Author Topic: What irks me about the holidays  (Read 156837 times)

Offline Monika

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #50 on: December 17, 2010, 03:07:58 pm »
That's what I'm talking about. They are hitching their own secular meanings/celebrations to a religious holiday.

Yes, that´s exactly what a lot of people (including myself) are doing.
But then, things keep on changing - and the meaning of things change. If a lot of folks don´t celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, maybe it should be considered a secular holiday nowadays.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #51 on: December 17, 2010, 03:09:24 pm »
Thanks, Jeff.  I hadn't been aware of that.  Very interesting.  8)

Sure enough!
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Monika

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #52 on: December 17, 2010, 03:10:57 pm »
Supposedly it does. It's supposedly the Greek letter Chi.

Wikipedia's entry for Chi Rho: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Rho
Thanks. Had no idea. Very interesting.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #53 on: December 17, 2010, 03:17:15 pm »
Quote
I wish people would stop attaching non-religious cultural elements to Christmas.

Of course, when you consider that the Christian Church, sometime in the A.D. 300s, if I remember correctly, attached its celebration of Christ's birth to a pre-existing Pagan festival, I guess you could say the wheel has come full circle.

(That is, I think I remember reading somewhere that it was in the A.D. 300s. Rumors to the contrary, I wasn't present when it happened. ...)

"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #54 on: December 17, 2010, 03:17:58 pm »
Thanks. Had no idea. Very interesting.

Sure enough!
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline milomorris

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #55 on: December 17, 2010, 03:18:43 pm »
Yes, that´s exactly what a lot of people (including myself) are doing.
But then, things keep on changing - and the meaning of things change. If a lot of folks don´t celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, maybe it should be considered a secular holiday nowadays.

Getting back to the title of this thread, I completely disagree. As I said earlier, if you want to celebrate some other holiday that happens around this time, fine. If you want to celebrate winter, cool. But don't superimpose secular meanings or cultural elements on the religious traditions of Christmas.
  The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

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Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #56 on: December 17, 2010, 03:20:09 pm »
I like to celebrate the Yule on the winter solstice...it's a secondary Celtic holiday. This year there will be a lunar eclipse on the solstice so it should be very exciting! I'm planning to take a nighttime hike. I also celebrate Christ's birthday, usually on Christmas Eve by going to services and meditating. Christmas Day is a time for celebrating with family and exchanging small presents as tokens of our love. Santa Claus rules over Christmas Day, and I also look forward to merriment and feasting. New Year's Eve is dedicated to friends and looking forward to the coming year. My philosophy is with so much happening at the end of the year, you have to compartmentalize!

Early Christians probably chose the solstice for Christ's birthday arbitrarily, and they appropriated many things from other religions. After all, the most holy Christian Day...Easter...is named after the Greek Goddess of Rebirth!
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Offline Monika

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #57 on: December 17, 2010, 03:21:03 pm »
Getting back to the title of this thread, I completely disagree. As I said earlier, if you want to celebrate some other holiday that happens around this time, fine. If you want to celebrate winter, cool. But don't superimpose secular meanings or cultural elements on the religious traditions of Christmas.
We are already way past that point, and I don´t have a problem with it.
Besides, how many national holidays do we have to chose between? Not many really.
Let people have fun. Life´s too short.

Offline Monika

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #58 on: December 17, 2010, 03:24:36 pm »
Of course, when you consider that the Christian Church, sometime in the A.D. 300s, if I remember correctly, attached its celebration of Christ's birth to a pre-existing Pagan festival, I guess you could say the wheel has come full circle.

(That is, I think I remember reading somewhere that it was in the A.D. 300s. Rumors to the contrary, I wasn't present when it happened. ...)


I´ve read that too. And besides, all ideas, both religious and non-religous, are build on previous existing ideas and traditions. Nothing exists in a vacuum.


Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: What irks me about the holidays
« Reply #59 on: December 17, 2010, 03:31:18 pm »
This year there will be a lunar eclipse on the solstice so it should be very exciting!

Oh, wow!  :o  I didn't know that! That's neat! I need to pay closer attention to my almanac!
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.