little_tippler

For several years I have wondered about Christmas. I have no religion or superstition of any sort (not implying that the two are related, I am attempting to exclude any kind of belief in external forces guiding the course of my life), so I have trouble fitting in the celebration of Christmas into the normal progression of my life.

I have celebrated Christmas since I was born, or had it celebrated for me, because it’s just what people do. Some of my family has belief in a God of some sort, though I have never had a meaningful in-depth conversation with them about it. Still, it is apparent. My immediate family, my parents, didn’t believe in God though I have to say this also was never openly said, it was just a fact from when I was a child: there is no God, that’s all.

So why have Christmas? There are many possible reasons why my parents always gave me Christmas: because everyone does it (except people from other religions I suppose and even then some make exceptions), because your kids would be sad if they didn’t have Christmas like all their friends, because of the frenzy of presents that seems unavoidable with kids, because the rest of your family wants to and expects you to participate, because it’s really quite beautiful to a child and makes them happy. You had it as a child, so it continues through the generations.

Still, I wonder if I have kids, do I want to give them this. I have to say, there are many nice things about Christmas. I like the decorations, the songs, the greater sense of closeness with people, spending time with family, having a nice meal, giving to others. I definitely don’t like the frenzy surrounding it: excess consumerism, decorations up as early as November, feeling forced to celebrate Christmas, the religious connotations. Sometimes I’m really not in the mood and would rather it passed quickly.

I have been reading a little about it and I feel better to know that Christmas is not just about the Christian holiday. There are many different celebrations surrounding the time of Christmas, including Pagan rituals, and the whole reason behind why Christmas is celebrated around this date actually relates to the Winter Solstice more than it does to Christianity alone.

So it gives me some comfort to think that it’s ok if I want to celebrate Christmas, and give any kids I may have the same, because people have been using this time of year for centuries, as a time to celebrate. Not just as ‘Christ-Mass’ but as a celebration of humanity, of coming together and sharing with others. That isn’t a bad thing, in my eyes.

There is of course no longer a specific reason to celebrate at this time, as the Winter Solstice no longer holds the same practical significance it once may have, but why not join the rest of the world at this time in celebrating? I am saying all this but still debate it in my head.

I suppose I continue to celebrate Christmas because my family want to, and because I don't dislike it entirely. I think I have yet to dig deeper into this.

I am curious to know what other atheists or agnostics think about this topic. What do you think about Christmas? Do you celebrate it? Why or why not?

__________________
Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918