User:Zordrac/Christmas

What Christmas means to me, a personal story by User:Zordrac, written 25 December 2005.

I have never followed an organised religion, preferring philosophy and personal beliefs to an organised religion. From time to time I favoured one religion over another, and there are some that are closer to my beliefs than others, but I choose to be independent of religion. This does not mean that I am an atheist - in fact I have very strong religious beliefs. Nor does it mean that I am agnostic. I do believe in God, and my belief is that who I believe God is is the same God of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and almost all other religions (including those with multiple Gods and 0 Gods). I believe that God is a representation of collective consciousness, and that we are all God, and God is all of us. I believe that God and us are equal, and we co-exist, and that it is this co-existence that makes the world. I believe in reincarnation and that we are all eternal beings, that we have all always been and always will be, that we are all immortal. I am very open minded, and believe strongly in mending all religious and philosophical differences.

When it comes to a time such as Christmas, I do not feel comfortable with pretending that the Christian view of Christmas, that being one of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is accurate. Indeed, astronomy has proven that Jesus Christ was not born on 25 December, nor that he was born in the year 0 AD. Thus if we were to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, I would prefer to celebrate it on his actual birthday. I do not think that we should celebrate his birthday on the wrong day, although I respect people who feel that we should.

Some have suggested that the Pagan celebration of Yule, that of giving presents to each other around a Yule tree, is the more accurate way to celebrate Christmas, because it is the gift giving and the tree that comes to symbolise Christmas, and that I should be respectful to these traditional roots. Indeed also that most Christmas Carols are of Pagan origin and were not intended to be associated with Christianity at all. However, whilst I see the point in this, I do not feel comfortable with ignoring what Christmas means to everyone else. I think that it is important to accept all points of view.

During this time, Jews celebrate Hannika (sp?), a celebration that I do not fully understand, and there is also a celebration of Kwanzaa and I believe that Moslems celebrate something as well. Indeed, it seems that virtually every religion has some form of celebration at this time of year.

Some have suggested that the introduction of Santa Claus, which historically was probably based on Saint Nicholas (Saint-a-Nicho-laus can sound like Santa Claus), is not a correct interpretation of Christmas, since historically Santa Claus has nothing to do with any of the religious celebrations. Some have pointed to his red cloak and white stripe, which was probably related to Coca Cola's depiction of him in their commercials [1] as evidence that Santa Claus equals commercialism and hence that Christmas is a waste of time.

But my view is this: Santa Claus does not belong in any religion. Santa Claus is neutral. Santa Claus can be attached to Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Paganism, or any other religion, and can be accepted by atheists, agnostics and everyone else in the world.

I know that shops put up their prices. I know that we always end up spending a lot of money. I know that getting presents for people can be difficult and annoying. I know that we always get that torture of whether we are getting too many or too few presents and cards, and whether we are sending too many or too few, and all of the guilt and such associated with it.

But at Christmas we remember love. We remember the love that we have for others, and we feel the love that we have for them. Christmas is a time for happiness. Christmas is a time for joy. Christmas is a time to forget all of your problems, to put them all aside and make peace with everyone in the world. If just for 1 day, Christmas is a time when we can all work together in happiness and celebration.

This is what Christmas means to me.

Merry Christmas to everyone!