What is the point of xmas assuming your non religeous?

DeletedUser16008

OK I have a question for you. We will assume your not religious.

What is the point of doing the xmas thing if your not religious ?

The first thing that is confusing is xmas decorations, why, do you and whats the point if you do... ?

Second is the traditional dinner, I mean whats all the fuss ? personally I can't stand Turkey which to my mind is just a marketing gimmick for an inferior meat to be sold, brussell sprouts are just ewwwwww, cranberry sauce/jam with a dinner is pretty pointless unless you have thrush which i hear its good for and mince pies and xmas pudding are absolutely disgusting things borne out by the fact you cant buy the stuff at any other time of year thank goodness.

Finally theres the giving of gifts, purely a habit for the sake of it taken over by retailers to shift tonnes more rubbish. So you do it for what purpose peer pressure or habit or what other reason ?

Debt soars at xmas and the average family only pays off the credit card by March for it. Stuff is discounted hugely a week after the "xmas" week and you know your getting ripped off.... so why spend like a nutjob for a date when a week or less later you can get the same stuff for half the price.

So what is the point of it all ?

Best reason I can come up with is...... Its for the kids and to see family.... other than that I find it all a bit pointless.
 
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DeletedUser31931

Ok, just my insignificant views on Christmas.
A)Turkey is american. The traditional Christmas meat is goose which, when prepared properly, is an extremely tasty meat.
B)I'm atheist, however, I view Christmas as a time when all of my family gets together, coming from both Europe and the USA.
C)Some people do have Christmas slightly late to save money, especially in these financially troubled times.
D)Christmas brings a bit of goodwill into the world. E.G. WW1 stopped for a day wen the Germans and British declared peace on Christmas and had a match of football.
E) Some serious Christians don't celebrate Christmas as we know it. Example (bit old fashioned but the best to prove my point.): Oliver Cromwell, banned present giving and festive activities on Christmas and made everyone spend the day (from sunrise to sunset) at church.

*Note* Apologies for any spelling mistakes, but this keyboard is extremely faulty and liable to not register button presses.
 

WanderingStranger

Well-Known Member
It is simply a tradition. We do a lot of things that have been passed down over the years and have evolved from how they originally were.

Clothing, hair styles, and our normal "work week" are all just carried over from the distant past and have changed so much they should have no relevance yet we continue to consider them normal.

Start wearing dresses if you want to be a real rebel. Christmas doesnt matter as much as pants dont. Just depends on the person.
 

DeletedUser16008

Actually meatwise Goose has never really been on the xmas menu here. sure for the rich, the traditional meat on Christmas Day remained swan, goose, peacock etc. In 1588, Elizabeth I ordered that everybody should have goose for their Xmas dinner as it was the first meal she had after the victory of the Spanish Armada but didnt realise most of the people could not afford it so they ate whatever bird they could find usually wood pigeon. ;) Victorian Britain would have roast beef or rabbit as Turkey was still very expensive and chicken was silly to waste on a dinner when it gave eggs everyday unless past its prime and even then it was pretty tough. Pigeon or rabbit was far far more likely. I love the idea of trying roast swan though I must confess.

It makes sense also that business slows down and everyone has agreed time off, this is not so much a celebration but habit formed from the industrial times coupled with religious holiday period

Start wearing dresses if you want to be a real rebel. Christmas doesnt matter as much as pants dont. Just depends on the person.
Scots still do but its just fashion. Actually if you want to be a real rebel just treat it like any other day and ignore all the hype entirely ;)

The Scots have always preferred to postpone the celebrations for a few days to welcome in the New Year. Makes sense to me and this is when its less of a commercial or religious thing and more a personal one.

Nothing wrong with goodwill, only the fact its restricted to one time of year, Victorian era changed the face of Christmas forever. Sentimental do-gooders like Charles Dickens wrote books like "Christmas Carol", published in 1843, which actually encouraged rich Victorians to redistribute their wealth by giving money and gifts to the poor. Lets not forget many cultures on Earth dont have such a holiday but also give on other festival days also.... The stupid thing about the famous German and British xmas ceasefire is it didnt save one life or change a thing, it started in 1914 right at the beginning of the war when all were still niave to the horrors of what was to come, by 1916 after the use of gas and bloody battles such as the Somme there were NO examples of goodwill at xmas.

Useless items added to the xmas pantomime include Crackers - Invented by Tom Smith, a London sweet maker in 1846. The original idea was to wrap his sweets in a twist of fancy coloured paper, but this developed and sold much better when he added love notes (motto's), paper hats, small toys and made them go off BANG!

Heres the history of the now quite disgusting Mince pie. Mince" comes from the word "mincemeat," which interestingly enough no longer contains meat. Mince pies evolved from a medieval pastry called "chewette." It was made with chopped meat or liver, boiled eggs, ginger, dried fruit and other sweet ingredients. It was fried or baked. During the 17th century, the meat products were replaced with suet, a beef or mutton fat. Vegetable fat can also be used to suit vegetarian diets. By the 19th century in Great Britain and North America, mince pies no longer contained any meat. The suet pies are still made today, but they usually vary from the traditional version.

Today mince pies are traditionally filled with fruit mincemeat, also known as fruitmince, containing dried fruit (raisins, currants, cherries, apricots, candied peels), spices (cinnamon or nutmeg), nuts (walnuts or almonds), suet and alcohol (brandy or rum). The pie is cooked and dusted with caster sugar or icing sugar.

Give me the old meat version anyday. :D
 
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DeletedUser

As a child, I believed in Santa a lot longer than other kids, besides all the signs and talk proving me otherwise. I wanted Santa to be real. I loved Santa and my mom was the greatest mom in the world around that time. We used to get our presents on the Christmas Eve. Many times we were still awake (after we got a little older of course). And even after I stopped believing in Santa, my mom continued to sneak the presents under the tree and nobody ever caught her. And I tried hard! As I said, she was awesome. So when I have kids I will try to do the same and not get caught. Because I loved that about Christmas and I hope my kids will too. Then there are the carols. The tradition is dying, but I loved going caroling. And I love listening to a choir sing carols. I love music and I love Christmas Carols. Some might say: well why don't you listen to them all year round? Sometimes I do, but they don't feel the same for some reason. I love them around Christmas and in winter-time. In summer-time they don't really go with my mood. And then the tree, oh how I love the tree. I cannot imagine Christmas without a tree. The smell, the lights, the cute decorations ... I love making it and I love taking it apart. The one thing I hate about it is throwing it away. And then there's the food. Nobody has to do turkey if they don't want to. There's ham, roast, fish ... make your own traditions, spoil yourself with that you want to eat. Did I mention I love pies (and by that I mean fruit pies)? I make them year'round too.
And then Vic you said people spend like crazy: well they are doing exactly what companies want them to and not what they should do. Christmas never ever put a hole in my parent's budget and didn't put a hole in my budget yet either. Because my Christmas is not about consumerism. I never over-do it. I don't like to many decorations. Outside, anything more than 1 strand of lights around the trim and a wreath on the door is cheesy and to much for me. Inside there's the tree, a couple paper snowflakes and that's about it. We usually get together with friends/family and we all bring something at the table. With a little effort from everybody, we make an amazing Christmas dinner and nobody puts a hole in their budget. And then the gifts: there's like an unwritten rule about a limit, we don't spend more than a certain amount. If not, every year people will try to over-do each other and then what? You fatten businesses' pockets emptying yours and that's not what Christmas is about (or it shouldn't be). For me gifts are not about spending money, but about care and ingenuity. I don't care if my gift cost $2 or no dollars. If it is significant to me, I will cherish it for the rest of my life (this pretty much sums up gift giving in my view). I do not give expensive gifts, I give memorable gifts.
So be smart about your shopping, have your friends bring a dish of their liking to the table and minimize decorations. I think you'll start to like it better then. Because is not the about consuming, is about creating an atmosphere that warms your heart.
 
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DeletedUser

Haven't read any post in here other than the OP, as I haven't got time. Might edit this later.
Anyways, it's as simpole as this; it's just an ancient festival to banish the cold, etc etc, there really is no point to it.
 

DeletedUser

I don't care, it gives me 2 weeks off to finish any school project I have unfinished(also it's right before the exams), steam sales, lots of food and I actualy don't like the part about seeing the whole family, just reminds me that most of them are morons.
 

DeletedUser

I don't care, it gives me 2 weeks off to finish any school project I have unfinished(also it's right before the exams), steam sales, lots of food and I actualy don't like the part about seeing the whole family, just reminds me that most of them are morons.

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nashy19

Nashy (as himself)
It's a celebration, traditional so it's better than a random party, since it's more organised and most people get involved. It's fun, people enjoy it, it brings them closer, people seem to be nicer at Christmas time, 'Chirstmas spirit' and everything. The warm feeling is especially nice considering how cold it is outside. It's good to spend time together doing something enjoyable. We're doing Christmas dinner and presents in my flat soon, then I'm going back home to do it properly.

A lot of the things I like about it (turkey, mice pies, music) are only good occasionally. I don't think I would still like mice pies if I ate them all year round.

I think we might have this thread every year and basically there's stuff to like about Christmas. A lot of those things are traditional elements, but it's like the Coke marketing strategy, we like shared experiences. For gifts, I think it's like sharing treats we wouldn't give ourselves.

I don't think it would have more of a point if it was religious, birthdays are already less meaningful. I don't think the choice of date matters that much, it's a decent date in the middle of the winter.

Also did anyone else here never believe in Santa? I thought the kids who did were a bit naive (and probably religious). I'd think 'better go to bed, my parents have to do the presents' and be quieter on Christmas Eve. I've never ever said anything about it though, my parents probably suspected, we were going to pretend that Santa existed anyway.
 

DeletedUser

364 days out of the year we treat each other like crap and pose derogatories about our relatives. One day out of the year we give gifts and act like we care how everyone is doing, but secretly dread seeing the relatives and loudly complain about the cost of the event. It's an excuse to be nice for one day out of the year, but we do a piss poor job of that.

So, instead, I do the opposite. For 364 days of the year I secretly dread seeing the relatives and loudly complain about the cost of living. One day out of the year, I treat everyone like crap and pose derogatories about my relatives.
 

DeletedUser15057

Where I come from, it is traditional to bring out the BBQ and beers at Xmas. It also co-insides with a break from work, so really I see Xmas as the start of the holiday season.
And always good to be able to have the family and good friends around for a common reason, but no gifts or presents other than for the little ones.
Keep it simple, sane and fun. :)
 

DeletedUser

The best bit about Xmas for me is that I can merrily bid my muslim neighbours and local shopworkers a cheery "Happy Christmas" knowing that they must find it subtly annoying.
 

DeletedUser31931

Then when Eid comes round they can cheerily wish you a happy Eid-Ul-Fitr, and offer to read you their poem. :D

Also another note about Christmas, it was originally adapted from the Roman/ Celtic Festival of Saturnalia, which was to celebrate that the darkest day of winter had come and gone and the days were getting longer again. To help get people to adjust into Christianity, Christians put Christmas day on the final day of the Saturnalia celebrations. December 25. Thus Christmas acts (for those in the northern hemisphere) as a sort of keeping spirits up holiday, it helps keep people going until new year, and anyway, it gets you some time off work/school in Elymr's case, because he is six :p, so be thankful for that!
 
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DeletedUser35409

The best bit about Xmas for me is that I can merrily bid my muslim neighbours and local shopworkers a cheery "Happy Christmas" knowing that they must find it subtly annoying.
Hilarious....lol

I used to really not wish people 'Merry Christmas' until it became proscribed by the 'others' that tell us what to think and do.

Nowadays I go around wishing merry christmas to everybody as a finger in the dyke. And I'm an atheist!

Love the lights!

edit: regarding above poster prior:I'm not sure that Saturnalia is actually related to the christmas founding holiday. There's an historical debate about it that regretfully I can't recall however I know that the dec 25th date is, of course, invented for celebratory purpose.
 
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