Christmas etc

[afuna]

This Christmas has been intense. I miss the days when I was too young to take part in serious family issues. Really do. Really really do. Phew! This post shall ignore all the bad stuff. I suspect everyone can fill in the blanks with their own family holiday dramas :-)

As usual we did all our celebrating / rituals on Christmas Eve; absolutely nothing on Christmas Day. We went to my grandpa's place and ate dinner at the usual time, hung out a bit, and then at near about to midnight, we started opening presents. After that, we had our Noche Buena -- Christmas feast.

This is approximately the same as what we do for New Year's, except then it's called the "Media Noche" and there are no presents and no money. But! We do get to watch other people light fireworks.

Some... guh, three years? ago, we used to celebrate Christmas at home, and didn't meet up with my cousins or grandpa. Back then, we'd go to the Christmas Eve mass after dinner, and then come home to Noche Buena and opening of presents. I used to protest a bit, because I always felt out of place in mass, but it was one of the few services I'd go to, and always always only to please my mom. Now, only my mom goes Christmas mass. Oh, perhaps I feel guilty for not going with her, but I'd feel guiltier participating in a service for a religion that's not my own.

(A nubbin of a thought: Given how intertwined christmas practices are in the general culture, I don't think it's possible to even see Christmas in the Philippines as a purely religious thing anymore, no matter how much the ads talk about remembering the reason for the season. But I wonder how much of this is the same in different countries? In countries that are secular enough, are christmas traditions seen as imposing/intrusive? Is it the same here and I just don't see it because, no matter my personal convictions now, I was raised Catholic and see things filtered by my religious upbringing? Are religious elements as background as I think they are, or do I only think that because that's the religion I was raised with? That is, are they only invisible to me because I've never had reason to think any of this was not "normal"?)

Still squeeeee because everyone liked the design of the scarf. I secretly think my execution was terrible (lots of uneven areas that I become very aware of when I look at the scarf), but remain really proud of how it turned out. I spent the whole of November and December listening for any hints for what my family members all wanted. I gave up with my dad and asked him outright -- but it's okay because by the time Christmas rolled around, he'd forgotten that I'd asked him so he was still surprised! Heeheehee.

(Grandpa likes it, but seems afraid to use it because he may lose it. I have secretly in my head promised to make him more less-fancy scarves for everyday wear)

Comments

[jadelennox]

I feel like my English relatives, in a country with a state church but very little religiosity, think of Christmas as a national secualr holiday, and are puzzled by their American cousins who -- in a country with no state church but upsettingly high religiosity in the public sphere -- think of Christmas as a holiday which is *not for us*. (Where by us I mean "Jews or any religious or secular people raised outsidde of hereditary Christianity")

[azurelunatic]

The reminders of "the reason for the season" are intrusive and annoying to me, because the season was around long before. I like Santa and trees and garlands and ornaments and the Yule log and endless baking, and giving and receiving gifts (especially books). I like singing. I do not mind watching other people celebrate the birth of *their* savior, and that folds neatly in with the trope of The Reborn God that dwells in my head. I don't mind being wished a Merry Christmas when the person doing the wishing is full of Christmas cheer, and this is the holiday they're celebrating and wish to share the joy.

I do mind it when people assume I'm Christian.

I imagine that it would be worse for someone who's had a traumatic break with a church, or who did not get to participate in the fun because it was Not Their Holiday when growing up.

[vlion]

In this part of the US(each locale has slightly different approaches, so ymmv), Christmas is overtly a religious holiday. There's a lot of trumpeting about the reason for the season and similar thing, but there's no real non-religious approaches until you actually see what happens: much praying to Santa and much gift giving, and very little religion.

Given the amount of hollering by the churches in the public space about Christ at this time of the year, I suspect that non-Christian people get rather tired and offended after a while.

Me, I joke that santa needs to be set up as an idol in light displays, so as to represent the truth and have done with the whole matter. More seriously, Solstice would be fine by me; the Battle For Christmas has gotten quite old for me by now.

[hatman]

Over the last 10-20 years, there's been a slowly dawning awareness here in the US that while the majority may be Christian, at least one in ten (by the last census) is not. That awareness is, of course, more marked in some places and circles than others.

While some complain about the seclarization and commercialization of the holiday (all the while giving in to it, for the most part), many businesses and local governments have taken to finding more inclusive ways to celebrate. Sometimes, it's a token menorah, which is nice for me and my fellow Jews, but does nothing for Wiccans, Buddhists, Muslims, or anyone else.

More commonly, it's the use of snowflake-themed decorations and phrases like "happy holidays." To me, the former is cheerful and the latter is an acknowledgment that pretty much every culture and religion has some kind of holiday around the time of the longest night. To others, it's the War On Christmas, an offensive (in every sense of the word) left-wing ploy aimed directly at their most cherished holiday traditions. This year, the backlash against the "War On Christmas" led to, among other things, Stand For Christmas, a website which rates stores based on how "Christmas-friendly" they are and encourages members and visitors to adjust their shopping habits accordingly.

In short... it's all a matter of point of view. It's a big country with a varied population (something I generally like to consider as one of our strengths, but the chaos and infighting are definite drawbacks). To some, yes, Christmas is intrusive, perhaps even downright oppressive (and some in that category are Christians themselves, feeling the overpowering weight of the expectations and commercial reminders and general ubiquitiousness of the holiday which now starts in early November, if not late October). To others, it's a wholely secular holiday. (My great aunt has a decorated indoor pine "Chankuah bush.") To others, it's a sacred religious tradition. We've got pretty much the full spectrum, though of course some places are more red than others...

[afuna]

The us-versus-them mentality behind "War on Christmas" sounds... messed up. Um.