What do you beleive the holidays (any holiday) are all about? I think that it is all about being with the ones you love like family and friends. If you think differently, don't be afraid to make your statement heard... or in this case, read.
Which holidays? I'm gonna assume you're talking about Christmas but somehow you don't want to bring it up by name for some reason. Christmas was the pagan winter solstice celebration, that early Christians adopted the date and certain aspects of and rebranded it as the birthday of Jesus. Then somebody threw in Santa and some Reindeer and now its mostly about gift giving to those you love. Thanksgiving and New Year are excuses to get together and celebrate. And the world definitely needs more reasons to celebrate.
Regardless of how it started, now, everything shuts down (almost) so people are almost forced to stay home with some kind of family. It's horribly cliche but it really is about seeing family and being with them. Presents are a nice frosting but ultimately it's family. When I was younger, after presents, I always looked forward to seeing my extended family. It's always there. Unless you're a scrooge and don't take it as anything more than an other day.
It depends on which holiday (Duh) Christmas is (NOT a pagan holiday) a celebration of John 3:16. The fact that God gave his son and blah-blah you know, Hanuka is a symbolic celebration of the miracle God gave the Jewish ancestors to last in their temple on the limited supply of oil and bla-blah, you know. New years is a celebration of the new year, obviously. Halloween (WAS a pagan holiday) is about spirits and witchcraft and crap, we turned it into a holiday mocking them 100% =). Easter is a celebration of Jesus' resurrection, President's day was a lazy excuse for not having the celebrate all the presidents' individual birthdays...etc.. That's what the big ones mean. So..what's the debate? This is kind of common knowledge.
well, not how it originated but how do you personally view the holidays. like, do you love christmas, and think it brings the whole family, or do you think it has turned into a marketing scam meant to help the whole family. i think that along with the religous meanings of things like xmas, they really do help bring the family together, and i love how happy the whole season is.
Religions absorb traditions of other religions to get people to switch, most people like the actual traditions more that the religion. Being atheist I don't believe in any of the religious meanings behind Christmas, but I think Christmas can be seen as a holiday in which you give, receive, have fun, and be together with loved ones. That's all I think I really need, I don't need any other reason to validate having a good time. And this is my 4,000 posts! Hooray for 4K!
i believe you are right. As far as christmas goes, there is absolutely no religious significance to it. People just like to make it seem that way. Its all about a materialistic mania followed by either depression or time shared with loved ones.
Over the past few years my family has definitely drifted away from any religious meaning to CHRISTmas. I mean we still go to church on Christmas Eve but I have to agree with the idea of Christmas being with the people you love. I always dread going to church for a mere hour on the eve but once morning comes, I know the day will be great. I always head up to see all my family members I don't get to see enough at my grandparents' house and we share dinner, presents, and overall joy. I hope my traditions never end
Yes. My favorite part of the season is Christmas music, because my entire family enjoys it. On the way to school every day my father and I listen to our all Christmas music station that only exists in december. It brings us together with all of our other traditions like getting a tree at Ted Drewe's (The best frozen custard in town) and decorating for hours once we get home. And then there's Christmas Eve lunch with our closest family and friends. So really, the underlined says it all.
I did that and yes you'd be right. Gave Amber about 5 gifts, and She gave me one but thats because she didn't want to feel like I was spoiling her ;D