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What irks me about the holidays
Marge_Innavera:
--- Quote from: louisev on December 16, 2010, 09:08:58 am ---the good news about a workplace 'holiday tree' is - it's got nothing in the world to do with Christianity! Yule is a European pagan festival celebrating the winter solstice, and there is no doubt whatsoever that the solstice happens.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, that often gets lost in the "war on Christmas" rhetoric, for sure.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: delalluvia on December 16, 2010, 12:18:18 am ---ETA: I also hate that I'm going to a relative's house and since my cat got sick, and I spent my last $200 of fun money paying for her bloodwork and now can't afford to buy them gifts - I'll yet again feel and look like a poor cousin begging at their table, but to stay home and not go so as to avoid that would also be seen as a slap in the face because you're supposed to be with family during the holidays.
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Couldn't you develop a headache, or something, if you don't want to go? Stay home and cozy up with the cat and a good book? I mean, seriously. I sympathize with people who get stuck spending the time with people they'd rather not be with. Nobody can disprove a headache.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: louisev on December 16, 2010, 09:08:58 am ---the good news about a workplace 'holiday tree' is - it's got nothing in the world to do with Christianity! Yule is a European pagan festival celebrating the winter solstice, and there is no doubt whatsoever that the solstice happens.
--- End quote ---
Don't expect the average American to understand that, though. You'd probably put a lot of noses out of joint if you tried to explain it to them.
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on December 16, 2010, 03:48:45 pm ---Don't expect the average American to understand that, though. You'd probably put a lot of noses out of joint if you tried to explain it to them.
--- End quote ---
Exactly. Many people have a blind spot where this kind of thing is concerned.
You spread doubt and appear to the be skeptic of something they hold very dear and associate themselves with and base their entire lives on, betting that their form of religion is 'true' and that all the positive things about it are true...likely they're not going to thank you for it.
And considering that I know that at least two of the people I work with who are in positions of power above me are very religious Christianity-wise, I've no way to know how they would take such comments. So I couldn't really say anything about Yule, the pagan people's rituals and beliefs that are reflected/copied/stolen by modern celebrations of Christmas because it might come back to bite me.
serious crayons:
I may have too much faith in the cultural literacy of my fellow citizens, but I would guess that at this point most of them probably realize that the tree custom was originally borrowed from pagans rather than anything directly to do with Jesus. They might, however, argue that it has become embedded in the Christian holiday tradition.
Over on Slate, two Jewish writers have been debating whether Jews should have Christmas trees. http://www.slate.com/id/2277395/entry/2277397/
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