Unbelievers: Do you participate in Easter? Christmas?

I don't participate in Easter. I "participate" in Christmas to the extent that I buy people presents; I don't go to any kind of service. I don't consider the latter hypocrisy because buying presents for loved ones doesn't strike me as a specifically or exclusively religious activity.

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I, being an oldie who has changed views, have celebrated Christmas and Easter wholeheartedly at home and work, and, decades later been confused with a small town's streets being near still.

Relatively recently, I worked as did others as an independent contractor/consultant where the owner decreed us a ten day holiday, based, in my view, on his wife's needs.

I went in anyway, and got work done that I could bill for.

The hidden deal was that people were supposed to work full bore the rest of the year. But, wait... I like to travel in early spring and in the fall.

So I did, and was resented.

Deal is, that if many or most companies shut down to some extent, the rest might as well.

In architectural design, it can be blissfully quiet..

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I don't celebrate Easter, anymore, because I'm too big to hunt Easter Eggs (I don't eat eggs, anyway).
I love Christmas, but you're fooling yourself if you think it's predominantly a religious celebration. Christmas is about Santa Claus, and Christmas trees, and Rudolph, and Frosty. Even little kids know that.
But I don't think religious folks are hypocrites if they want to celebrate Christmas, too. I think they should. Christmas is beautiful.

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Re: Unbelievers: Do you participate in Easter? Christmas?
Responses in blue.

baddog1 wrote:

To Unbelievers: Ha, do you have any idea how that sounds to people who are religious but not Christian?

If your place of employment offers time off work for Easter - do you partcipate? They don't. I take the normal holidays as offered by the company. Otherwise, the office is closed and I wouldn't be able to get in anyway. Like most people on the planet, I will take a day off with pay when offered.

How about Christmas? It is a day off in my company because the stock exchanges are closed on that day. Yom Kippur, the holiest day in my calendar, is not offered as a day off. I don't see anyone jumping up and down to volunteer to come in on Yom Kippur and switch with me. So I end up taking a vacation day if I wish to have that day off -- the perk that my Christian colleagues take for granted, I don't get. Incidentally, even though you didn't ask, the day after Thanksgiving is not a holiday in my office.

Do you accept a Christmas bonus (if offered)? It isn't a bonus for the sake of Christmas, it's a year-end bonus offered for merit. Christmas and Christianity haven't got a thing to do with it and the term "Christmas bonus" is a complete misnomer. I suppose the only people who could possibly get Christmas bonuses, true bonuses for their behavior during the Christmas holiday, would be Christian clergymen.

If yes to any of these: Why Already explained above.

If yes - do you consider this to be hypocritical? Of course not

And now, a quick rhetorical question from me: why is it that so many people feel the need to treat people in religions (or races, or nationalities or genders) other than their own as some sort of exotic species? We're all people, and we tend to follow more or less the same internal logic and values. No great mystery here why someone would take the day off that is -- shock shock horror horror -- offered to everyone else in the company. I'm not such a fool as to volunteer for a day of work when I can get paid for not being there. If the company was open, and it was offered, for either OT or to trade with a colleague so as to get Yom Kippur off, I might work on Christmas day. But it's not, so I don't. This should not take rocket science to figure out.

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UNbeliever.. (snort)

Any way

IF i were working for corporate america, yes, i would take ALL those days off.
Why?
Well for one the company would be closed.
I am not about to break down the door to go sit at my desk.

If a company wants to give me more money for me being employes with them, doing a good job, and being on time, I dont give a rats ass what they want to call it. They can call it the body of christ, Allah's breath.. who cares. Im taking it.

No, I am not a hypocrite.

I am not looking them in the eye pretending to follow their personal beliefs. In fact, if they title it something religious, then they may need to question themselves.

I participate in no holidays that are recognized by most people except thanksgiving, and christmas.
They are a tradition of SOCIETY not religion anymore.
But, if giving gifts on a day makes you a christian, then there would be no other religion in the world.

Thank goodness this isn't true.

My high holiday falls on halloween..
Most people make a mockery of it by wearing silly costumes and begging for candy.
You don't see me crying about it.

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Christmas bonuses have nothing to do with Christmas. Most corporate year ends are at, well, the end of the year. Money has to be paid out by then, if it's budgeted for, to keep the books tidy. Nothing to do with Christianity, everything to do with simple accounting procedures.

If people wish to put on rose-coloured glasses and think that the corporation is gifting them out of a rush of Christian spirit *snort* ... well, the corporate spin doctors are not going to correct the misconception. Twisted Evil

I find the tieing of employment rewards, especially monetary ones, to a religion to be incredibly ironic. It's like you're saying, "Hi, I'm a Christian and Jesus died on the cross so that I can get some holiday time and a little extra cash."

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I celebrate Christmas and Easter as they were celebrated before they became Christian holidays.

Scholars will tell you that if the Biblical story of Christ's birth is true, it would not have happened in December. If you remember the story, Mary and Joseph (Jesus' mother and step-father) were travelling to their hometown as part of a Roman census. The Romans would only have a census during the summer months to facillitate travel.

The reason we have this celebration in December is that it is really a Winter Solstice celebration. Rituals of gifts and Candles and a bearded diety bringing presents all predate Christianity and are fine celebrations of the shortest days (and longest nights) of the year.

I am happy to continue this mid-winter ritual under any guise.

Of course Easter stems from ancient fertility celebrations with all of its symbolic glory, eggs, bunnies (known for their procrating prowress) and love nests.

There is one ritual that must be incuded in a fertility holiday.... Chocolate covered fertility symbols are just an extra.

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Eorl wrote:

Yes, I enjoy these holidays.

Yes, I am a hypocrite.

(but then, I'm yet to meet anyone who isn't)

:wink: :wink: :wink:

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Tommyrot refers to the claim that those who acquiesce in the customs of the dominant culture in which they live might be hypocrites for doing so. Goshite refers to someone who would accuse others of being hypocrites for adjusting themselves to a situation which they can neither change nor control.

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baddog1 wrote:

Quote:
Your Easter is my celebration of Spring and your Christmas is my celebration of Winter.
Interesting. So your company offers Spring and Winter celebrations. What are the dates of those celebrations? Do they coincide with the dates of Easter & Christmas?

It's actually the other way around.

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ehBeth wrote:

baddog1 wrote:

Quote:
Your Easter is my celebration of Spring and your Christmas is my celebration of Winter.
Interesting. So your company offers Spring and Winter celebrations. What are the dates of those celebrations? Do they coincide with the dates of Easter & Christmas?

It's actually the other way around.

Please explain further - I am not fully understanding. Are you saying that the company you work for was in business prior to the formation of Christmas and Easter?

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baddog1 wrote:

So your company offers Spring and Winter celebrations. What are the dates of those celebrations? Do they coincide with the dates of Easter & Christmas?

ehBeth wrote:

It's actually the other way around.

baddog1 wrote:

Please explain further - I am not fully understanding. Are you saying that the company you work for was in business prior to the formation of Christmas and Easter?

It might be that English isn't your first language, like it isn't mine, baddog.

But I'm rather sure, you are much yiunger than I am.
And certainly too young to have learnt something about the logic of words/language at school.

But be assured: some more years and you'll get that without asking!

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

baddog1 wrote:
So your company offers Spring and Winter celebrations. What are the dates of those celebrations? Do they coincide with the dates of Easter & Christmas?

ehBeth wrote:
It's actually the other way around.

baddog1 wrote:
Please explain further - I am not fully understanding. Are you saying that the company you work for was in business prior to the formation of Christmas and Easter?

It might be that English isn't your first language, like it isn't mine, baddog.

But I'm rather sure, you are much yiunger than I am.
And certainly too young to have learnt something about the logic of words/language at school.

But be assured: some more years and you'll get that without asking!

Hi Walt.

You're correct - English is not my first language. And I am probably not as young as you might think. The logic of words/language does indeed still stump me at times, particularly with a few folks on this site. :wink:

As to ehbeth's comment - rather than assume the meaning of, risk being wrong and head down that rutted road - I felt it proper (in this instance anyway) to simply ask for clarification. Shocked

As I've found the tactic of asking for clarification to be quite foreign on this site - I am not surprised at your response. Rolling Eyes

I still choose to await ehbeth's clarification.

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http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2392632#2392632

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At least for Chrismas, it started out as a pagan holiday... a celebration of winter (the solstace specifically)... It was then made into a Christian holiday when everyone was being force (often at the point of a sword) to join this new religion.

As I said before, the birth of Christ (if you believe the Biblical story) would not have taken place in the winter months.

Easter, at least, is in the right part of the calendar (which we know because the Bible story relates it to Passover).

But Easter still takes the place of a much more ancient Spring celebration of fertility.

The Winter and Spring festivals have been celebrated throughout the years by many different cultures.

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ebrown_p wrote:

Easter, at least, is in the right part of the calendar (which we know because the Bible story relates it to Passover).

Coincidentally in the Germanic Eostremonat (April), so named because of a goddess, Eostre. (Although it is disputed, if there really was such a goddess, the name for that month indeed is much older than Christianity.)

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ebrown_p wrote:

At least for Chrismas, it started out as a pagan holiday... a celebration of winter (the solstace specifically)... It was then made into a Christian holiday when everyone was being force (often at the point of a sword) to join this new religion.

As I said before, the birth of Christ (if you believe the Biblical story) would not have taken place in the winter months.

Easter, at least, is in the right part of the calendar (which we know because the Bible story relates it to Passover).

But Easter still takes the place of a much more ancient Spring celebration of fertility.

The Winter and Spring festivals have been celebrated throughout the years by many different cultures.

Certainly you bring up interesting points - albeit subject to the same questioning & verification of the antithesis. (Perhaps a subject for another thread!) However - for the sake of clarification on this thread - I hereby declare the dates of holidays in question to be the normally-celebrated dates of present day. Thanks for the associated information though. :wink:

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I'm Christian.
I get Christmas off and take it gladly.
If I worked for a firm that gave us Diwali off, I would take that just as gladly.

I might not float any candles, but I wish all the best to those who do.

I don't see any hypocrisy in any of this.

I wish you much light in your life!

Pax et lux,
George

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December 25th was the date of the Roman festival of Sol Invictus, before ever it became a "Christian" festival. It was also a nativity feast in the Mithraic cult, and that probably accounts for fixing the festival of Sol Invictus on December 25th. It is also considered by reputable scholars that it was the popularity of Mithraism and the Sol Invictus festival which lead Christians to co-opt the holiday. But not even all Christians observe the festival on December 25th--some celebrate January 6th, or January 7th, or January 18th.

The date of Easter has never been fixed, and even today depends upon religious interpretation. In most western churches, it is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox--but disputes on the day upon which to fix easter lead to the permanent separation of the Orthodox (eastern) Christians and the Roman (western) Christians.

If there is any hypocrisy going on here, it is the assertion by any particular Christian that any particular day ought to be Christmas or Easter.

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Quote:

...If there is any hypocrisy going on here, it is the assertion by any particular Christian that any particular day ought to be Christmas or Easter.

Why only a Christian?

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Unbelievers: Do you participate in Easter? Christmas?

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