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The Meaning Of Christmas

By Phil Urich (Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 12:27:27 AM EST) (all tags)

This is mainly a poll. For some unknown reason, I ramble a bit first.

Personally, I like it as an excuse for people to celebrate it howeverthehell they feel like it. However, from the very beginning of "Christmas", some people have been very adamant in their insistence of what "should" be done: "The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia". And naturally, we all know about the backlash against the consumerism of modern Christmas. I can't manage to quite agree with those people, though, in part because I might be considered a materialist in the other, non-consumer definition, so though I do object to the focus on material goods, I can't quite swallow the rhetoric of the back-to-Christ folks (I suppose that my main objection to the current state of Christmas comes from my very left-wing views which often lean me towards another form of "materialism", that being dialectical materialism). In the end, I figure it's pretty good as it stands. Some people take it too far in certain directions, but whatever, that doesn't really have any negative impact on me, much doesn't really impact me at all so I'll let them make their own choices about what's best for them. (The exception being one friend of mine who'll certainly be spending time with her family, which, while I can't begrudge them that at all, she's only in the country for less than a month now! So the practice of celebrating Christmas does have one point of impact on me)

Okay, so I've rambled a bit now. I don't think I'm getting much of anywhere, so I turn things over to the rest of you people. What is Christmastime about for you? Feel free to ignore everything I've said!

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- The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia
- backlash against the consumerism of modern Christmas
- those people
- the other, non-consumer definition
- dialectical materialism
- Phil Urich's Diary

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The Meaning Of Christmas | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

WIPO: by ammoniacal (3.00 / 1) #1 Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 04:52:58 AM EST

Baby Jesus.

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WIPO by lm (3.00 / 1) #2 Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 06:31:35 AM EST

Jesus Christ

Christmas is the celebration of the theandric energies of the God made man in the incarnation of the fully divine Logos into the fully human Jesus Christ by which human nature was united with the divine nature allowing for the deification of all humankind.

Factoid: Christmas was originally celebrated on Jan. 6 as part of a Holy Day called Theophany which celebrated all the earthly events of Christ's life from the Annunciation up through and including the Baptism of Christ in the river Jordan. The Armenian Apostolic Church still follows this practice. The date to celebrate the birth of Christ was moved to Dec. 25, the date on which many Pagans celebrated Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun, most probably in the fifth century. Once the birth moved, the Annunciation had to move to nine months prior and the feast of the Circumcision had to move to eight days after. Theophany stayed the same, although in the west it has moved to the Sunday after Jan. 6th following the French tradition of celebrating all feast days on Sundays.

Factoid: Exchanging gifts at Christmas is a relatively recent phenomenon. Prior to the late Medieval era, most gift exchanges took place either for New Year or on Saint Nicholas day on Dec. 6. In many of the countries where the gift exchange was on Saint Nicholas day, it was traditional to give gifts anonymously as did Saint Nicholas. AFAICT, the current consumerist nightmare of indulgence is a huge number of gifts is an American invention that is starting to infect the rest of the world.

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic

WIPO by ad hoc (3.66 / 3) #3 Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 07:51:45 AM EST

A day off.
--

Plz note the new e-mail, kthx

WIPO by monkeymind (4.00 / 3) #4 Sat Dec 18, 2004 at 01:48:08 PM EST

Spending Time with the Family

May sound a bit naf but I live 1000k's away from all of them. So for a week - ten days each year I head North.

A few games of golf with mum, fishing with the old man, taking my niece mountain biking and generally sitting around having a few drinks while talking about nothing at all with the Boxing day test on in the background.

Now that's Christmas.

: I feel ashamed by Phil Urich (2.00 / 0) #5 Sun Dec 19, 2004 at 04:31:35 AM EST

that I completely forgot that option when I wrote the poll. Which is odd, because that's exactly how I'll be spending my Christmas, anyways, (and I did mention a case of that in my ramblings as well) . . . so, you win the poll. Yes, I know, it's not the kind of thing that people normally "win", but hey, it's my poll, I can do whatever the hell I feel like.

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The Meaning Of Christmas | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback