Christmas Without Christ

• More of this Feature • Part 1: Christmas Dates • Part 2: Pre-Christian & Christian Traditions • Part 3: Post-Christian Traditions • Join the Discussion "I celebrate Christmas. It's an excuse for parties, gifts, feasts, and a day off. " ONEGESIUS •  Related Resources • Atheism & Christmas • Questioning Christianity • Secular vs. Religious

Thus we have the contributions of the DWAMQs, and although there are a few elements dependent upon Christian mythology, the rest are from pagan traditions and they are all secularized. This means that, in effect, our most popular Christmas "traditions" are not Christian and aren't even all that old.

As I mentioned at the beginning, it was just after World War II that people complained about over-commercialization and started to try to "put Christ back into Christmas." But why at this point in history? Blame it on the war: during the conflict, people had to shop early in order to get Christmas gifts to the troops overseas in time. Merchants, of course, benefited from the early shopping and made a point of reminding people to shop early - but they never stopped.

And so the lengthy holiday shopping season was born and it's been getting longer ever since. Over time people have learned to try and shop even earlier in order to beat the maddening holiday rush - and retailers, being the good public servants that they are, have sought to accommodate them with earlier and earlier holiday sales. By and large, the spirit of giving has become predicated upon a spirit of buying.

Such is our modern Christmas: a large number of ancient pagan traditions, a few pieces of Christian traditions, and then a large number of modern creations which are almost entirely secular in nature, no matter where they got their inspiration from. I see little room and little need for any "Christ" in all of this - but more importantly, I see little place where a "Christ" could be put back into the mix.

So when you find someone talking about putting Christ back into Christmas, you can ask them what part Christ really played in Christmas to begin with. And if you are an atheist who doesn't celebrate Christmas in order to avoid Christianity, you may want to reconsider the decision.

Although you may not be interested in celebrating holidays with any religious trappings whatsoever, Christianity's hold on Christmas, from a religious perspective, is rather tenuous. If you'd like to enjoy the holiday, you should be able to do so without giving Christianity a second thought.

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