since when is christmass a religions event?

[Nergy]

Christmas has very little to do with the birth of christ.

In fact. In fact The Bible doesn't say his birthdate.

December 25th was a pagan holiday, but since Christianity was trying to get rid of paganism, they decided (literally sat down and decided) that the birth of Christ should be the same day.

So if you hear anyone say "CHRISTMAS SHOULD BE ABOUT THE BIRTH OF OUR LORD!" actually ask them to point out where in The Bible it says his birth date. They make such a big deal of it, you'd think it would be in there somewhere.

 

[savandicus]

I'm just going to put this here because there are so many people just givin missinformed opinions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas

Christmas is not, and never was, a pagan holiday, it was made to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Quote from the wiki:

In the early 4th century, the church calendar contained Christmas on December 25 and other holidays placed on solar dates: "It is cosmic symbolism...which inspired the Church leadership in Rome to elect the winter solstice, December 25, as the birthday of Christ, and the summer solstice as that of John the Baptist, supplemented by the equinoxes as their respective dates of conception. While they were aware that pagans called this day the 'birthday' of Sol Invictus, this did not concern them and it did not play any role in their choice of date for Christmas," according to modern scholar S.E. Hijmans

However more importantly it really doesnt matter in the slightest. Those who celebrate christmas for with all the religon behind it enjoy it and those who celebrate it because any reason to celebrate is a good reason.

If you dont like it, dont celebrate it. If you do like it, then celebrate it and don't let its origins get in the way.

 

[Smertnik]

Well, I'm an atheist and I've never celebrated Christmas in my entire life. So there.

 

[beniki]

alright this is somthing that bugs me,

aparently...if your not christian...you dont celebrate christmas? is this an american beliife or somthing?

anyway let me exaplain

now I dont actually know if chrstmases origins were christian Im a VERY sure it actually wansnt, I know baby jesus didnt have his birthday on the 25th of decenmber..and I think christians "stole" the date to compete with another festival

but that aside....

as far as Im concerned christmas thease days generally has nothing to do with religion..no really, my family is not religous....most of Australia is not religous and we (and I imagine alot of Australia) celebrate christmas.....(aside from going to mass of coase)

you know what christmas is? its a comercial holiday, its the itme of year when kids get presesnts, and its the itme of yeah adults stress out, put up with family or eat/drink themelfs into oblvion (or all three)

last time I checked jesus hardly had anything to do with it aside from the nativity plays we somtimes has...thats it, mostly it was about santa

*twitch*

Please attempt correct spelling and grammar. It's unfair to unsuspecting English teachers to subject them to, well, that, on their time off. Seriously, I nearly took my red marker to the screen. Apologies if you're under ten or acutely dyslexic of course.

But yeah, Christmas is a religious holiday, as opposed to a truly secular one like Bonfire Night. Most of the customs are routed in religious origins, be they Christian or whatever, and it's the time of year when people tend to dust off their Christian values to make up for the rest of the year's far more enjoyable sin.

Hard to say if non-Christians celebrate Christmas, or if they're just along for the cake. Or perhaps the holidays influence is so strong, most non-Christians are actually being gently converted, one mince pie at a time.

 

[damselgaming]

I think everyone is forgetting the true purpose of Xmas. Going out and getting smashed with your work colleagues- paid for by your company! Xmas = FREE BAR!

 

[Aiden_the-Joker1]

Christmas is a Christian holiday hence the christ-mas. However the date was picked as the same day as the pagan winter festival as there was about to be a massive conversion to Christianity and It would help ease the transition. However the act of giving gifts is to remember the acts of Saint Nicholas. Whom Santa Claus is based on which means giving presents cannot be a commercial act as it is based on the acts of a Christian saint.

 

[Agayek]

-snip-

Christmas was originally a religious holiday, in every possible definition of the term. The timing was taken from the old pagan/druidic rituals and feasts celebrating the Winter Solstice and the dawning of the new year. The Roman emperors, upon converting to Christianity, basically took the existing festivals and celebrations of their subjects and slapped a new coat of paint on them, to make the new religion more palatable. Thus, the "Winter Solstice" feast became the "Jesus was born" feast.

Nowadays, it's become a commercial holiday. For better or worse, the tradition of gift-giving means people will buy said gifts, and the producers of such gifts took the opportunity. It's almost completely non-secular now. There are religious overtones to it, but you have to actively seek them out (for the most part, it does vary depending on where you are).

 

[Dark Knifer]

Also, why is everyone offended by Christmas because it has Christan origins while nobody is offended by the Pegan origins of Halloween... well except some groups of Christians.

Because pagans don't have a very vocal, annoying, conservative section that messes with things, least not one that is shown in the mass media.

OT: Most religions have a celebration around christmas time so historically and religious christmas can be considered a religious day or not depending on the individual. It's been a religious thing far longer then a commercial thing but that's changed now. It has religious origins but that doesn't make it the only context of christmas.

 

[ThreeWords]

Well, Christmas as a give a present to someone day is entirely comercial.

But christmas as a celebration of of Jesus as a figure of christianity has been going since the 4th century.
And yes, lately only the hardcore christians remember the meaning of christmas in a truly pure way.

Yeah, this, pretty much. The reason that it doesn't occur on the date of Jesus' actual birthday (Somewhere in June/August) is that it was set up to coincide with the Roman festival of Saturnalia, to allow a smooth transition from one religion to another when Rome went Christian.

 

[Palademon]

I'm of the point of of view of: No it's not, it's a stolen pagan holiday celebrating the winter solstice.

I don't know whether or not that's completely true but I think it makes sense.
I "celebrate" christmas as a secular holiday of "OH SHIT GOTTA BUY STUFF", so I don't think of it very highly, but I do like the message of peace and good cheer.

Everyone celebrates it here. I only know of one muslim friend in Canada who's family never cared, but she's basically just against the buying presents part. Not exactly sure on her whole family's stance.

 

[Itsthefuzz]

I'm not religious at all, but I celebrate the holiday and so does pretty much everyone I know. Most of them are not religious either, it's probably just more of a commercial thing.

 

[SmegInThePants]

I'm an atheist but i celebrate x-mas. I live in America though so i better celebrate x-mas or people might realize i'm an atheist and try to burn me at the stake.

 

[Terrara]

You don't celebrate Christmas in Russia. You Celebrate the New Year. Because Christmas is supposed to be a religious event. Say thanks to globalisation and media for it becoming a random celebration to waste money on. (also, don't generalise, orthodox christians celebrate christmas on 7th of Jan, wile catholics and protestants go with 25th of dec)

To those saying that's what christians stole from pagans.... you do realise that apart from really minor details and names, all religions are the same? (and don't give me the belief in one god argument, cause then you forget the army of saint patrons of everything.)

 

[Yopaz]

Yes, Christmas is in fact a Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Ever wondered why it's called "Christmas"?

Giving presents to each other is just something that has developed over time.

The name doesn't matter much when it comes to it. It's named Christmas is one language and something else in other languages.
Over here it's called jul so it only got one letter in common with the fairytale character you relate to the name. It is in fact closer to the word hjul which means wheel. Is this because we celebrate the wheel since the names are similar? Giving presents was added to the Christian version because if you want to make someone believe in your religion you can't take away their traditions and replace them with some crappier ones. You have to take their traditions and improve them. Before Christianity came we used to celebrate the 22nd of December because it's a turning point. After this point our days grow longer and that has been celebrated with presents for a lot longer time than there's even been a Christianity. It seems you blindly believe that Christmas is about Christianity like so many others.

OT: Most Christians got firm beliefs that Christmas is their tradition and that Jesus was born on Christmas day, over here where we celebrate on the 24th they believe he was born on Christmas Eve. Christmas is a nice holiday and I think most Christians really believe that it is a Christian thing exclusively.

 

[Rishtaka]

I've always loved this adaption of Linus explaining Christmas to Charlie Brown, it just seems so much more fitting than what it originally said:

Spoiler

 

[Lyri]

alright this is somthing that bugs me,

aparently...if your not christian...you dont celebrate christmas? is this an american beliife or somthing?

anyway let me exaplain

now I dont actually know if chrstmases origins were christian Im a VERY sure it actually wansnt, I know baby jesus didnt have his birthday on the 25th of decenmber..and I think christians "stole" the date to compete with another festival

but that aside....

as far as Im concerned christmas thease days generally has nothing to do with religion..no really, my family is not religous....most of Australia is not religous and we (and I imagine alot of Australia) celebrate christmas.....(aside from going to mass of coase)

you know what christmas is? its a comercial holiday, its the itme of year when kids get presesnts, and its the itme of yeah adults stress out, put up with family or eat/drink themelfs into oblvion (or all three)

last time I checked jesus hardly had anything to do with it aside from the nativity plays we somtimes has...thats it, mostly it was about santa

You're speaking from a none religious stand point right?
Hence why you assume it to be a none religious holiday and actually thought that it wasn't to do with the birth of the baby J.C.

Commercialism has completely obliterated religious holidays, lets be honest here. Whilst Christmas now to most people about the giving of gifts, it is in fact a celebration of the birth of Jesus.
Christians are now trying to take back what is rightfully theirs, you're not a Christian so you shouldn't be celebrating Christmas, just like you're not celebrating Divahli or other different holidays belonging to other religions. They're no more in the wrong than anyone else.

 

[ChupathingyX]

SNIP

*Sigh*

Another person who took my post way too seriously and blew it out of proportion and also made me out to be a respresentative of all Christianity and that I am a bad and ignorant person for doing so.

If you read some of my other posts you'll see that I was talking specifically about Christmas in America (just like the OP intended) and that to be honest I don't even care about it as I'm not even a very religous guy.