Why do u celebrate Christmas? What “type” of holiday do u consider Christmas to be?

All of the above for us ☺️. We’re Catholic and will go to midnight Mass, we do Feast of the 7 Fishes on Christmas Eve as we’re Italian, and then do all the fun decorations, actives and Santa.

@Brittany I love that! Im honestly very suprised how many ppl aren’t picking faith & religion because I always thot it was a religious holiday. I was raised Muslim so we didn’t celebrate Christmas & in my home country of birth, Christmas is very religious holiday for Christians, same with Easter. They call Santa Claus “Father Christmas” bt kids all know he is a fake person :) Bt it wasn’t until I moved to the U.S and saw how commercialized Christmas. Most of the ppl I know here in America only celebrate it with gift exchanging bt I find there is no religious significance. So I was curious to see how others celebrated :)

Christmas never started as a religious holiday similar to most other holidays. There’s a really good documentary on the History channel explaining its origins. In my mind, in order for something to be a religious holiday, Jesus should’ve set us the example of celebrating it. Otherwise, sounds like a man made tradition to me. 😳

I'm in the US and I do find that even generationally I see a distance from the religious side of it however we still embrace the values and family side of it in my family. If you dont practice love and gratitude you dont get gifts. It's about the whole family coming together and celebrating what we have more so than what we're gaining. As a woman in my 20s I've always grown up with a sense of guilt around recieving gifts but last year, the first year I spent christmas with my partner and saw our(his) nieces and nephews on Christmas morning with the biggest smiles and the way they're just so full of joy when their family comes together. That's what it's all about for me, it was like Christmas really clicked for the first time, I got to make others happy not worry about recieving gifts.

@Camille so how do u celebrate Christmas in ur Home? Very interesting. I love learning so I’ll definitely check out the documentary. lol thank God u recommended I watch a d doc instead of a book lol 😇

I’m a lapsed catholic so I have happy childhood memories of midnight mass and walking home and my dad saying look “there’s Santa” and me as a 21 year old still looking. I guess it’s a little bit of all three. Creating memories for the kids and spending time with family.

@Jasmin a book will put me to sleep real quick lol after watching that documentary, I don’t celebrate it at all.

We mostly just do family traditions like making cookies, decorating the house, and watching Christmas movies. I’m not very religious and I like Santa but don’t usually focus on him much

All of the above We’re catholics so really are big on the true reason for Christmas We also love the whole Santa clause and North Pole story And we obviously continue Christmas due to it being part of our culture x

I'm a filthy heathen reclaiming Xmas from the Christians 😈 Most of the things we associate with the Christmas season are actually pagan traditions, and my spouse and I have very much enjoyed celebrating Xmas our way

@Raqi This is a fact. There’s actually a lot of pagan origins in many of the holidays that most of us were never taught. It’s so crazy to me. 😮‍💨 Sunday worship, Christmas, Easter, etc all started from pagan traditions and overtime Christian’s adopted the customs but in their own way. 😔

@Raqi @Camille I find this to be very interesting 🧐 🤨 🤔 I wasn’t so sure what “pagan” was so I just googled it now & I’m learning a lot. Why are ppl who aren’t pagan practicing pagan traditions?

christmas is not a religious holiday. it’s actually a pagan holiday

Because after Christ Christian’s received a lot of persecution for their faith (most dying for it), so because of lack of faith it was easier to adopt customs to fit in. Most people around them practiced pagan customs like worshipping the sun or other idols. So they found a way to blend the two, rather than upholding their belief in the traditions and customs Christ kept. Rome did a lot of the heavy persecution of Christians.

All! I always acknowledge the reason for the season but family and the magic of Santa is also important to my family.

I believe the reason we have lots of pagan traditions in our holidays is because new Christian’s sort of smushed em together. In a lot of cases the church also didn’t see that big of an issue with it. Allowing new Christian’s to keep some of their old beliefs probably made it easier to convert more people. Easter also has pagan roots. Belief in Jesus and celebration of the winter solstice were not mutually exclusive. Christmas trees became more popular in the west after queen Victoria put one up. They were a mostly German tradition prior to that

A lot of Christmas traditions come from really beautiful beliefs about rebirth, growth, and community. I don’t think they’re bad traditions to practice just because they are from pagan beliefs. People also think the word pagan is kinda scary and evil but it is basically just any religious tradition not pertaining to the worship of a single god

Because it's more effective than taking anti depressants in the winter.

We're athiests, we celebrate Christmas as a cultural holiday. Tree, presents, etc. Just no jesus, etc. When our children are older well explain the origins of it, and how pagan celebrations were used as a means of converting others to Christianity. https://chefin.com.au/blog/these-6-christmas-traditions-are-actually-pagan-customs/#:~:text=Pagan%20origins%20of%20Christmas%20traditions,deeply%20intertwined%20with%20ancient%20customs.

growing up it was a mix of Jesus and Santa lol. now as an adult it’s more just family and tradition i guess ? my daughter is only 2 so we haven’t really done Santa yet

i just like spending money on people lol i never believed in santa and i don’t believe in god so i just do it for fun + i love baking and wrapping presents for others

As a muslim who was born and raised in canada, for me its just another holiday like halloween, new years or valentines day. Its not much about religion but more about family time. I absolutely love all the decorations, lights, and the overall vibes of christmas. We put a tree in our house for the ambiance, we watch christmas movies. Since its so commercialized, i feel like anyone can celebrate.

Christmas isn’t a religious holiday for us! We are atheists so we don’t celebrate that side of it. It’s about family time for us!

Jesus was born in the spring ✨ I view Christmas as a pagan holiday, but I certainly like gifts :)