Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas?

just looked at the latest flyer from SEARS in today's newspaper .
it advertises that BOXING day sales "start this weekend" - no need to wait until after christmas to start the "after christmas shopping" . :wink:

i bet they'd like us to start our easter shopping right now Laughing

i guess i better say "happy holidays" because some peolple may have already finished their christmas and are ready for easter or some other holiday Laughing

i do like christmas , not that i want any gifts at all - and likely won't get any Shocked

- but simply to hopefully see happy faces - though some people look already mighty stressed .

my favourite day is really NEW YEAR'S DAY - particularly if it's a cold but sunny day . we like to go out on new year's morning to enjoy having it made into another year - so we hope Very Happy

have a happy one , every one !
hbg

0 Replies

Have an excessive, overblown Saturnalia.

0 Replies

After all the nasty news which i had read all thro' this year .
I have no regrets to avoid any kind of greetings to anybody

0 Replies

I'll second that!

0 Replies

JPB wrote:

I do find it humorous that the Christians snagged the holiday from the pagans and are now all huffy that the pagans are snagging it back. Many, if not most, religions have a seasonal celebration of light near the solstice. For Christians to claim dibs on the season is specious.

Christians are not claiming dibs on the seaon and snagged is a bit of a stretch. Very Happy

Christians (at least most, I hope) realize others celebrate something different and I thought it has already been made abundantly clear that this is not a problem. Christians that I know respect the holidays of other religions. We just expect the same respect.

I guess the pagans can call it whatever they want but Christians are supposed to change the name to appease others who may be pagans or simply not agree with the name Christmas. I do not agree that it is only pagans who celebrate other events at this time.

0 Replies

Even if I didn't have a crush on the first lady of Rhythm and Blues (when she said 'wood is good' at Jazz Fest I almost lost it), Bonnie Raitt I'd still be all about The Religious Society of Friends.

They sometimes say 'I hope so' rather than 'yes' in the sense that they assent but only in the hope that what they're doing is right.

So, on that note, even if you's a Christian and even if you know you mean well and even if you feel sure - how sure do you want to be? Why not let it ride rather than force it?

0 Replies

Intrepid wrote:

I guess the pagans can call it whatever they want but Christians are supposed to change the name to appease others who may be pagans or simply not agree with the name Christmas. I do not agree that it is only pagans who celebrate other events at this time.

What in the world are you talking about? Maybe it is time for you to express what your complaint is. You posted a video in which a group jumped all over a coffee shop employee merely because that employee used a generic greeting to an unknown person. Downright rude reaction if you ask me.

I am totally unaware of any movement which suggests that Christians are supposed to change the name to appease others who may be pagans or simply not agree with the name Christmas. Please enlighten me if you have an example.

0 Replies

Oh great.. NOW the conversation evolves to where my original post fits right in.

I think the man in the video was having a real "elitist" moment and it was rude to jump on someone for trying to include everyone with a general 'happy holiday' greeting.

but, ya know... the more I think about it.. the more I think this world is just too damn PC as it is.
happy holidays includes everyone. So does merry christmas to some extent.

Cant we just be happy that people care enough to even WISH someone anything good at all?

0 Replies

mesquite wrote:

Intrepid wrote:
I guess the pagans can call it whatever they want but Christians are supposed to change the name to appease others who may be pagans or simply not agree with the name Christmas. I do not agree that it is only pagans who celebrate other events at this time.

What in the world are you talking about? Maybe it is time for you to express what your complaint is. You posted a video in which a group jumped all over a coffee shop employee merely because that employee used a generic greeting to an unknown person. Downright rude reaction if you ask me.

I am totally unaware of any movement which suggests that Christians are supposed to change the name to appease others who may be pagans or simply not agree with the name Christmas. Please enlighten me if you have an example.

I really don't know what you are talking about. You are turning what was originally a peaceful discussion into something else. As is your way.

You brought up the word pagan...not me. I had already discussed my thoughts many pages ago. Perhaps you should read the thread rather than try to pick a fight.

I will not continue this discussion with you.

0 Replies

shewolfnm wrote:

Cant we just be happy that people care enough to even WISH someone anything good at all?

I think that many of us agree with you on this. Very Happy

0 Replies

Agreed :-D

0 Replies

If it hasn't been done so, I'd like to point out this particular news article...

Quote:

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A Muslim man jumped to the aid of three Jewish subway riders after they were attacked by a group of young people who objected to one of the Jews saying "Happy Hanukkah," a spokeswoman for the three said Wednesday.

Friday's altercation on the Q train began when somebody yelled out "Merry Christmas," to which rider Walter Adler responded, "Happy Hanukkah," said Toba Hellerstein.

"Almost immediately, you see the look in this guy's face like I've called his mother something," Adler told CNN affiliate WABC.

Two women who were with a group of 10 rowdy people then began to verbally assault Adler's companions with anti-Semitic language, Hellerstein said.

One member of the group allegedly yelled, "Oh, Hanukkah. That's the day that the Jews killed Jesus," she said.

When Adler tried to intercede, a male member of the group punched him, she said.

Another passenger, Hassan Askari -- a Muslim student from Bangladesh -- came to Adler's aid, and the group began physically and verbally assaulting him, Hellerstein said.

Adler pulled the emergency brake and the train stopped at DeKalb Avenue station, where police came on board.

The 10 suspects, ages 19 to 20, were taken into custody, said Brooklyn district attorney spokesman Sandy Silverstein.

Askari was first handcuffed alongside them, but he was released when Adler told police he was not an attacker, Hellerstein said.

Alder was treated at Long Island College Hospital for injuries that included a fractured nose and a cut lip that required several stitches, while Askari suffered a black eye, Hellerstein said.

The suspects are to appear in Brooklyn District Court on February 7 on charges that include assault, attempted assault, menacing, harassment, unlawful assembly, riot and disorderly conduct, Silverstein said.

The New York Police Department's Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident, and will determine whether the suspects will be charged with hate crimes, Officer Philip Hauser told CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/12/subway.attack/index.html

So, what do you guys think of this incident? Unfortunate minority incident, perhaps? (I personally hope so).

0 Replies

Wolf,

Joe Nation posted this article back on page 5 of this thread. It has been discussed in detail and there is no use in starting this item again. Perhaps you could go back a few pages and catch on the discussion regarding this incident.

Thanks.

0 Replies

And I do believe that it is a good example of why it is perfectly understable why some people are reluctant to say Merry Christmas.

0 Replies

Intrepid wrote:

cyphercat wrote:

As a Catlick myself, what is THAT s'posed ta mean, huh? huh?

No offence meant. My tongue in cheek point was that everyone is saying that this group were Christians. The article did not say or imply that other than one girl saying she was Catholic.

I threw in that (what I thought was humorous but was apparently mistaken) line after I realized that I had said that none were identified as Christians. It was part of an edit gone wrong.

Sorry, Intrepid, I shoulda put a wink in there! I was just joking, I certainly didn't think you were serious with your "Catholics are Christians, right?" comment. I was just having fun being a belligerent Catholic. Smile

0 Replies

In my experience the really belligerent Catholics are the lapsed Catholics and the devout mothers of the lapsed Catholics.

Come to think of it, converts can also be belligerent.

0 Replies

Hi Intrepid, Mesquite, everybody else who sent greetings. . . .

I have no problem with department stores who use Happy Holidays. I have a HUGE problems with stores who would refuse to allow their employees to return a cheery "Merry Christmas" to the customers or who make a big deal about making sure that there are no references or symbols of Christmas at all. I look for stores that allow the Salvation Army bellringers and they are the ones most likely to get my business.

The reason we have the celebration at all is because of a figure Christians call the Christ. Christians do not require anybody to believe anything in matters of faith in order to participate in the festival, however. To remove the reference to Christ because it might offend somebody is as ridiculous as eliminating St. Patrick from St. Patrick's Day so as not to offend the non-Irish or those who don't believe in saints.

Next thing you know, we'll be having a "Green Day" parade roughly approximating the celebration named for a non-specific figure from a generic European nation.

0 Replies

Foxfyre wrote:

The reason we have the celebration at all is because of a figure Christians call the Christ.

False!

JPB wrote:

I do find it humorous that the Christians snagged the holiday from the pagans and are now all huffy that the pagans are snagging it back. Many, if not most, religions have a seasonal celebration of light near the solstice. For Christians to claim dibs on the season is specious.

0 Replies

Chumly wrote:

Foxfyre wrote:
The reason we have the celebration at all is because of a figure Christians call the Christ.
False!
JPB wrote:
I do find it humorous that the Christians snagged the holiday from the pagans and are now all huffy that the pagans are snagging it back. Many, if not most, religions have a seasonal celebration of light near the solstice. For Christians to claim dibs on the season is specious.

Sorry but the Christians didn't 'snag' anybody else's holiday. The Pagans went on celebrating Saturnalia or Mithras or any of the other winter holidays occuring during or around the winter solstice and Christians, then and now, had no more problem with that any more than Christians have any problem with Hannukah/Chanukah or any other non-Christian festivals celebrated around that time or any time. Christians adopted December 25 as the official 'feast day' because their converted Pagan members were already accustomed to celebrating at that time of year; but they didn't 'usurp' anybody else's celebration in order to do it.

Christians have never claimed 'dibs' on the season, but it was Christians celebrating their own day that evolved into the major celebration we now have. It wasn't all those other guys. And Christians want to exercise their right to celebrate their own festival/feast day and not be ejected by anti-Christians, some of whom would actually deny all recognition of the Christian festival.

0 Replies

Happy Kwanzaa then

0 Replies

Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know