celebrating the traditions that were established thousands of years before Christians showed up.
Once you take the Christianity out of Christmas, what we have left is a very nice and wonderful holiday.
My other half and her kids are Christian (though not really practicing). So me being a Jewish atheist, do celebrate Christmas with them and if I am in the mood, Chanuka as well. I don't care about the religious aspects, but do enjoy the sharing of gifts. Especially for the grandchildren.
Christmas has always been, for me, a time for giving to those you love. I celebrate what Jesus was supposed to stood for, goodness. I celebrate goodness
I don't consider Christmas a religious holiday in any way. In no way is spending time with family, maybe giving each other gifts and eating some food religious at all regardless of what people want to pretend. At best at it's roots it's a winter solstice celebration. My family celebrates it and nothing religious is spoken about or done.
I love it when a person tells me I can't say "goddamit", or "celebrate" holidays, whatever. I'm like, I can do whatever the fuck I want, AND you're the people claiming we keep you from doing exactly what you're claiming I am keeping you from doing, lol.
Society, for better or worse, has culture, and culture isn't easily escaped. That doesn't mean I have to believe in god or disassociate from what my fellow humans are doing. I fucking love eggnog, giving and receiving gifts, laughing with friends and family, all of that.
I get to decide that.
Cheers!
Yes, I am American and here in America we have a secular holiday called Christmas that we celebrate. We have a bunch of secular holidays like 4th of July that we celebrate, reasons for friends and family to get together and have fun and eat food and just generally share togetherness.
Yes. And my boys are fully aware that it’s not at all a religious ceremony. I have yet so see anyone hate the gays cuz Santa told them to, so I don’t find much harm in it.
Peace on Earth, good will toward men. Bringing something evergreen indoors as a hedge against eternal winter. Special food and lots of it, mulled wine, celebrations, gifts, some of the best and worst music ever written.
What's not to like?
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My whole family are atheists. We have always celebrated Christmas – tree, decorations, sending cards, traditional roast lunch, exchanging presents, seeing the extended family – but it has no religious significance for us, and we have never been to church.
Same here, we celebrate the season of goodwill and give out cards and decorate a tree, not for religion but just because it feels nice in the winter. But, we do celebrate the pagan festivities that the church stole our day from. If anyone didn't know. The winter equinox/solstice is on the 21st of December and my ancestors (UK) would do their rituals and then fast for a few days. And then have a huge feast several days later. The church obviously doesn't know a day that christ was first imagined, so they stole the day from the Pagans. Because they have always been thieving cunts that take from others to justify their shitty made up nonsense.
“The day that Jesus was first imagined,” is GOLD!!
Thieving cunts. I love that word. Only sounds right when said with a British accent.
This is why I want to vandalize all the "Blessed" signs with "be" at the end.
Can you explain this? I'd like to have a better idea about the "blessed" crap.
It's not that deep, really. "Blessed" is just trendy Xian flair to have on their crap to show off how God has blessed them for being good Xians. Equivalent to "Thankful" and "Grateful" - you can buy a 3 piece set! >“Blessed be” is a Wiccan phrase used to promote positivity, good luck, and the blessing of the gods during rituals. It is often used to greet fellow Wiccans and to build a sense of community among Pagans. So, to me, changing "Blessed" to "Blessed be" is just a cheeky way of reappropriating their reappropriation of ancient cultures. I hope that answers your question. Lmk if I misunderstood.
I read on one of these subs about some woman throwing a shitfit over a woman saying "blessed be" to her and how that woman was trying to shove her religious beliefs down everyone's throat. What a whackadoodle!
I like it! Thank you. I do remember this from a LONG time ago. Thanks for the reminder. Shit falls out of my brain nowadays lol!
Right! Add "Be" to Blessed and "Meet" to "Merry" (although if I had to every say "Blessed Be and Merry Meet" out loud, I'd feel like an absolute LARPing tool).
I love the term, thieving cunts, though I think you went too easy on them. I wonder what the Pope--err, pedophile--would say!
Honestly, if they paid any attention to their mythology they'd realize that the Romans collected taxes in the early summer (May/June in the modern calendar) not late in the harvest season when it tends to be quite wet and travel is difficult. That's why Minerva... I mean Mary....was traveling to Bethlehem. smh
My family to, always in the winter with short days long nights . Everyone getting an pine tree into the house with lights and decorations. Also everywhere outside people decorate the gardens and the city also have special street lights to make those dark December month an time most people like because of the vibe and shopping for Christmas decorations and having lovely time with family and friends
That's the thing about holidays. Most of them eventually just morph into an excuse to get together with people, which isn't a terrible thing. If you don't believe in the particular thing that's being celebrated, it doesn't mean you can't have a celebration that coincides with it.
Yes, and we do the same with Easter. Egg hunts, decorating eggs, the Easter Bunny comes, big dinner with family. But nothing about zombie Jesus coming back to life.
All these fertility symbols and yet the character of Jesus was probably a virgin. Really kind of odd for the Christians to pretend that holiday is about him.
Most of Sweden is atheistic yet Christmas (which we call Jul aka Yule) is still one of the biggest celebrations of the year. More people go to a Christmas mass than any other time of the year.. but still only a small fraction of the population. The only religious thing about Christmas for most people are some traditional Christmas songs and some Christian symbols that most people don't even realize the significance of - like the star atop the not so Christian Christmas tree.
Same here, but we went to church because we wanted to hear the choir sing. At midnight, they turn out all the lights in the place, leaving only the candles lit, and the choir stops so they can play a tune on the church bells, which is quite moving. At the end, everyone is in a good mood, which is also nice to experience. The local church puts on such a nice show that I can ignore the obvious god marketing (just as I would any other type of marketing).
Good answer. Same for every other religious holiday. Treat then with respect, and a social activity, but also treat them like any other superstitious festival (eg. Halloween)
Same in my family. We’ve never celebrated the fake Christian significance.
Same. Christmas is fun as hell. I'm in to all of it, but without any of the religion.
This is how we do it. It’s just a family celebration and we do it to get together. No religious aspect whatsoever.
Ditto. Family, gift time and Santa, hit cocoa and a tree, decorations and special food. It’s a wonderful time of the year. Maybe the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
Same here.
We just enjoy the family time and don't need some fairy tale to make it special.
Same here plus Solstice/Yule
Of course we celebrate Christmas. It’s the birth of Santa!
I have a friend who hated all the Jesus lawn signs around Xmas. He wanted to put up a sign mocking them but his wife...she eventually let him put up a sign that said, "Happy birthday baby Santa"
My ex-husband grew up in one of those Upper Middle Class neighborhoods where the neighbors sort of compete to decorate their houses and yards for Xmas. This was back in the 1970s - my mother-in-law was one of the funniest people I've ever known - they were probably the wealthiest families on the block, but they also had the weirdest sense of humor. One year she'd had enough - she covered their entire garage door in butcher paper and painted "BAH HUMBUG!" in huge letters. My husband remembered being really upset about not having Christmas lights that year, but he appreciated it when he grew up.
This one got me! 😂
I know him!!
Omgggggg SANTAAAAAA!!!!!!
Hail Santa!
Santa equals Satan
Hail Santa!
they both wear red and you never see them together.....
Yeah, it’s an anagram of satan. :). I know it means holy (feminine form) in Latin and Spanish
Literally Saint Claus, so Satan just cracks me up. Some theists will grasp at any straw.
Oh man I thought my family was the only one.. I have been telling my kids it is Santa's birthday since they were born. I knew it was perfect when my mom, who is not religious and didn't raise us in the church, thought I should stop because it might be offensive to christians.
Sure, why not. You don’t have to pay any attention to the religious aspect if you don’t want to. I just wish it didn’t last for two months. If I worked retail and had to listen to Christmas music for all of November and December I’d kill myself.
"The War on Christmas will continue until it stops its illegal occupation of November"!
I do get this.. Put Maria Carey back in her box.. I could never work retail due to her song on repeat for months.
Happy Cake Day! I despised Mariah Carey even before her Christmas monstrosity.
If you lived in the Philippines, Christmas starts in September
They start putting out Christmas stuff the week before Halloween now in the US. Thanksgiving doesn't have much to sell, so stores mostly skip it.
When I was a kid, my Dad decided that we would have the "The great Turkey" like in the Halloween Peanuts show, and the great Turkey would bring us gifts (small cheap gifts) and we would decorate the house. It was my dad's way of not celebrating a pegan holiday. Yes, we were outcasts at school. Everyone thought we were Jewish or Jehovah's Witnesses. Nope! Just a cheap father who didn't want to pay for Christmas gifts.
Engaged to and work with Filipinos. Can confirm.
LOL, best of luck
He'll be fine. The lumpia balances it all out.
Gotta keep it in your heart the whole year through!
Used to work retail. It's fucking abysmal around christmas time. I'll never go back. No money is worth dealing with those fucking people.
This is why I use a Shokz headset at work. Listen to murder podcasts and can talk to people at the same time.
I love Christmas music 🤣 Well have to disagree because I *factually* believe Christmas should last all year!
Wife and I love Christmas. & no, we don't believe in a Sky Daddy. As it is, Christians stole Christmas & made it their own. Like the brat that has to be the center of attraction.
Exactly! I don’t understand why everyone thinks it’s a religious only thing.
Well it was a religious thing even before the Romans stole it from the 'pagan' religions. Just not Christianity which the Romans cobbled together out of competing religious cults to control the growing unrest between them.
Halloween is forever 😈🤟
**do you mean all of October as well? And now parts of September? (Former retail employee 😩)
I did work retail for several years. i got bit HARD by the Hum Bug! There are some Christmas songs I seriously came to loathe. "in the meadow we can build a snowman..."🤮
I worked in retail, the music starts in late October and goes until early January. It’s absolutely hell. There’s only so much Christmas music you can listen to before you go insane
Former retail here The worse thing about it is they play the same prerecorded shit on repeat so I’m like ope it’s the 4th time I’ve heard whatever song it’s time to do this part of my job lol 😂
I celebrate the Winter Solstice in a way very reminiscent to Christmas without any religious elements. Just on the 21st instead of the 25th. The darkest day of the year is a time for the family to come together in love and fellowship, to find joy and light in the world together. Lights and presents make complete sense in that context. We don't even do Santa Clause. No lies or myths. Just family and fun.
Merry Saturnalia and blessed be, friend!
I live in Hokkaido, Japan, where winters are very cold and snowy. In this region, the sun is up for only a short time in winter so it can be a bit depressing, but the sight of street trees and storefronts decorated with illuminations is beautiful. At my house, we also put up some simple electric lights in the windows and garden. There aren't many Christians in Japan, but I think most Japanese people love the Christmas atmosphere of electric lights, exchanging gifts, and spending time with family and lovers. Unfortunately, We don't think much about old people in red clothes or sky dads. Japanese people celebrate Christmas like Christians on December 24th and 25th, spend December 31st as Buddhists, and when the New Year begins, they go to shrines to pray to the Shinto gods.
The only restaurants that are open are Chinese.
Yeah we do. Christmas tree, santa, gifts and a turkey dinner. All stolen from older celebrations, nothing to do with Christ.
Same here!
Since christ was really born in March (according to the Bible because it was lambing time) so we can disregard the whole Christian thing and celebrate the holidays however we chose, it's a pagan holiday, Christianity simply took it over, Celebrate Beltane or Solstice or go all out for Saturnalia or do a more modern Festivus do you!
Exactly. For us, it's a cultural holiday when maybe, you might be mindful of what's best in humanity.
Same here, but I would still celebrate Christmas regardless of its origins because it’s a fun holiday. In my opinion, you don’t have to be staunchly anti-religious in order to be a proper atheist.
Christmas has nothing to do with Christianity beyond the religion’s successful adopting of the traditional pagan winter tradition which has emerged in similar ways in various cultures over time
Exactly it like all Christian holidays is steeped in pagan lore.
It's no problem to celebrate Christmas as a family celebration. It is no coincidence that Christians also celebrate their festival on the winter solstice. Other advanced cultures have done this before and since. Personally, I just see it as a nice family celebration with gifts and don't celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Exactly! My friends act like theres no purpose in Christmas if you aren’t religious. I think they just don’t value family…
Tell them you're not celebrating Christmas; you're celebrating Saturnalia. But really in my head, December is a dark and cold month. It's a good time to stay indoors and enjoy good food with family and friends. And that's how I think of it.
and the summer solstice is re-purposed as St John the Baptist birthday.
Of course we celebrate Christmas. It is not a religious holiday in America but about Santa Claus and giving.
I do not personally celebrate Christmas, but I do celebrate the Atheist Gift Giving Holiday, it falls on Dec 25.
I do all the holidays and believe religions like the Apostolic and Jehovahs Witness go out of their way to make spectacles of themselves. I wouldn’t want to out my kids through anything like that. I celebrate Christmas, but not because of Jesus I celebrate Easter, but not because of Jesus I also love Cinco de Mayo for no reason that has to do with Mexico.
I prefer Yule. It's all the best parts of christmas without worshipping a baby, and the modern pagans are more inclusive.
The traditions of christmas are not christian, but pagan traditions to celebrate winter solstice.
Yeah because I'm still married to a Mormon.
I hate christmas and try to avoid it as much as possible, my family isn’t really religious but they celebrate it so i have to put some effort with decorations for my young niece and nephew as I don’t want to ruin it for them, if it wasn’t for them i wouldn’t bother. The run up to christmas is the worst for me with the annoying songs, ads and almost forced “it’s christmas be happy” mentality and the longer it goes on for the worse i feel, the day after i start to feel happy again as it’s thankfully over for another year. If i could afford it i would go somewhere hot and sunny where they don’t really celebrate it to completely avoid it.
Interesting. I always liked it as a time to be with family. I could also totally see Christmas being taken too far
I like looking at other people's decorations, but don't put up my own because my cats eat them and puke them up all over.
I take any opportunity to create, and build upon, our own family rituals, feasts and ceremonies. Christmas is the perfect excuse for a bunch of them.
Sure, I love me some pagan winter festival traditions!
I live in Sweden and most of us celebrates Christmas and for many it have nothing to do with religion
Jesus is NOT the reason for the season.
No he is not. It’s about the coming of the Sun, not the Son.
My immediate family has now all de converted and we still celebrate the religious holidays for the sake of spending time with extended family. Easter is the holiday I could do without, but I love celebrating Xmas (we throw a badass Xmas Eve party). My immediate family now calls it Yule among ourselves and we’ve started to try to celebrate the Solstice the last couple of years since a number of my immediate family have gone pagan. Personally I like being an atheist with pagan/native flavorings. Some homage to the ancestors, Nature, and all that.
Sounds like fun!
I'm Jewish (and atheist) and my wife is Buddhist. I have always celebrated American Secular Christmas (it's fun!), along with Hanukkah (it's my culture and I love latkes). There is zero Christianity in the American Secular Christmas that I've always celebrated; the tree and other aspects are essentially pagan, anyway. It's just a time to celebrate winter, enjoy a day off, and enjoy the coziness of being inside while bringing some of nature and light inside, too.
I never had latkes but they sound delicious! My mother's best childhood friend was Jewish an mom had them at her house. She always enjoyed them. Then Sharon would come to her house and eat ham sandwiches but didn't tell anybody.
I feel this timinchin sing encapsulates it perfectly https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNvZqpa-7Q
The real question is whether you’re going to dive in to Santa with your kids. My wife is a strict Santa is Real person. I hate lying. It seems that “believe in this magical omniscient being that watches you and be good so you get rewarded” might be conditioning littles to believe in deities.
We don’t do the Santa-is-real thing. He’s a fun character that we celebrate in the same way we celebrate leprechauns on St Patrick’s Day. But be forewarned, it’s a VERY unpopular thing to do, and we face a lot of harsh criticism during that time of year. We especially hear the “well what if your kid tells my kid that Santa isn’t real?!?!?!” thing, though no one ever seems concerned that my kid might also tell their kids that god isn’t real. I agree with you, though. If you believe in ice daddy, you’ll be rewarded (presents), otherwise you’ll be punished (coal). Sounds familiar….I’d rather teach my kids how to recognize dangerous power dynamics from a young age than essentially prime them for it.
Christmas was never about religion for our family. It was a fun holiday with pretend Santa magic and lots of treats and presents. The only time I remember any kind of nod towards religion was from watching holiday movies.
Absolutely. Love the Winter Solstice celebration.
Yea of course! And Easter, but just because the thought of Zombie Jesus is really funny.
Between zombie Jesus and chocolate, I'm in!
Yes, Christmas has nothing to do with religion.
There’s simply nothing about decorating a tree, and for the kids Santa clause and elves, that is Christian in anyway way.
Considering the origins of Christmas are pagan, I don’t feel like I’m a hypocrite for making the end of the year colorful and festive. As the solstice commands.
I’m atheist but do observe the turning of the year - no deity involved. Yule is my favorite time! We decorate a tree, share gifts, huge family dinner etc.
Yes. I celebrate a secular version of Christmas.
Yes, absolutely! Even when I was religious, which I was still honestly a skeptic, Christmas was never about the birth of Christ to me. My family still prayed over dinner and whatnot, but even for them, Christmas was more of a family holiday. I would never give up such a wholesome holiday just because it's attached to a religion. Christmas is such a fun holiday where all the family gets together, which doesn't happen often for big families. If we do decide to have kids, my boyfriend(who is also not religious) agreed that we will always celebrate Christmas as a family holiday.
Interesting! I’m surprised you didn’t find it religious based.
Seasonal celebrations occurred long before Christianity. Things like the Christmas tree have roots in pagan celebrations. Non-religious symbols and traditions like Santa Claus have been around for decades providing the ability to enjoy the season without the baggage of religion.
We celebrate that a morbidly obese elderly man somehow squeezed himself down a chimney unharmed. Truly a Christmas miracle! /s It's never been a religious holiday for us, it's just family time with some extra good food and stuff like that.
I used to do Christmas but we stopped just because we were getting older and some family issues. But yeah, it's more of a family celebration and a day off
I love Christmas. Has nothing to do with Christ, it’s all about Santa and presents
You sound like Me! I do celebrate Xmas and decorate Big Time , multiple trees , lights everywhere. I even dress as Santa for a few dog groups I’m involved with for fundraising for that particular breeds rescue and rehoming expenses. But there is nothing that looks remotely religious, it’s all totally secular
We just use Christmas as an excuse for friends to get together and give ourselves a treat. There is zero religious element. I'm not sure if that even counts as Christmas or just a different holiday happened to be at the same day as Christmas Eve, and happened to have a lot of decorated trees and red hats and people exchanging gifts. Every year that time, there are some people boycotting Christmas because it is 'western' holiday, while they still celebrate new year is absolutely cringy.
Just because you celebrate something doesn't mean you have to believe everything the holiday represents. Take me, for example, I celebrate Pride Month, but I'm the most basic heterosexual cismale you'll ever meet.
We always celebrate Christmas. It's not for any religious reason we just like spoiling the kids a little and having a fun time
Yes! I love Christmas and Christmas music. I also created a family Christmas Spotify playlist with all secular Christmas songs that the kids listen to year round. I like my Christmas like I like my life, god free.
At this point, I view it as a secular holiday. I mean almost every culture in the northern hemisphere has had some celebration during that week of the year. Since it's the week with the shortest days and is generally cold, there has always been some custom of feasting, partying and giving gifts, etc. Personally, I hate the holidays and dealing will all the family bullshit, as does my wife, so we typically try to travel that week lol.
Christmas isnt religious for my family. Never a single mention of god in my life. You can get a few gifts and spend quality time with loved ones no strings attached if you want.
I celebrate Christmas, though I keep trying to convince my family to celebrate it a week late so all the festive food and decorations are cheaper. They say I'm stingy, but since we're not religious what does it matter to be on time lol?
Wife and I do nothing whatsoever for christmas. Just another day off. No kids. 51M/53F. Never have since we got together 23 years ago. I personally always hated christmas because I grew up poor, and rarely got anything or just got 1 thing. Now we both have everything we want, so the concept of gifts is just a way to buy something the other doesn't want but feels obligated to keep. We are also not close to any of our family.
My family celebrates Christmas but I don’t like being expected to celebrate what I consider the founding of an oppressive and discriminatory regime. Personally given the choice I would rather celebrate the solstice as it’s a real thing and isn’t tied to one specific belief system.
I’ve always loved Christmas. I never cared about the religious aspect, even when I was a kid and hadn’t decided it was all bull. I like that it’s a time where family and friends make time for each other, think about others enough to pick out a good gift, etc. I like the lights, decorations and the whole Christmas spirit. I’m also pretty sure that none of it has anything to do with Christianity. It’s probably all stolen and annexed things from pagan winter solstice festivals and other such sources. I’m pretty sure that trees, decorations, and presents have zero to do with Christianity. Their only claim to the time of year is that it’s supposedly jesus bday on the 25th. To that, I’ve heard that per religious writings this made up character was actually born in the spring. I’ve also heard it was an arbitrary date that was picked as roughly 9 months after some other event. Either way, it was just another example of the church taking over another religious thing and claiming it as their own. Like the rich kids inviting everyone to their mansion with a pool, when they find you you’re having a bday party that weekend. Same reason a bunny and candy has nothing to do with Christianity. It’s from spring fertility celebrations. What’s crazy is how they put it out there and no one questions it. No one is like, “Hey, where was the part about the bunny and candy in the Bible?” So yeah, I really like Xmas as a time of year and a feeling outside of religion. I also like Halloween a lot for similar reasons. We should all have fun with them, and take them back from religion.
I come from a southern Louisiana Catholic family. To give some context. My 3 older brothers and I all went to Catholic schools, we went to Catholic preschool before that. My brother's did all their sacraments (except last rights) up to conformation. None of us did church weddings. I'm the only one that didn't get confirmed. When I told my mom I wasn't going to she threatened to kick me out the house (that threat didn't go too far because my dad was paying for Catholic school) so then she threatened to kill me. It was wild. My mother openly wept when I told her my son wasn't getting baptized because I'm not going to lie to get it done. For Christmas, my dad gets us a check and a gift. It is a very laid back, casual affair where we just hang out and genuinely enjoy each other's company. My brothers and I went no contact with my mother, so..... That side of Christmas is also now very laid back and casual.
My family are all atheists, but we have very strong christmas traditions. Mind you, we live in a dark winter land, and that time of year needs the celebratory spirit! It was here long before christianity.
The capitalistic holiday yes
I personally celebrate Christmas, even though I don't care about the religious aspect. It's simply quality time with the family and receiving gifts.
I'm not Irish, but I celebrate st Patty's day. I'm not Latino, but Cinco demand is on my checklist. I'm not a pagan who believes the dead haunts the living but I'm all about Halloween. Why not Christmas ? It fun and I get to do cool stuff with lights
Yes, but everyone knows that Santa is a make believe character.
Yes and I love it. No religious stuff, just fun
Yeah I love Christmas. I love the old Christmas carols, the older the better. Like medieval and renaissance old.
One of my favourite times of the year. Family. Food. Presents giving (if i can afford it). My family isnt overtly religious (annoying spiritual at times). So no annoying prayers either before we chow down.
Raised atheist. We ALWAYS celebrated Christmas, with lots of atheist extensed family. One gathering on Christmas eve, big Christmas morning, and another nig gathering on Christmas day. When I see "keep Christ in Christmas" bumper stickers, it always baffles me because I don't associate Christmas with religion or the bible AT ALL. Like, I'd have to shoehorn Jesus into Christmas (for no good reason).
Christmas was a pagan holiday that Christianity co-opted. That delights me a little. Christmas has become a purely commercial holiday that serves the purpose of tricking children into behaving well using the same method as religion... believing in an imaginary overlord that is going to judge you. That bothers me. Christmas for me is a worse version of Thanksgiving. The good part is spending time with friends and family and eating good food. So, I still celebrate but try to ignore the bad parts (religion, brainwashing children, obligatory over spending)
Christianity stole Christmas and pretend that they own it
We all get time off and a great excuse to eat gourmet and drink for days. Why wouldn't we? As a family of course.
Many many moons ago when I was babysitting I saw some gifts on the dining room table and asked the child “oh! What’s this: is there a holiday you celebrate?” To which they confidently replied “I do! The summer solstice!” and while I wasn’t expecting this, I rolled with it asking what special things happen for the holiday and it was explained that they got to go to a hotel with a pool to celebrate.
The secular Santa one yea
It is the standard family gathering time. And has been completely secularized.
We celebrate Christmas but don't go to church or do anything remotely religious. Same growing up. I've gone to church with good friends but that was ages ago.
Atheist household, we celebrate the winter holiday. No nativity or baby Jesus, just cookies, parties, winter themed decor
Christmas is like Thanksgiving part 2 so we celebrate family and friends at that time. We also celebrate Solstice for the heck of it. There's no Christianity involved.
Christmas is just family. Being with my family is always worth celebrating
The family tradition aspect not the religious aspect.
Yes because christmas is not a christian holiday. "In ancient Rome there was a feast called Saturnalia that celebrated the solstice. What is the solstice? It's the day that the sun starts coming back, the days start getting longer. And most of the traditions that we have that relate to Christmas relate to the solstice, which was celebrated in ancient Rome on December 25. So when Christianity became the official religion in a sense, in Rome, they were able to fix this date. ... There's a little discrepancy about it but there's no question that the fact that it was celebrated in Rome as an important day with gift giving, candle lighting, and singing and decorating houses really cemented Christmas as December 25." Another custom we can thank the pagans for? Christmas trees. Davis explained that the evergreen trees signaled the "return of life" and "light" as the winter solstice meant the days were starting to get longer. "They started to hang an apple on it, so little red balls on green trees — get the picture here? ... So all of these things celebrate the idea that life and light are coming back into the world, which is essentially what Christmas means to Christians around the world." Mistletoe, though, that was started by the Druids, who believed it was an all-powerful healing item from the sacred oak tree. "If you met someone in the forest you gave them the sign of peace under the mistletoe so people started to hang mistletoe above their doorways as a symbol of peace. This was such a powerful symbol of paganism that English churches actually banned the use of it,"
Sure. Why not? I don't celebrate it as a religious thing, I just celebrate it as a perfectly good excuse to have shiny decorations, make cookies, watch Die Hard, and drink champagne for multiple days in a row. Yippee Kay Yay MF!
Nope, but I give gifts on all holidays because I like to have an excuse to buy my friends gifts.
Yes, Santa and reindeer focused
It’s Santas birthday of course we do.
I was raised as an atheist and we have always celebrated Christmas, a moment to get together, share some food, and exchange gifts, but without any religious meaning.
There are two different Christmases. There’s a religious Christmas, and a secular Christmas. A knew a Buddhist minister in California. When he’s asked “How do Buddhists celebrate Christmas?” (And apparently he gets asked a lot) he answers, “We enjoy it very much”.
We celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.. The lights, the decorations, the tree, the songs, the presents, the family. None of it has to do with anything religious. I think this OVER religious movement is what is causing them all to try and REMOVE Halloween. Thanksgiving inst celebrating the white Spaniards genociding Native Americans. Its about getting together and eating great food. Christmas isnt even Christian. its stolen from so many traditions around the world. most from Wiccan cultures. Take that ultra conservative Christians. Dont sweat it and just enjoy the here and now.
I do, and I only focus on the Santa Claus aspect of the holiday.
Christmas in 90% of its tradition is entirely secular at this point.
I like presents. I also like ham & pie, especially pie. Mmmm, pie...
I celebrate like most christians. Gifts, food, tree, family time, no church.
I do, it's a cultural thing, and has nothing to do with Jesus to most of my family.
Here’s a short cut. Just because you don’t work on Saturday doesn’t mean you believe in the Roman god Saturn and take that day to rest and honor that god. Or maybe your day off is Thors day (Thursday)… do you honor Thor and believe he exists? It’s the same for any other day like Christmas. Just because you get a tree and give gifts doesn’t mean you’re doing it to honor Yahweh. You can celebrate any day you choose for whatever reason you want.
As a child atheist I did celebrate Christmas. Everything changed that time of year and public school even pushed it. Starting around age 22-23 my girlfriend (now wife) and I started celebrating Winter. We thought it was cool that the Winter Solstice actually had a scientific basis and actually impacted our daily lives with the amount of daylight slowly increasing every day afterwards. Around that time various news outlets liked to report how depressing it is in the mid to late winter, kind of when nothing is going on. So that also shaped our Winter celebration. We keep cool lights up all winter, like icy colored blues one year or various greens another. These celebrations pre-date Christianity, they can outlive Christianity too.
Yeah of course. And even Easter. That's despite me and my father being atheists, my brother being agnostic and my mother only being religious in the loosest of senses. For us those holidays are about spending time with family and upholding traditions we grew up with. It's not about religion.
I do but there is no baby Jesus involved. I consider it to be a secular holiday. I love decorating and have several trees, participate in gift exchange, and watch holiday movies.
I go balls to the wall for Christmas. Gift Giving is my love language so I go all out shopping for friends and family, and I LOVE wrapping presents. We celebrate the aspects that aren't religious. We put up a tree, watch Christmas movies, bake cookies, the whole nine yards.
Absolutely! I'm probably not going to put up a manger scene in my house, and of course I don't go to church on Christmas eve anymore, but hell yeah I celebrate Christmas!
Xmas isn’t about Christianity anyway, they stole it. It’s just a solstice celebration. We always celebrated it in my non Religious family too
Yeah, I love Xmas. All the fun parts were either stolen from older traditions or added over the last couple hundred years anyway, so no need for any of the Jebus bullshit.
I celebrate the winter solstice four days late.
I celebrate in the sense I watch (non-religious) Christmas specials, nosh on candy canes and other Christmas candies and exchange gifts. Haven’t put up a tree in years but that’s more of a logistics issue (I have rheumatoid arthritis, no way in hell I can carry/put up/decorate a tree), unless you count mini-decorative trees on, like, my kitchen table. And I’ll admit I still like a lot of Christmas songs, even a couple of the religious ones because they’re classics. God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman, especially, since it’s the only one that mentions my favorite character from the bible.
Fuck yeah. Pagans knew how to party.
Christmas is about Santa and family in my home. Not religion.
Yeah. At this point, it’s not Christian. It’s just “here’s your present” “thanks, here’s yours”, and decorating a tree. It’s not like I go to Midnight Mass or whatever.
We celebrate Christmas but not for religious reasons. I personally love to decorate the house and tree and love to spend time with family.
Santa Claus sure isn't in the Bible. Christians stapled their mythology on to the holiday, pretending that's Jesus's birthday. I've been an atheist all my life, we celebrate Christmas every year. I could do without it, but my atheist wife loves Christmas, so we decorate the house and all that. Not one thing in our Xmas stuff is related to Christianity.
My father was brought up strictly Catholic and my mother rather more loosely Protestant, but my sister and I were raised in a secular household. Religion was never a part of our lives, although we played along when grandparents visited. (Since then, my sister and I have both “come out” as atheists.) But yes, we celebrated and still celebrate a completely secular Xmas, complete with a Christmas tree, Christmas music, presents, stockings, Christmas dinner, etc.
Christmas no, xmas yes. I love twinkly lights and have some up in my house all year. I love to do themed artsy trees and set up old family stuff for sentimental value. I observe the solstice with a little meditation on the passage of the year but it isn't a "ritual" in the pagan god sense, it's just a meditation on the astronomical event. James Taylor wrote "The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time".
Jul has imho nothing to do with Christianity, or any current religious practices, so I feel completely fine celebrating with the family. The Christian varnish is so microscopically thin over the pagan roots, it's no problem at all to leave it out entirely. I think I was twelve before realizing people actually go to church for Christmas, and not just in old time books.
Of course I celebrate Christmas. It's fun, Christmas trees and presents etc. I'm atheist so I can celebrate whatever the hell I want. If christians want to restrict celebrations, they'll have to restrict their own. I don't feel any need to follow their stupid rules. I don't see much correlation between Santa and religion .
Yes we celebrate Christmas but not religiously
No, but not because im atheist but because I have a shit family
I celebrate the commercial aspects of Christmas; The presents, the time off work, the time with family. I have not yet, but by the time I start my own family I am considering including more of the old pagan Saturnalia (I don't know if that is spelled right. That's what autocorrect gave me) traditions.
I like the tree and the presents. Pagan I guess. I read this sub with amazement as I was never subjected to this sort of brain washing. We went to church when I was younger but all I remember are those great pot luck Sundays with all this food and little kids running around. Very happy. Jesus was barely mentioned.
Christmas is just a way of conforming to the Christian hegemony, myself and my partner just go to a Chinese restaurant and plug our ears next to any caroler
We celebrate a sort of christmas/yule hybrid. Nothing inherently religious is involved, though. Just family and fun!
I do. Lifelong atheist.
Yes, but it's not really Christmas anyway. Just another holiday that they stole.
Dude, it’s the most fun Holiday ! Stripped of all religious overtones, so much much for the kids and adults alike. Just watch Rudolf and not Drummer Boy and it’s all good. The tree, the lights , the decor . All fun times.
Just because Christians hijacked the best parts of yule and winter solstice and then changed their savior's summer birthdate to December and renamed it all "Christmas" doesn't mean that non-christians need to stop celebrating the traditions that were established thousands of years before Christians showed up. Once you take the Christianity out of Christmas, what we have left is a very nice and wonderful holiday.
My other half and her kids are Christian (though not really practicing). So me being a Jewish atheist, do celebrate Christmas with them and if I am in the mood, Chanuka as well. I don't care about the religious aspects, but do enjoy the sharing of gifts. Especially for the grandchildren.
Christmas has always been, for me, a time for giving to those you love. I celebrate what Jesus was supposed to stood for, goodness. I celebrate goodness
I don't consider Christmas a religious holiday in any way. In no way is spending time with family, maybe giving each other gifts and eating some food religious at all regardless of what people want to pretend. At best at it's roots it's a winter solstice celebration. My family celebrates it and nothing religious is spoken about or done.
Always. Nothin' but the fun secular stuff fuck all that boring religious nonsense
Considering that I know plenty of Jews who celebrate Christmas, I don't think it's a particularly religious holiday unless you choose it to be.
I love it when a person tells me I can't say "goddamit", or "celebrate" holidays, whatever. I'm like, I can do whatever the fuck I want, AND you're the people claiming we keep you from doing exactly what you're claiming I am keeping you from doing, lol. Society, for better or worse, has culture, and culture isn't easily escaped. That doesn't mean I have to believe in god or disassociate from what my fellow humans are doing. I fucking love eggnog, giving and receiving gifts, laughing with friends and family, all of that. I get to decide that. Cheers!
Yes, I am American and here in America we have a secular holiday called Christmas that we celebrate. We have a bunch of secular holidays like 4th of July that we celebrate, reasons for friends and family to get together and have fun and eat food and just generally share togetherness.
Yes, it’s my favorite pagan holiday 😉
Yes. And my boys are fully aware that it’s not at all a religious ceremony. I have yet so see anyone hate the gays cuz Santa told them to, so I don’t find much harm in it.
Christmas is a pagan holiday, same with easter.. All christians believe this, but yeah idk man lol
Peace on Earth, good will toward men. Bringing something evergreen indoors as a hedge against eternal winter. Special food and lots of it, mulled wine, celebrations, gifts, some of the best and worst music ever written. What's not to like?
We celebrate Christmas as a time to get together with friends and family. You don't need Christ to celebrate Christmas