What's your view on reigious holidays?

Post Reply New Topic

When I was younger I even refused to attend my sis' wedding...I stayed outside of the church, I did't want to go into the church because of my atheism...and thought I shuld stik obstinately to my points f view. I despised to celebrate x mas, also because, of my traumatic childhood...my dad and mum alwyas had verbal and physical fights...
But I look at the pagan, wiccan origne of X mas before it was replaced by the Christian worship of the light Christ is they say. So, I maight now celebrate it..still, tonight celebrating it in a guest hosue with strangers and tourists...I don't know. And her in Peru they eat late...the dinner will be at 1 am!! And lots of noises of crackers all night and morning...I will not find a place to hide...and yet everyone comes together...the son of the owner of the inn says I am invited to eat turkey with them.

Sometims looking back to the past, I regret that I didn't go into the church at my sis' wedding, maybe I did hurt her feelings by soing so, and my eldest sister ire...You always have to be the special one, she used to say to me.

I think it's important to have group celebrations, it's a way human beings have been for as long as we know humans have existed - and it doesn't seem to matter what beliefs or non-beliefs are involved, that coming together seems important to me.

I wish that in the US instead of Christmas being a legal holiday, we had floating holidays to cover the religious ones, so that people who celebrate the Solstice or Hanukkah, or any other holiday of their choice, can take that time with their families. Some employers give people their birthday off, but make it a floating holiday so they don't have to take it on their birthday, so there's already a precedent for this.

To me the get-togethers at this time of year are more about family and friends and staying in touch. I celebrate the Solstice with my spouse (not because of any belief, but because it seems to make sense to us to celebrate the end of the shortening of days in winter), and we got together with some family members a couple of times for different reasons - a marriage dinner, a lunch for no reason except that I hadn't seen my sister in ages - and we just make the most of it being accepted this time of year to visit. We really don't see them enough - which is fine with me most of the time, hermit that I am. But I do need my loved ones, and I do need to see them now and then. The visits make this time of year better for me.

I understand not wanting to enter a church. I usually do it with reluctance, though there are weddings and funerals I will attend in churches, just because I care about those particular people so much. I endure all the religious stuff in order to be there for them. It's a few hours out of my life, but the feelings for those I love are everlasting.

ETA: To me, today (Christmas Eve) isn't a commercial holiday - in fact I avoid that like the plague. It's also no longer a religious time for me (it was for a short time as a teen/young adult). But it is still an important social and cultural holiday, I think. There are aspects of the "meaning of Christmas" that I think are important for everyone - being generous and caring about others, being tolerant - which I think are good to remember at least once a year. I still love some of the old Christmas shows like Rudolph, Frosty and Charlie Brown - because they had a lot to do with simply caring about each other. For me it's also an important family holiday. I have lots of memories of Christmas Eves with my birth family. My parents celebrated their marriage then, and we were all together. I have two siblings out of four still alive, and I think about them and all my deceased loved ones today. So even without the religious meaning - which wasn't emphasized anyway in my family while growing up - Christmas Eve and Christmas still hold a great deal of meaning for me. I extract every bit of good I can from that and throw away the rest.

Last edited by BlueAbyss on 24 Dec 2012, 12:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think religion and the corresponding holidays are sentimental relics coming from a bygone era. Today Xmas is merely commerce. I don't attend church services, no matter what. People can get married without me, I find divorces much more interesting. And dead people don't realize who's attending their funeral anyway.

[Moved from General Autism Discussion to PPR]

Funerals aren't for the dead, they're for those still living who miss them. I like to support my loved ones in their grief.

Celebrate those things and events that you feel are worth celebrating.

But try not to be a public pest while doing it.

ruveyn

I like that we get the day off work. And on Christmas I love giving and getting presents. I don't really care for the social part of it. As a matter of fact I try to avoid it as much as possible. A few years ago was actually one of the best Christmases I ever had. My mom worked , my dad went to my aunt's, and my brother to his fiance's. I was only upset that my mom worked, but I was immensely relieved that I would not have to go see my relatives or anything. Christmas was actually better with only me and my pets.

This is how I feel. So Merry Christmas to all (especially to the chippy amongst us who moan at the very idea and concept of Christmas)!

Ruveyn beat me to it.

But the "Wiccans" were ahead of him, sort of ...

Note: this is the first published form of the couplet, quoted from Doreen Valiente in 1964. Later published versions include "ye" instead of either "the" or "it": "Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill – an ye harm none, do what ye will" (Earth Religion News, 1974); "Eight words ye Wiccan Rede fulfill – An' it harm none, Do what ye will" (Green Egg, 1975)

My view of religious holidays is that it;s fun to turn up an eat the free food.

Primitive superstitious nonsense coupled with the basic psychological need of belonging to a group.

All the good holidays (Christmas, Halloween, Easter) are of pagan origin. So I don't mind celebrating them. I just roll my eyes as religious people try to make the holiday about them.

Bah Humbug to you, too.

ruveyn

I'm indifferent to it, but unfortunately it's not indifferent to me. I feel like I need to comply socially or get on the Christmas Shitlist.

Hook, line and sinker.
Keep telling yourself that while I enjoy opening up presents with the family.

Merry Christmas,

Jake

I celebrate them as long as they're apart of my religion.