Happy Holidays?

[Dare]

I was going to regale you with horror stories from working in retail this time of year, but I've decided not to. It?s too painful for me to remember.


Rather, I am curious...not everyone celebrates Christmas, yet where I live, it's the most recognized winter holiday. It seems to be that way online too, which amuses me considering how diverse forum populations seem.

So, I ask you...which holiday do you celebrate? Christmas? Chanukah/Hanukah? Kwanzaa? Yule? Anything else I'm not aware of?

And if you celebrate Kwanzaa, could you please explain to me what it is? I've never really understood the significance of it...


Personally, as an individual, I celebrate the Saturnalia, an ancient Roman feast day/festival in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture and sowing. In addition, there's also another feast day called Ops, in honor of Saturn's sister/wife Opalia, an earth goddess and a symbol of fertility.
I've learned that not too many people know what Saturnalia is, except for Latin and mythology students.

Fun thing about Saturnalia: Some people believe that this is the holiday that the Christians adapted to form "Christmas". I don't know how true that is, but it's an interesting thought.

In addition, I celebrate Christmas with my family, though the holiday holds no religious meaning to me. It merely serves as a special time to really embrace and display generosity, family and friendship...

though, I must say, I'm feeling anything but generous to the store customers. I'll never understand what it is about this time of year that turns ordinary people into kamikaze shopping jerks.

[Juniper]

I celebrate the commercial form of Christmas (presents and christmas tree) and the religious Christmas (birth of Christ).

[Broken]

I celebrate the same as pntbll...

but I say... Bah, humbug

[Ngatuny]

I also celebrate Christmas as pntbll248 said.

I don't know 'Kwanzaa' but that is the Swahili word for beginning so I assume it has something to do with the beginning of the new year but I'm not 100% sure.

[TakaTiger]

I celebrate Christmas.... im not all into all the religon stuff tho oO

[Kovu]

Originally posted by TakaTiger
I celebrate Christmas.... im not all into all the religon stuff tho oO

Ditto.

[Xinithian]

Secular christmas.

[Simrick]

Christmas.....but not really into the religion stuff either o.o

[unregistered user]

Nice stories ya got there in your LJ Wicked, I'm charmed to read it.

Well, I'm not a Christian myself, but, I do respect/appreciate other religions beliefs nonetheless.

Christmas is a time, to set everything aside, so that ya can share the warmth of togetherness and well being of each other.

Christmas, is the set mind of everything that is peaceful & serenity. I still believe, that Santa Claus is real, in the personification of the spirit of Christmas. (I'm assuming he pays his elves adequately ^^)

So... in fact, I do celebrate, the most prestigious & well-founded holiday in the world today, that is Christmas. (wOOt, eggnog~! ^_^*)

=)

[unregistered user]

Originally posted by Wicked
I was going to regale you with horror stories from working in retail this time of year, but I've decided not to. It?s too painful for me to remember.


Rather, I am curious...not everyone celebrates Christmas, yet where I live, it's the most recognized winter holiday. It seems to be that way online too, which amuses me considering how diverse forum populations seem.

Christmas is a universally recognized holiday, not through sharing the knowledge of Christ's birth, but through commercialism and commonism, unfortunately.

So, I ask you...which holiday do you celebrate? Christmas? Chanukah/Hanukah? Kwanzaa? Yule? Anything else I'm not aware of?

And if you celebrate Kwanzaa, could you please explain to me what it is? I've never really understood the significance of it...

Christmas is a Christian holiday, as I mentioned, which celebrates the birth of Christ. Chanukah (thank you for spelling it correctly), is a Jewish holiday, and interestingly enough, is completely unrelated to Christmas. Kwanzaa is a unique African American celebration with focus on the traditional African values of family, community responsibility, commerce, and self-improvement. Kwanzaa is neither political nor religious and despite some misconceptions, is not a substitute for Christmas.

Personally, as an individual, I celebrate the Saturnalia, an ancient Roman feast day/festival in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture and sowing. In addition, there's also another feast day called Ops, in honor of Saturn's sister/wife Opalia, an earth goddess and a symbol of fertility.
I've learned that not too many people know what Saturnalia is, except for Latin and mythology students.

Fun thing about Saturnalia: Some people believe that this is the holiday that the Christians adapted to form "Christmas". I don't know how true that is, but it's an interesting thought.

In addition, I celebrate Christmas with my family, though the holiday holds no religious meaning to me. It merely serves as a special time to really embrace and display generosity, family and friendship...

though, I must say, I'm feeling anything but generous to the store customers. I'll never understand what it is about this time of year that turns ordinary people into kamikaze shopping jerks.

The Virgin mobile commercial fused every known holiday together: Christmaschanukwanzaa. Virtually no one can agree on a religion to believe in, but we can all agree that sharing time with family is important.

[lion_roog]

Kwanza was invented by a black dude from here (America) in the 1940s....or in that general time frame. Not really sure about any specifics.

[Vidan]

Originally posted by The Sonic God
The Virgin mobile commercial fused every known holiday together: Christmaschanukwanzaa. Virtually no one can agree on a religion to believe in, but we can all agree that sharing time with family is important.

They said Scientology was 'kind of a religion'. ...

I don't celebrate holidays myself. They just give me a chance to regroup and think about what's important in my life. I prefer to celebrate friends and what little family I have. I can do that anytime of year, though, and I do. At least, I try.

That's just me, though. (Whatever that hackneyed phrase means.) It's possible that the commercial aspect of American holidays has minimized their importance in my mind or caused me to distance myself from them.

Originally posted by Wicked
I was going to regale you with horror stories from working in retail this time of year, but I've decided not to. It?s too painful for me to remember.


.....

though, I must say, I'm feeling anything but generous to the store customers. I'll never understand what it is about this time of year that turns ordinary people into kamikaze shopping jerks.

I think I asked you on another part of the forum which book store you worked for, but you probably didn't see that post. PM me if you like.

I'm an inventory supervisor at Borders. So far I haven't encountered any customers worthy of socking yet -- I must be lucky!

[unregistered user]

Usually, religious beliefs have good intentions. Those are something I admire.

But commercialism... that's just wrong. Make a buck, make a buck. Whatever. ?.?

This ol' lion enjoys having a cup of hot cocoa with a candy cane in the presence of family.

[lion_roog]

Originally posted by Woes


I'm an inventory supervisor at Borders. So far I haven't encountered any customers worthy of socking yet -- I must be lucky!

I work at a Convenience Store...so I encounter customers that I would love to sock/ drop kick/ Give mean looks to everyday......Man, I love the drama.....

[Lion Roar]

I celebrate only the commercial form of Christmas...

[Sharifu]

I celebrate Christmas... Christmas is my favorite holiday... It really brings back memories. My mom made Christmas so magical for my sister and I growing up. (I know that sounds so corny) XD I don't like the commercialism of Christmas though, because people forget the real meaning of Christmas. I just put the lights on my Christmas tree, it's so beautiful, I love looking at it. And I like listening to clam, relaxing, instrumental Christmas music... I'm not really into the upbeat Christmas music. But the kind of Christmas music I like is really beautiful, I love listening to it during this time of year.

[Mabatu]

I used to love celebrating christmas, it meant time with family that i actually enjoyed, and everybody was glad to be together and so on and so forth.

But now, christmas seems to have lost quite a substantial amount of significance for me. It seems such a burden to everybody...my mum has been trying to find time to buy presents, at the shop i work everybody is complaining about what they should buy etc etc. Not to mention i'm trying to figure out what to buy people, and i have so little time since i'm at work so often

Christmas used to be so exciting, but now i'd be happy to just stay at home on christmas day and avoid the family, it's not like it used to be

Personally though, i never forget the real reason christmas began in the first place (that is, the 'religious' reason), so i do think it still an important event

[lion_roog]

Man...I remember the Christmas tree my friend and I decorated a couple Christmases ago.....since we couldn't afford ornaments....we decorated this little two foot high tree with scissors, pens, clothes pins, aluminum foil balls, pictures, and all the such....it was so awesome..

[Dare]

Ah, so it looks like most people here (at least those who replied here) celebrate Christmas then. On the other forum where I posted this question, most people said they celebrated Yule.

Originally posted by lion_roog
Man...I remember the Christmas tree my friend and I decorated a couple Christmases ago.....since we couldn't afford ornaments....we decorated this little two foot high tree with scissors, pens, clothes pins, aluminum foil balls, pictures, and all the such....it was so awesome..

During my last year in college, my roommates and I scraped together enough money to buy one of those tiny pine trees that come in plastic pots. Unfortunately, we had no real decorations, so we wound up printing up clipart on our computers, cutting the pictures out, and then tying them to the tree with thread...and I think we stole some lights from one of the apartments down the hall...either that or Santa brought them because no one seemed to know where they came from. O.o

Our decorations were kind of pathetic that year. We actually made big picture of a fireplace out of construction paper and hung it up in our living room, and then made paper stockings and used thumbtacks to make them stick to the wall. *facepalms*
Not the most glamorous holiday decorations we've had, but certainly the most memorable.

[lion_roog]

Woot!....Being poor Rocks!!!!......