I live in America… and know very few people, religious and non-religious, who do not celebrate Christmas, whether they celebrate it as a Christian holiday or not. I know that they are certain pagan threads to Christmas, but as an atheist, do you celebrate it as a part of culture, heritage, and tradition, or do you simply ignore it?
Posted: May 19th 2009
George Ricker www
I don’t observe any holidays as holidays.
However, I do take the opportunity to enjoy family gatherings and the like. I find the fall and winter holiday seasons to be enjoyable for that reason.
The freethought group I belong to locally is thinking about having a “Human Light” celebration this year, so that may be a bit different.
Then to, I have, for a number of years (except last year), designed and mailed out Winter Solstice cards, but they are not really holiday cards, just notes to family and friends celebrating the time of year.
Posted: May 21st 2009
Dave Hitt www
I was raised in a Christian cult that forbid celebrating holidays or birthdays. I always felt horribly deprived as a kid, watching my friends enjoy all kinds of holidays. Now that I’m free to do whatever I like, I celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and to a lesser extent, birthdays.
There is no Christ in my Christmas, but an outsider looking in wouldn’t notice much difference between my house and a Believer’s home. The tree has presents under it and is decorated with ornaments and lights. There are Christmas decorations inside and outside the house. There is, however, no creche.
It should be noted that very few of the Christmas traditions have anything at all to do with Christmas – the tree, yule log, holly, mistletoe, and even the giving of gifts were all borrowed from other “pagan†religions.
There is no thanks at my Thanksgiving, but we use it as an opportunity to hang out with family and eat too much. Our only rule is that we must play Arlo’s “Alice’s Restaurant†when we sit down to eat.
Halloween is a time to celebrate all things spooky and superstitious without believing in any of them. We have decorations up and candy for the neighborhood kids out Trick-or-Treating. And it’s good brand name candy, none of this generic lollipops or packets of circus peanuts or the worst treat of all – gift certificates.
Some atheists shun all holidays, viewing them as hypocritical or even, somehow, cheating. I understand that POV, although I don’t subscribe to it. Atheism = Freedom, the freedom to do whatever you like as long as it doesn’t hurt others. I’m free to celebrate whatever I like, however I want. A few people have said they think it’s hypocritical to espouse atheism while celebrating Christmas. OK, let them think that. It honestly doesn’t bother me, as long as they don’t interrupt me while I’m opening my Christmas presents.
Posted: May 21st 2009
SmartLX www
I enjoy those religious holidays that give everyone days off, like Easter and Christmas. I ignore the rest.
The interesting thing is that even most Christians enjoy flirting with entirely different mythologies associated with the big holidays. If Christianity vanished tomorrow, the Santa Claus/Rudolph mythos would comfortably sustain the Christmas traditions we keep, and the Easter Bunny would probably do likewise.
These occasions are becoming increasingly secularised right under Christians’ noses, as demonstrated by the annual public announcements by politicians and preachers. They actually feel they have to remind people of the “reason for the season”. It’s brilliant.
Posted: May 20th 2009
Eric_PK
My family celebrates the winter solstice season, a celebration that has been around for far longer than “Christmas”. Though we do call it “christmas” because we grew up in religious households, we do have a tree, put up lights, and exchange gifts.
We also have at times celebrated the miracle of the eggs and jelly beans, though now that my child is older we do less in that area.
Posted: May 20th 2009
brian thomson www
Personally, I don’t do anything. The office is closed, it’s a day off work, what’s not to like? In a previous job, I often worked on holidays: some things don’t stop just because people do.
If you’re asking about atheists in general, I don’t think it’s possible to generalise. Factors such as family and culture come in to it.
Posted: May 20th 2009
logicel
The only atheists that I know that “ignore” the celebration of Christmas are my husband and I. However, we always do seem to eat certain special family dishes around this time: Polish kitchen sink potato salad (meat, fish, fruit, vegetable, ton of mayonnaise, oh yeah, a few potatoes!), Polish clear beetroot soup with nice plump beef and onion dumplings floating in it, and raisen-studded, lemon-zested pound cake. We have great fun making these dishes from scratch ourselves.
We also seem to buy books for each other during this time that we do not celebrate. During the time that we do not celebrate, we hole up in our bedroom, side to side, tucked in cosily under the duvet, reading the books with no Christmas music or TV presentations going on at the same time. It is our time to recede from the noisy world.
So even atheists who do not celebrate Christmas officially seem to get in a little, clandestine celebration!
Some of my finest memories of living in France is when we have gotten invited for Christmas and Easter dinners at our native French friends’ homes: always a secular event, with no mention of religion or lack of god belief whatsoever, lots of wonderful eating and drinking, superb conversation, all nicely spiced with the most pleasing knowledge that being invited to a French family gathering means that you are now considered family.
Posted: May 20th 2009