Christmas holiday among different religions
Right now, my partner is currently in the other room wrapping my pressies. When she’s finished, I’ll go and help her wrap pressies for the rest of her family. Christmas music will be played, our Christmas tree will be lit, and as much as I can, I will try to get into the holiday spirit. Last night, we went to a major shopping center that was open 24 hours till Christmas Eve for all the later shoppers. Every store we went to was packed with people, and Christmas music was playing every where you went. This Christmas festive atmosphere was filled with not only happy and joy, but irritation and annoyance.
As I walked around with my partner and looked at all the people, I stopped to think and wonder. Because I grew up knowing what Christmas was, and being from a Catholic family, the religious aspect of Christmas was always emphasized. Every year we had Christmas, and every year it was the day I always looked forward to. The older I got, the more I found out things, the more I realized that we live in a society that is predominately run by the Christian based faith. I believe the Christian based faiths are the most common in the western world, but what about those people who don’t celebrate Christmas. The purpose of Christmas, to many, is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. But what about people who don’t believe in Jesus, or believe in another faith or entitity. How do these people handle it? How do they feel, every where they go, Christmas is flashed in their faces. You can’t go somewhere, during the holidays and not know it’s Christmas.
I think about some of the folks I worked with back in the states. A number of people I worked with were Jewish. And through them, I learned a lot more than I started off with, about the Jewish faith. Even though I took a religious course in college about the Islamic faith, along with Judaism and Christianity, it must have gone in one ear and out the other. So immersing myself with other faiths, I got to see and experience faith in their eyes. There wasn’t hostility toward Christmas, but you could tell that when one would talk about Christmas, certain people would sort of roll their eyes. So it made me wonder just what people of other faiths do on Christmas. Everyone has the day off, so nothing is going to be open (well maybe some petrol stations), so to them, is it just a rest day off?
Over the years, the spirit of Christmas has dissipated for me. In college I stopped going to mass all together. I can’t think of the last time we went to Christmas mass. My mum always goes, but I’d always pass up the offer. Even though I wasn’t religious then, I loved going to Christmas mass. Loved going for the music, more than anything else. We’d always go to 11 o’clock mass, or sometimes even the children’s mass. But it was a time where I reflected on the true meaning of the holiday. But what IS the true meaning? Is it about santa and all the reindeer, or is it about the birth of Jesus? Depending on who you ask, you’ll get a different response. And since being with my partner, Christmas has just felt so weird. So unusual, and something I’m not used to. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it.
But recently, Australia has been in qualms because some people don’t want society to push the holiday of Christmas so much, (to respect other religious faiths) while others still want people to be able to celebrate openly. Celebrating is a big thing, especially in the schools. My step-niece had a Christmas concert this past week. This past weekend, she was busy singing the songs she was to sing. One of the songs, had the word Jesus and a reference to his birth in a manger. I was a bit shocked when I heard her singing it. Shocked, because my mum is a teacher in the states..and they can’t sing or make any reference to Christmas or the religious aspect of the holiday. Of course kids know it’s Christmas, but usually now if they make pressies for their parents, it’s “holiday pressies” instead of “Christmas pressies.”
Some people don’t like the holiday thrown in their face, which I respect. But there are people who are Islamic, and still have a Christmas lunch. They just have a different meaning what Christmas means to them. So it makes me question whether people of other faiths, that don’t normally celebrate Christmas could do the same. Or if they think that if they did this, then they’d be conforming to society and Christianity. Society (for the most part) respects difference, but yet at the same time, it pressures you to conform to the norm (i.e. Christianity, heterosexuality). And instead just make Christmas another “regular” day to them. I’m definitely not saying other religions should celebrate Christmas the way many people of the Western world do, but I do wonder how those who do not celebrate the holiday, what they do, and how they feel about the holiday itself.
-current mood-SAD, reminiscing about past holidays for me.
As I walked around with my partner and looked at all the people, I stopped to think and wonder. Because I grew up knowing what Christmas was, and being from a Catholic family, the religious aspect of Christmas was always emphasized. Every year we had Christmas, and every year it was the day I always looked forward to. The older I got, the more I found out things, the more I realized that we live in a society that is predominately run by the Christian based faith. I believe the Christian based faiths are the most common in the western world, but what about those people who don’t celebrate Christmas. The purpose of Christmas, to many, is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. But what about people who don’t believe in Jesus, or believe in another faith or entitity. How do these people handle it? How do they feel, every where they go, Christmas is flashed in their faces. You can’t go somewhere, during the holidays and not know it’s Christmas.
I think about some of the folks I worked with back in the states. A number of people I worked with were Jewish. And through them, I learned a lot more than I started off with, about the Jewish faith. Even though I took a religious course in college about the Islamic faith, along with Judaism and Christianity, it must have gone in one ear and out the other. So immersing myself with other faiths, I got to see and experience faith in their eyes. There wasn’t hostility toward Christmas, but you could tell that when one would talk about Christmas, certain people would sort of roll their eyes. So it made me wonder just what people of other faiths do on Christmas. Everyone has the day off, so nothing is going to be open (well maybe some petrol stations), so to them, is it just a rest day off?
Over the years, the spirit of Christmas has dissipated for me. In college I stopped going to mass all together. I can’t think of the last time we went to Christmas mass. My mum always goes, but I’d always pass up the offer. Even though I wasn’t religious then, I loved going to Christmas mass. Loved going for the music, more than anything else. We’d always go to 11 o’clock mass, or sometimes even the children’s mass. But it was a time where I reflected on the true meaning of the holiday. But what IS the true meaning? Is it about santa and all the reindeer, or is it about the birth of Jesus? Depending on who you ask, you’ll get a different response. And since being with my partner, Christmas has just felt so weird. So unusual, and something I’m not used to. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it.
But recently, Australia has been in qualms because some people don’t want society to push the holiday of Christmas so much, (to respect other religious faiths) while others still want people to be able to celebrate openly. Celebrating is a big thing, especially in the schools. My step-niece had a Christmas concert this past week. This past weekend, she was busy singing the songs she was to sing. One of the songs, had the word Jesus and a reference to his birth in a manger. I was a bit shocked when I heard her singing it. Shocked, because my mum is a teacher in the states..and they can’t sing or make any reference to Christmas or the religious aspect of the holiday. Of course kids know it’s Christmas, but usually now if they make pressies for their parents, it’s “holiday pressies” instead of “Christmas pressies.”
Some people don’t like the holiday thrown in their face, which I respect. But there are people who are Islamic, and still have a Christmas lunch. They just have a different meaning what Christmas means to them. So it makes me question whether people of other faiths, that don’t normally celebrate Christmas could do the same. Or if they think that if they did this, then they’d be conforming to society and Christianity. Society (for the most part) respects difference, but yet at the same time, it pressures you to conform to the norm (i.e. Christianity, heterosexuality). And instead just make Christmas another “regular” day to them. I’m definitely not saying other religions should celebrate Christmas the way many people of the Western world do, but I do wonder how those who do not celebrate the holiday, what they do, and how they feel about the holiday itself.
-current mood-SAD, reminiscing about past holidays for me.
posted by Gaylicious© at Saturday, December 24, 2005
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