since when is christmass a religions event?

[oktalist]

Well you could argue that the commercialised version of Christmas, the giving of presents, the drinking of booze... is itself a religion.
*looks smug*

Also the abbreviation "Xmas" has been around since the 18th century, derived from "X'temmas" from the 16th century. The title "Christ" has been abbreviated to "Xp" or "Xt" in religious texts since the 11th century. It derives from the fact that the first letter of the Greek word for "Christ" looks like an X. The misconception that it is part of the commercialisation and secularisation of Christmas seems to have arisen because "Xmas" was used in lots of advertisements, due to its shortness.

 

[Something Amyss]

Christians did not adopt it or steal it, common misconception. The date was stolen, not the idea of giving gifts.

Giving gifts isn't the issue here. I'm sorry you inferred that. The date, many of the traditions, and the base concept all come from prior celebrations they co-opted. It's not JUST the date, no.

So your excusing one and not the other appears to come from your own lack of knowledge. Okay, I guess I can understand that. Least you're not being actively hypocritical.

 

[dorkette1990]

Well, in order to shuffle out the pagans, they had to mostly replace their holidays. Instead of a harvest festival, Halloween! Instead of fertility, Easter! Most things became about Christianity when the Christians declared themselves rules of religion (that was mostly supposed to be humorous).

Also, OP, you're so negative about the holidays! I've always seen Christmas as a perfect opportunity to spend time with people I love, buy them thoughtful things (because although it's a commercial holiday, our society as a whole like material things with thought behind them), and it gives me a chance to test-drive holiday recipes on family.
Wow, I sounded a little like Martha Stewart there. Can't help it - love Christmas.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Now I can't find the bloody source, but I swear reading that Chinese Astronomy records had recorded the supposed "Star of Bethlahem" which lead the wise men to the place of Christs birth. It also proved that Christ was in fact NOT born on December 25th, but some time in the spring or summer. It was later moved to coincide with the winter solstice.

If someone could help me find it, it would be greatly appreciated, currently I'm trying to find it and will edit as soon as I do.


Edit: found something interesting http://www.astronomynotes.com/history/bethlehem-star.html

 

[backinthepresentfuture]

why simply since the crusades! don't believe it? we'll kill your family,burn your village and eat your babies in order to prove that our lord exists.

 

[Lyri]

Giving gifts isn't the issue here. I'm sorry you inferred that. The date, many of the traditions, and the base concept all come from prior celebrations they co-opted. It's not JUST the date, no.

So your excusing one and not the other appears to come from your own lack of knowledge. Okay, I guess I can understand that. Least you're not being actively hypocritical.

Are you going to explain your point in order to debate or are you just going straight to the insults?

I never made any claim it was ok for any group to steal others holidays.

But you said it was right for Christians to be offended that their holiday was co-opted, though they co-opted it themselves. How are you not applying a different standard to them?

I didn't apply any standard, it's something you strongly seem to suggest I have though. I never excused Christianity for anything they have or have not done, but I believe they should have a right to their holidays as much as any religious group.

Well, in order to shuffle out the pagans, they had to mostly replace their holidays. Instead of a harvest festival, Halloween! Instead of fertility, Easter! Most things became about Christianity when the Christians declared themselves rules of religion (that was mostly supposed to be humorous).

Humorous but essentially what happened when Monarchy and rulers decided that theirs was a divine right to rule, they used the power of the church to persuade the people.

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

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.

Yup this. Immigrants coming from Europe would beg from wealthy Americans as it was tradition to go house to house begging for gifts and they would often go to the wealthiest neighborhoods. The wealthy people some of whom happened to be in the media (this was errr late 1800's early 1900's I believe) basically changed Christmas into staying at home and buying or making things for your family. Of course the people begging in Europe splintered off from not exchanging gifts at all and going to church then eating a meal.

 

[Jack Skelhon]

Y'all posting in a troll thread.

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

why simply since the crusades! don't believe it? we'll kill your family,burn your village and eat your babies in order to prove that our lord exists.

Catholic Church: More like we'll capture the holy lands to occupy the in which our holy book took place and we'll promise the soldiers that any sins committed are forgiven and passage into heaven is assured. Just wanna make sure you know that the it was the Catholic church not the soldiers but undoubtedly many of them enjoyed the rape. Some were brainwashed into thinking this was the right thing to do.

 

[Laser Priest]

I celebrate Presents Day around that time.

It's the day when families join together and offer sacrifice to appease my wrath.

 

[Vhite]

If you live in USA it is another celebration of consumerism. If you are christian you probably celebrate Jesus' birthday and if you are pre-christian pagan you probably celebrate you hate on christians for stealing your holiday.

 

[Ieyke]

Yes, Christmas is a Christian holiday. It literally means "Christ's Mass".

Part of the reason the Roman Empire fell apart was the Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity and the subsequent adoption of Christianity as the official religion.
In doing so, they began to adopt existing pagan festivals and customs and renamed them, and re-purposed them as Christian traditions, thereby making it easier for people of other religions to accept Christianity taking over. They basically kept doing the same thing and just called it something else.
In effect, the Roman Empire made Christianity into an unstoppable juggernaut at its own expense. Where the Empire would quickly fracture and crumble, Christianity would go on and on and on and on. There's irony for ya...

Thus, Saturnalia (the Roman festival honoring Saturn and the winter solstice) became Christmas, and it is from there that the traditions of gift-giving and merrymaking come. Christmas also absorbed traditions from a variety of other winter festivals such as the Roman New Year from which comes the tradition of greenery, lights, and charity, and from Germanic pagan feasts we get things like Yule Logs and various foods traditions.

Notably, the Norse god Odin became Santa Claus, and his eight-legged flying horse, Sleipnir, became Santa's eight flying reindeer. During the 12-day festival of Yule (which would become "Chirstmastide" AKA "The Twelve Days Of Christmas") Odin would lead a hunting party through the sky, and along his journey children would place their boots, filled with carrots, straw, or sugar, near the chimney for Sleipnir to eat. Odin would then reward those children for their kindness by replacing Sleipnir's food with gifts or candy. The tradition persists today as leaving cookies for Santa and hanging stockings by the chimney to be filled with candy and gifts.
That then became entangled with legends of Saint Nicholas of Myra/Sinterklaas(the Dutch name for him), which is where he got his name.....and finally the Coca-Cola Company got a hold of him and popularized the bright red suit that has now become the iconic image of the figure.




Christmas is the finest example of how Christianity pretty much ripped off anything and everything they could...

 

[Switchblade 327]

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.

I thought that Christmas was a pagan holiday, originally, that the Christians allowed them to keep celebrating while they were busy slaughtering pagans into changing their beliefs, because violence seems to be the one thing consistent across all of Christianity's existence -.-

Christmas is the finest example of how Christianity pretty much ripped off anything and everything they could...

Ha, I guess Christianity is the Steve Jobs of religion!.. Except with a lot more genocide...

 

[DarkRyter]

It's been commercialized into secularism. Just as all Holidays should be.

 

[Conza]

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

Ok a few things to pick apart here.

Christmas was originally another holiday, which the Christians stole, not compete with, they just stole the celebration.

Secondly, Australia, almost all of it, does celebrate christmas, but the event for the past 40-50 years has been celebrated mostly without jessy boy being involved, correct.

So in conclusion, it is mostly commerical, and the latest sensus when it comes in will hopefully confirm that 40%ish of the population (including the old, as we have an aging population), are christian, but I'm sure double that will be celebrating christmas.

 

[Xanadu84]

Christmas is a holiday that celebrates the Birth of Jesus. People have come to celebrate it as a general good will, present giving holiday. The origin is Christian. Yes, the reason why it was placed on the day it is placed is because when a Christian group took over a pagan town, they wanted to throw in a bunch of familiar bits into the celebration of their God to entice these potential converts into throwing there lot in with Jesus. Doesn't matter what they call the God in question, they still get to party and exchange gifts. Which sounds insidious until you realize that those pagans that the Christians converted, once upon a time, put THEIR holiday on top of some OLDER religions holiday and did the exact same thing. That's just how culture works.

 

[bootz]

A lot of the winter holidays just come from the fact that your celebrating the fact you Survived and lived though the longest night or nights of the year (hence all the lights/candles chasing the night away).

Your now half way through the dark. Back in the day without all the new heating systems, Surviving winter was very hard and not a guarantee.

Most of you year was pretty much making sure you have enough food and fuel to survive. I can understand celebrating when your work pays off and you're alive.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

grumble grumble grumble i have too much time and angst on my hands so i post pseudo-edgy things about religious holidays on the internet because my knickers are too tight around my testicals to allow me to walk into a church and say that shit to the religious people's faces

i think i still might be a little buzzed from last night (at which point I was fuckfaced drunk) but the point still applies. this is just angst in a sea of angst in the bay of angst and we're sailing across it in the smh angstnaught

merry christmas, and to quote neutral milk hotel

"I loooooove you jesus chriiiiiiiiiiiist"

 

[JamesStone]

Since when? Since ALWAYS. Like some other people said. CHRISTmas.

So, you have it backwards. You should be asking, since when is CHRISTmas, NOT a religious event.

People who "celebrate Christmas" but aren't christian are piggybacking on everything the holiday brings with it, but removing the religion from it. I.E. Those billboards.... "Jesus is the reason for the season". Because its an unfortunate trend, people want all the good things in life, but none of the work or responsibility.

So when you say "not just Christians celebrate Christmas" and "Christmas has become a secular holiday" You are wrong. Well over 50% of the US is christian.

Actually, as other people have said in this thread, Christmas was Yule, a pagan celebration of the solestice stolen by Christians to celebrate Jesus being born. And Jesus wasn´t even born on 25th December, the date was chosen to declare Yule a "evil and satanical" ritual.

Also, "piggybacking"? "people want all the good things in life"? Ohhhh, you are talking about Xmas, the capitalist adaptation of Christmas, aren´t you? You must be, because originally, no-one recieved presents on Christmas. That wasn´t what Chrismas was about, and the tradition of offering shit to other people started in the 1800´s or later.

Before you post, please inform yourself good sir. You have Google, so there´s no excuse to not to do it.

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

Christmas is actually a hybrid of the day Jesus may have been born and a pagan holiday made back when Catholics where attempting to convert pagans. Christmas is not the day Jesus was born, that's a fact.
And even if it was Jesus wouldn't want us to celebrate it. Jesus doesn't want us to take away any praise or faith away from god.
Also I don't believe in the holly trinity, where god and Jesus and the holy spirit are the same person. It basically says so in the bible that their all different.