The Holidays in General

[canatedian]

Frustrations and Various Holiday stories welcome here.

I’ll get you all started, since I seem to have taken over this evening as Forum Mayor.

A couple weeks ago my cousin told me ALL the interact, and visa machines went down for an hour or better in Walmart.
Now Picture Massive Hysteria.
I love it when Technology creates panic.

Or When I was about 6 years old and saw a mall Santa drinkin from a brown paper bag out back the Tamarack.

With Technologies assistance, and the help of the leprechaun I’ve been hiding in the basement since last spring, I will find Santa.

[canatedian]

people post a reply eh?

[seasonsgreetings]

Have just heard that Boston will this year have a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree.

Does this mean that we will now have Holiday candles instead of a menorah (hannukah) or mishumaa saba (kwanzaa), holiday rabbit instead of the Easter bunny and holiday fat man instead of Santa Claus? Somehow it doesn’t seem to have the same ring…I can’t see myself bending down to my kids and saying “now, who want’s to go and see the fat man and sit on his knee?”

As far as I am aware, the other celebrations that take place around Christmas don’t celebrate with a tree decorated with glittery baubles and lights, so why is it being deemed neccessary to change the name to accommodate them? I’ll bet none of them are interested what we call our decorations.

I like to think that I am not a hypocrite in celebrating Christmas even though I am not a Christian, as I believe this particular celebration to have been stolen from the druids who celebrated the midwinter and the turning of the sun around this time, by drinking beer and eating feasts (now that’s my kinda party!) and most of the ways we celebrate don’t have anything to do with Christianity anyway. To me it’s a time to celebrate friends and family, give gifts and make merry. I don’t go to church on Christmas Eve, because I don’t go any other time of the year.

Am a little afraid of this move towards generalization of festive symbols. Why do age old traditions need to be constantly bastardized in the name of political correctness? And if you want a new tradition, why can’t there be a new name, instead of trashing an old one (I had to get the Mogul Smoker in here somewhere).

Growing up I don’t remember anything about Kwanzaa. I don’t know if it even existed outside of Africa back then, although it started in 1966. I am happy for the Black population to have their own Festival, it is all theirs, and they have their own traditions and rituals. I was always a little jelous of Jewish Hannukah – it seemed to be about people, family and equality, and I loved how it seemed to avoid the glitz and glam that Christmas has become.

One more thought, Christmas is one day (or two if you count Christmas Eve, which is more important to Continental Europeans, or three if you count Boxing Day, the traditional slouching around in the pub day for most Brits) while Hannukah and Kwanzaa both celebrate for a week. If we are standardising the holidays, should we not all celebrate for 5 days, and then call the whole thing off? And who does New Year belong to? And what about the Gregorians?

[gavitron]

I was listening to some people discuss the topic of Christmas being a celebration of the birth of Christ, and how some people are trying to make everything about Christmas politically correct and a comparison came to mind.
My birthday is October 4th. On that day, people who care about me get together and celebrate my birth. People who don’t know me or care about me don’t do anything out of the ordinary. However, if people DID get together and buy other people presents and wished other people a happy birthday just for the sake of being friendly, it would not offend me. I would be content with the few people that were celebrating my birth and not worry about other peoples motives that day as long as they were in good spirits and were letting other people in their lives know they cared about them.
So, as for Jesus Christ, I guess the question is: Would Jesus care that other people use December 25th, which is used to celebrate his birth by his followers, to celebrate their own lives and the lives of those they love and care for?
I don’t think he would mind. If October 4th became known as Gavitronmas and everyone celebrated and spent time with their family with out even knowing who I was or caring about my life, I would be happy just knowing that on that day everyone was sharing the love.
I do however have to agree that if people do not think it is right to celebrate Christmas because it has different meanings to different people, than instead of changing a Christmas tree into a “Holiday Tree” perhaps a new day of celebration should be created…and just to get the ball rolling, Gavitronmas on October 4th sounds great!

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