I need to vent.

It's like Christmas makes my in laws go Mormon on steroids or something. The latest was my mil ranting about how offended she gets when someone says Happy Holidays because CHRIST is the "reason for the season!" and without CHRIST there would be no holiday season!!!!

I can't take the stupidity of this woman. Really.

Perhaps you could tell her about Hannukah which is also in December and which is older than Christmas. Then there is Solstice and . Kwanzaa. I have had fun on FB sharing these facts with the offended ones. What is wrong with being inclusive?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2012 02:38AM by bona dea.

"Then there is Solstice and . Kwanzaa. "

I have to ask...Do you or anyone else know someone who celebrates Kwanzaa?

If they do, have they been doing it their whole life?

I get Hannukah, Solstice, and Christmas being holidays celebrated for a long time now, but though hearing about Kwanzaa for the 1st time in the 70's, I have never met anyone who celebrates this

I have two friends who celebrate Kwanzaa. It's a cultural celebration. Both have their own styles of celebration.

They also celebrate Christmas, and blend the two celebrations together in their own ways, much like DH and I blend Yule and Christmas together to reflect our family heritage.

Gotcha...you're the first person.."I Know"..who knows someone who celebrates Kwanzaa...

I grew up in an area that had lots of African Americans and none of them celebrated Kwanzaa

Tell her that Jewish and other religious people also celebrate these HOLY DAYS. Remind her that HOLIDAYS is just mis-spelled HOLY days.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2012 02:34AM by enoughenoch19.

It's so frustrating. I know lots of people from diverse backgrounds. We sent out a card that said Peace Love Joy and then Happy Holidays! What kind of narrow minded psycho gets mad over that?

You could mention Hanukkah and even suggest that Christ even celebrated it. Another thing to mention is that the reason Christmas ended up on December 25th was to replace pagan holidays that took place around the solstice when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Many traditions that Christians have were originally pagan traditions.

Besides no one is.stopping people.from wishing their friends a merry Christmas. Too many people buy into FauxNews stupid war on Christmas. Silly me. I haven't noticed any lack of Christmas

People who listen to certain media are the only ones in the country who think any such thing.

I like Jon Stewart's observations. There is language, but most is edited out. There might be a commercial in the middle.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-december-3-2012/the-war-on-christmas--friendly-fire-edition---bill-o-reilly-s-philosophy

Also, you could point out that xmas is this time of year, because of pagan celebrations. LD$ believe jeezus' real birthday is April 6, not December 25. I'm sure some GA somewhere has admitted the pagan aspect.

The solstice is the reason for the season. Celebrating the solstice is as common as harvest festivals, May Day celebrations, etc. Our ancestors celebrated changes in the seasons, harvests, solstices, equinoxes, etc. A lot of cultures have celebrations around seasonal times.

Here are some for the winter:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winter_festivals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice#Observances

This is a nice video about the non-xstian origins of xmas, and some analysis of the xmas story:
http://richarddawkins.net/news_articles/2012/12/1/to-xmas-and-beyond?videos=true#.UNRTv6XFVcg

Jeezus, yeah right.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2012 07:42AM by atheist&happy:-).

I get so upset when someone doesn't wish me a happy Saturnalia.

Jupitar smite them.

As Enoughenoch said, holiday is another spelling of holy days, and there are several Catholic holy days in December, not just Christmas. Happy holidays is not just a way to gloss over Christmas.

I had a primary school teacher who used to rant about leaving Christ out of Christmas by calling it Xmas. Which is to say Christ in the Greek form.

Ignorant woman. I'll leave it to you to decide which one is ignorant, your MIL or my teacher.

I enjoyed this perspective, written by a practicing Christian who doesn't believe Christ belongs anywhere near Christmas:

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/12/18/for-christs-sake-leave-the-christ-out-of-christmas/

I'm saving it to send to my relatives when they go off on their "Keep Christ in Christmas" rants. The whole "Keep Christ in Christmas" thing displays an ignorance of the real history behind the holiday, and an ignorance of the pagan roots of most of the Christmas traditions we all enjoy every year in December. The people who are vocal about keeping Christ in Christmas really believe that the holiday was started to commemorate the birth of Christ, and that Christians have some kind of exclusive claim on it. I find that when people understand how untrue and incorrect that belief is, they tend to give up embarrassing themselves with the Christmas rants.

I have no problem with keeping Christ in Christmas if that is what someone.wants, but I do have problem with being told.what holidays I must.celebrate and how.to celebrate

Even as a TBM I said Happy Holidays, meaning Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Stoopid people

I've always kind of assumed that Happy HolidayS (plural) was all the holidays of the season, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2012 09:36AM by NormaRae.

Has she been listening to Bill O'Reilly again? That seems to be an annual theme of his...

"Put the Pagan Deities back in Solstice"

Gotta remember that one.... most people won't understand, but those who do will appreciate it.

Others on the board have said, "the reason for the season is axial tilt." Good one, too.

It's been said earlier in this thread, but would like to say it again. You might want to remind your in laws that Judaism is the oldest religion in the world, and Hannukah, (The Festival of Lights) is considered the oldest religious celebration in the world.

Actually, I believe Hinduism (next to tribal animism) is the oldest religion in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism

I agree, Hinduism has been around a lot longer than Judaism. What date are folks claiming for the origin of Judaism? I can't find much real world evidence of anything like Judaism until a few centuries before Christ.

Hinduism, OTOH, has been found in Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, which go back several millennia before Christ. And the roots of Hinduism are found in what we know of the prehistoric evidences, culture ways and beliefs of the aboriginal peoples of South India.

My mother-in-law made the same exact Facebook post except hers said "I will say MERRY CHRISTMAS because that's what I BELIEVE!!! If you don't believe then you can say HAPPY HANNUKAH back or whatever!" Cue ten TBM "likes" here.

She actually said that. "Or whatever".

My husband are going to play a drinking game at Christmas and every time he says Happy Holidays to his mother I'm going to take a shot.

Actually, Kwanzaa is NOT an anciently observed holiday.

It was created by Maulana Karenga, and was first celebrated in 1966–67. See the Wikipedia article for details.