At dinner one night, a close friend of mine brought up a pretty interesting topic for discussion.
She asked me if she should feel bad or guilty for celebrating Christmas even though she isn’t particularly religious. It got me thinking.
I don’t follow any religion. I believe there may be something bigger and greater out there, but I am the type of person who loves facts, and I would love some science to back up my theories or others.
I think believing in something and having faith in your own religion are absolutely great. In the course of this article, I will be stating my own views and I mean no disrespect to anyone out there by anything I say.
Let’s start with the name of “Christmas.”
The word isn’t in Scripture, so how did it originate at all? Well, Catholics coined the name. “Christ” for, well, the birth of Christ and “mas” for mass, the ceremony that takes place Christmas Eve.
Onward to the giving of gifts.
Why do we do it? Well, it’s to symbolize the gifts given to Jesus and his parents by the three wise men.
So is it really wrong for non-religious people to celebrate Christmas?
I certainly don’t think so. Growing up in southern Indiana, I was raised by a non-religious family. We celebrated Christmas just as many others do across the country.
We went to Gram’s house on Christmas Eve, had a dinner, and opened gifts and exchanged them. We played board games, and it really brought us all together during the holiday season. On Christmas morning, my brothers and sister and I woke up, usually opened gifts, had a nice breakfast and went back to bed.
We treated Christmas more like a tradition than a religious holiday.
I don’t see a single problem with celebrating Christmas as a tradition rather than a religious holiday or holy day.
I think of Christmas as a type of grateful holiday, similar to Thanksgiving. I feel grateful for the people I have in my life, and therefore I give them something, a gift, to symbolize that. I think of Christmas as a holiday that brings my whole family together. The miles that separate us don’t matter during the holiday season.
Christmas, to me, is spending two whole days baking cookies and pies and desserts to enjoy through New Year’s. Christmas is the spirit of giving, not receiving.
You can celebrate Christmas for so many different reasons. You can celebrate it to celebrate Jesus, or you can celebrate it because it was a family tradition whilst you were growing up.
So how do you celebrate the big ol’ holiday? Do you go home to family? Do you bake some delicious cookies? Cuddle up with a puppy?
It’s not my business what you do with your holidays or what you don’t do.
However, I think we should all be accepting and gracious when dealing with how and why different people celebrate holidays.
I hope everyone has a great holiday season!
bnbauern@indiana.edu
