Hi,
Some of you may remember when I shared about my Christian past and my atheist present.
When I was a Christian, I was a pretty orthodox one so I didn't celebrate Christmas because it's not a truly Christian celebration. I'll skip the historical details as most of you may know, unless someone wants to talk about it...
When I became an atheist, I had no reason to celebrate the birth of any god either, so I've been doing nothing special in these 6 years. I only went to some suppers if I got an invitation (just because some days are holidays) and I also celebrate the New Year, which is a pretty neutral celebration.
Both in my Christian and atheist periods, I've always said "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas".
Well, to the point. The thing is that my partner wanted to do something more... "in the mood", so to speak. I told him "ok, but since this will be quite an effort to me, I'd rather set this out as a negotiation, so please let me do it my way". He agreed.
And my way is that we won't celebrate Christmas, we will call it Winter Solstice.
For those who may think that I'm just replacing a tale for another, I don't see it the same way... exactly. The difference is that the Christian tale is a tale from a religion currently followed by millions of people, regardless of the different motives that move people to celebrate these days. On the other hand, we will only celebrate the season and the coming of the new year in a pretty neutral mood, and the mythical references are just a thematic touch, nor something I believe in neither something that currently hurts the minds of millions of people in all the world.
I also think that this will be a good opportunity to "rescue" a pagan/secular celebration from the Christian monopoly, as well as a good way to create our own traditions as a family.
What do you all think?
Some of you may remember when I shared about my Christian past and my atheist present.
When I was a Christian, I was a pretty orthodox one so I didn't celebrate Christmas because it's not a truly Christian celebration. I'll skip the historical details as most of you may know, unless someone wants to talk about it...
When I became an atheist, I had no reason to celebrate the birth of any god either, so I've been doing nothing special in these 6 years. I only went to some suppers if I got an invitation (just because some days are holidays) and I also celebrate the New Year, which is a pretty neutral celebration.
Both in my Christian and atheist periods, I've always said "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas".
Well, to the point. The thing is that my partner wanted to do something more... "in the mood", so to speak. I told him "ok, but since this will be quite an effort to me, I'd rather set this out as a negotiation, so please let me do it my way". He agreed.
And my way is that we won't celebrate Christmas, we will call it Winter Solstice.
- We won't use any iconography that could make a reference to the birth of Jeezus. No Santa Claus either.
- The tree: we will have a Winter tree. There won't be a star on top of the tree, but a snowflake and we will light it on December's 21th, when the winter solstice begins this year.
- I'll keep all the forest/vegetation motives (wreaths, etc.), since those are pagan in origin and a symbol of the life that will come after the cold months ahead. Maybe I will add some forest/mythical "fauna" such as foxes, fairies and gnomes under the tree.
- Gifts. I'll keep that, too, since it also predates the Christian tradition (the Roman Saturnalia, etc.), but we will give the gifts on January 1st.
- The tree: we will have a Winter tree. There won't be a star on top of the tree, but a snowflake and we will light it on December's 21th, when the winter solstice begins this year.
- I'll keep all the forest/vegetation motives (wreaths, etc.), since those are pagan in origin and a symbol of the life that will come after the cold months ahead. Maybe I will add some forest/mythical "fauna" such as foxes, fairies and gnomes under the tree.
- Gifts. I'll keep that, too, since it also predates the Christian tradition (the Roman Saturnalia, etc.), but we will give the gifts on January 1st.
For those who may think that I'm just replacing a tale for another, I don't see it the same way... exactly. The difference is that the Christian tale is a tale from a religion currently followed by millions of people, regardless of the different motives that move people to celebrate these days. On the other hand, we will only celebrate the season and the coming of the new year in a pretty neutral mood, and the mythical references are just a thematic touch, nor something I believe in neither something that currently hurts the minds of millions of people in all the world.
I also think that this will be a good opportunity to "rescue" a pagan/secular celebration from the Christian monopoly, as well as a good way to create our own traditions as a family.
What do you all think?
