CHRISTMAS (against)

I don't really see the point in this anymore.Even for religious people the date isn't even
correct because Jesus was apparently born in January.Forgetting the date the whole idea of
christmas is wrong because it puts short term again before long term gain and thus causes a
lot of financial trouble for families in the long term, with poor families forced to go into debt to
buy Christmas presents.The thing is we really don't want these presents because if we did
we could just buy them anyway with the money you used to buy their Christmas present
without all the hassle to go out and buy their Christmas presents.Its about time Christmas
got abolished.Easter is a lot better because chocolate eggs and bunnies aren't in the shops
all year.
 CHRISTMAS (against)
Firstly, the very premise – the birth of Jesus – is flawed. As best as we can tell, Jesus (if he
existed) was born in summer, not winter. The reason his birth was moved to December was
to Christianise an ancient and very well established pagan celebration, the winter solstice.

What this means is that if you want to celebrate the birth of Christ, you’re doing it six months
too late – or six months too early, depending on which way you look at it. If celebrating the
birth of Christ has meaning, isn’t it meaningless to do it at the wrong time?

Of course most of us don’t celebrate Christmas to celebrate Jesus’ birth. Modern Christmas
is about love, kindness, family, and getting (or rather, giving) presents. So why should that
end, you rightly ask?

To me, the idea that there should be a certain time of year when you’re nicer and more
loving than you normally are is anathema. If you are capable of being very kind at Christmas,
you are capable of being so any time, and to cease being this kind just because a religious
holiday – even when it’s held at the wrong time of year – ends shows a lack of
thoughtfulness; a sheep-like reaction to an established norm. I don’t treat Christmas any
differently from the summer – I am this dour all year round – and when I see people being
extra nice in December, I can only wonder why they can’t do that all the time.

Secondly, Christmas isn’t all about love and happiness; it has been hijacked by profiteers,
who encourage indiscriminate spending on useless and meaningless junk like Garden
Santas and fake snow. In 2006, the National Consumer Agency reported that we would
spend €1,300 per household on Christmas that year. If Christmas was really about love and
caring, we would be giving this money to those who need it, like those in the third world,
instead of to multinationals. That would be an expense with real meaning.

Thirdly, Christmas excludes very large sections of both the world and our own society. It has
only been celebrated in the west for around 100 years, and is not celebrated elsewhere.
Despite the fact that it is a de facto secular holiday, it nonetheless has religious roots, which
means that people from other faiths cannot in good conscience celebrate it. It also excludes
people who live alone and have no relatives nearby, being a very family-based holiday.

I’m not suggesting we should abandon winter celebrations; far from it. We should revive the
celebration of winter solstice. After all, isn’t the beginning of the end of winter and the start of
the new harvest something to celebrate? That it is a naturally occurring holiday means all
could celebrate it equally. We should take time off and feast and have festivals, just not
under the phoney guise of either a fake religious date we don’t celebrate or mindless
spending which encourages us to value junk over substance.

Finally, we shouldn’t have a specific time of year when we are more empathetic to our fellow
humans; we should always value time spent with our friends and family, we should always
be as kind to strangers and acquaintances alike as we are during Christmas, and we should
always keep in mind those people who are less fortunate.
 CHRISTMAS (against)

Date of Christmas:
Firstly, the very premise – the birth of Jesus – is flawed. As best as we can tell, Jesus (if he
existed) was born in summer, not winter. The reason his birth was moved to December was
to Christianise an ancient and very well established pagan celebration, the winter solstice.
What this means is that if you want to celebrate the birth of Christ, you’re doing it six months
too late – or six months too early, depending on which way you look at it. If celebrating the
birth of Christ has meaning, isn’t it meaningless to do it at the wrong time?