Christmas is such a HYPOCRISY (and I hate it)

First of all, and I mean bloody freakin first, I am not a loner or some washed up ol' pile of negativity living alone complaining in my solitude, no way.
I come from a loving home with adorable parents and two great sisters of whom the older has just given birth to a wonderful little baby girl Sophia, so get me right about this thread because it will come out grumpier than the Grinch himself.
Still, this has to be said:

Christmas is closing in, one could even say that it is already here. At all the shops the windows are filled to the brim with decorations over this vile festival of thoughtless consumption, people are choking in stress, the meat consumption leads to new hights in extreme slaughter and single parents with more than one child are tearing their hair off in desperation over how to please their kids now that "everybody else" gets what they wish for.
I totally puke on this.
Everywhere, the commercials that poison the public areas with their merciless forcefeeding, takes on an uniform expression and adds another unwanted stress to our already compromised personal sphere.
Buy! Buy! Buy!
Man, I am freaking out!!!

Now let's look at the holiday itself.
This is supposed to have something to do with Jesus, or at least, they claim it does. I am in doubt. Sereious doubt.
First, I am not even a Christian, but that does not matter because, secondly, this is not a Christian holiday.
How can one be so damn sure that this alledged prophet, who might have existed, was born on this exact date? I am in sereious doubt about that, since I am in sereious doubt about the whole Jesus-deal.

In Scandinavia, where I am from, Christmas is called "Jul", maybe more known to non-Scandinavians as "Yule". The origin of this word is disputed, but it might refer to "Jolnir" or "Yolnir" as an alter-ego for Odin himself. Another common name for this festive is "Alfablót" meaning a sacrificial festival to the Elves of light. The meaning of this holiday is to celebrate the longest night of the year, the 21st/22nd of December, thus sacrificing to the powers of light to make the darkness go away.
When Christianity came to us, some 1000 years ago, they could not defeat this ancient tradition the way they wanted, so they just swithced the date to make it fit their agenda. The same goes for the spring festival, now know as Easter, in fact, the spring festival is split up into two different occations with the 30th of April being the original type of celebration and Easter the Christianized version of it. There is supposed to be one in early autumn also, serving as a harvest festival, but that one is eradicated (schools still have a holiday though).
So, the entire way of celebration Christmas as a Christian holiday is a big fat hoax.

Moving on;
Even the colour (red), used as a seasonal colour, is way off.
The original colour is also disputed, but if you trace it back just some hundered years, or even less, Christmas was green and Santa was Gray. What made him red? Coca Cola Company! It is absoultely bizarre in my eyes that one corporation, providing low-grade beverages can colour the most major holiday in the world! Especially since Cola is totally subdued the traditional Christmas beverage "Must" (or "Christmas beverage"). Some people may differ in this oppinion, but those who do can go somewhere and do something, because you are out!
My God, feels like my head is going to burst any second now!

Even the spirit of Chirstmas is hypocritical at best.
We are supposed to show brotherhood and unite globally through peace and understanding. At the same time, we want to gather our closest friends and relatives to celebrate without the interferance of outsiders. We max our consumption, furthur depleating the little resources we have left on this bleeding planet, eating insane ammounts of food in the seasonal buffét and further celebrating how the fewer consumes way above the more while totally forgetting about world starvation, buying useless crap for gifts making the sweat-shops run even sweatier just to fill our seasonal greed.

I totally dispise what this holiday has become.
It is nothing what it should be.
I has been desecrated by a foregin religion and then it has been desecrated yet again by capitalism.

Uuuh, I could go on forever...
Christmas is the conspiracy!!!

[edit on 20-11-2008 by Raud]

I hate christmass too. With a passion. The bombardment of christmas adverts on the box/radio/everywhere you **SNIP** look. (which started a few weeks ago)

I could rant on like a madman on this all day long,like your good self (that is one impressive rant btw 10/10) But I don't wanna upset people. It's not that I don't respect peoples beliefs,but it's not about that anymore,for most people.


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[edit on 20-11-2008 by Crakeur]

I agree. Christmas has become WAY to commercial. I feel people have forgotten what the meaning of christmas is supposed to be. Now days people have the impression that the meaning of christmas is spend spend spend buy buy buy. Its not. It is supposed to be a time of peace love and joy.

As for why we celebrate the birth of christ on this day. well to be honest I can only assume that it is because no one knows for sure when he was born. I have heard speculations from scientists and and antroplogists and archaeologists before that their are indications that he could have been born in the spring, but I couldnt tell you. I wonder if mabye there is something in the bible that makes it sound as if his birth was around this time of year? I dont know, I am not a christian.

That would be my non profesional guess, that they pick December 25th because mabye it corresponds with the description from the bible of what it was like at that time. Like I said though I am not a christian and dont know that much about the bible so I may be way off.

That said, Christmas has become way to commercial. All the retail stores around here are in panic mode because the expect they wont make as big of a profit as they did last year. I just want to go slap some sense into the owners of these retail stores sometimes. Oh your only going to make a 90 million dollar profit? SLAP!

Christmas makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. When I have anger and aggression I listen to Slayer, but I don't take it out on Jesus or Santa.

Yup, just another pagan festival repackaged as a Christian festival, then taken over by the corporations. Originally, it was to celebrate the re-birth of the sun, then the re-birth of the Son, now the re-birth of us getting our asses ripped of and being coerced into spending money we can't afford.

A human-sized version of Santa Claus, rather than the elf of Moore's poem, was depicted in a series of illustrations for Coca-Cola advertisements introduced in 1931. In modern versions of the Santa Claus legend, only his toy-shop workers are elves. Rudolph, the ninth reindeer, with a red and shiny nose, was invented in 1939 by an advertising writer for the Montgomery Ward Company.

Source

The middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around the world. Centuries before the arrival of the man called Jesus, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter. Many peoples rejoiced during the winter solstice, when the worst of the winter was behind them and they could look forward to longer days and extended hours of sunlight.

Source

At the beginning of the 1930's, the burgeoning Coca-Cola company was still looking for ways to increase sales of their product during winter, then a slow time of year for the soft drink market. They turned to a talented commercial illustrator named Haddon Sundblom, who created a series of memorable drawings that associated the figure of a larger-than-life, red-and-white garbed Santa Clause with Coca-Cola.

Source

Holy Crap!

Four replies already???

Well, this thread is all about ranting so let it loose!

I wan't to rant, rant, RANT about this holiday, because it makes me nauseous!!!

I mean, first it is supposed to be a celebration of the single most important force of nature, the all mighty SUN. Of course, on a spiritual plain there are more powerful forces, but nothing matters to us as earthly beings more than the sun.

Then it became distorted the first time by a wild claim that Jesus was born on this day (or somewhere around that time). Still, clinging on to the idea that one should celebtate peace and brotherhood, or at least try to.

Then the final desecration came and made this holiday not even worth celebrating anymore. Personally, at the beginning of November, I feel this holiday closing in on me and it fills me with absolute contempt!

On the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice, I have my own little celebration, just to show that I am happy to be alive and show my respect towards nature a little more than I always do. The regualr Christmas I celebrate mostly to please my relatives.
If I buy some gifts, I make sure to spread the purchase thorughout the year so that I am already done by the end of summer. I refuse to take part of this absurd charade.

Our family made a very nice deal last year, and we will keep it up from now on, concerning gifts:
Each family member draws one default name of another family member and buys this person one (1) gift. That is all. That is sane.
I always chose my younger sister though, mostly because she has the same taste as I have (deranged taste, but whatever).

reply to post by Raud


Watch the original "Miracle on 34th St". The same message of over commercialization of Christmas is in that old movie. This has been going on since advertising really took hold in the late 19th Century. Another words, your complaint is a very old one.

Do what many families do, and have a quiet celebration with immediate family members. I like to have a tree and some decorations, but I don't overdue it. I like to be with my family for a nice dinner and then some conversation about what is happening in the lives of family members I don't see to often. This is even true of the ones who live closely, as there is little time for visiting. Don't take that away from the ones who don't get to see each other all that often.
It doesn't matter what religion or if one is an atheist, Christmas means family.

Sorry for being sappy, but after the past few years I've had, I like sappy.

I love christmas, only because I get to watch Christians partake in pagan rituals. I dont associate christmas with consumerism, I associate ignorance with consumerism. Christmas is such a funny beautiful holiday weather you are a satanist, a buddhist, a christian, or an alien. Its the most entertaining season and holiday of the year. I love going to the mall when its packed and just walking against the flow of people, standing still for hours at a time and just watching the sea of zombies scuttle around like crazy chickens. I love it, people are the best.
Im not saying youre a zombie if you give and receive gifts, Im saying youre a zombie if you do it with the rest of the zombies. really, no one is a zombie, its just a word I use to categorize a hopefully temporary perceptual mind state.

[edit on 11/20/2008 by psychedeliack]

December 25 is a major pagan holiday called the winter soltice. When Christianity declared it illegal to practice paganism they absorbed this date into their own religion. A kind of compromise to avoid an all out war. It worked.

Know retailers are doing the same thing, only this time they are absorbing this date to sell more merchandise and the christians for the most part are willing to play along.

It's a viciouse circle.

You all need a little taste of Festivus to brighten your holiday spirits.




www.festivuspoles.com...

reply to post by jd140


Christmas is the Saturnalia Festival of the Romans, the birth date of the god Mithras (December 25) and several other myths rolled into one. The tree is from many Pagan festivals, and one can find Pagan rites in all of Christian holidays. That was the Church's way of getting local groups to convert, by merging their beliefs with Christianity.

Still, the idea of Christmas isn't about shopping at the last moment (I confess I used to love doing that), but about spending time with family and friends.

Christmas - as it is now known as - is a millennia old party held to cheer us up at the darkest time of the year, give us something to look forward to as the nights close in, and celebrate the fact that the sun is getting higher in the sky and a new year has begun.

So go out, have fun, eat too much, drink too much, enjoy yourself! It's the oldest and most traditional festival in the history of the world

reply to post by jibeho


Thank you for bringing up this classic episode. Everybody, have a great Festivus!

Happy birthday to Mithras, as Jesus was not born on that day.

Originally posted by kidflash2008
reply to post by jd140

 

Christmas is the Saturnalia Festival of the Romans, the birth date of the god Mithras (December 25) and several other myths rolled into one. The tree is from many Pagan festivals, and one can find Pagan rites in all of Christian holidays. That was the Church's way of getting local groups to convert, by merging their beliefs with Christianity.

Still, the idea of Christmas isn't about shopping at the last moment (I confess I used to love doing that), but about spending time with family and friends.

Hmmm sounds like a conspiracy for another thread. Where did the idea for chrismas to be on December 25 come from.

reply to post by jibeho


Awesome, I love it!!!!

The winter holidays, the most stressful time of the year. Our family (some religious some not) get together, eat italian dishes, give the children presents and the adults argue all day. What a wonderful thing to do!!!

I refuse to purchase gift cards for people, and don't like people buying my child gifts. This is a time of the year that we think our family should do for their immediate family and use these deeper discounts from the stores to help themselves.

As the holidays get closer, my husband gets crankier. I do most of our shopping online and have UPS or Fed Ex deliver it. It's mostly necessities that we all hold out for over the year, but a few frivolous things for the kid.

Christmas sucks! I hate it, but we have to "go through the motions for the younger ones".

A_L

Edit to add: My hubby's birthday is on the Winter Solstice, so I have to celebrate that night too. I will buy him something he needs (for a car or dirt bike) then give him just the nuts/bolts that night, and he has until Christmas day to figure out what the rest of it is.

[edit on 11/20/2008 by another_lurker]

Christmas is for the kids. New Year (Hogmanay/Ne'erday) is for the grown ups.

Once you've got that in your head you're cooking on gas

Gah! I hate trying to shop this time of year. I need to get stuff, just everyday stuff! I have to navigate around the kid screaming cause Mommy won't buy him all the eye candy on the shelves, past the couple argueing over how much to spend on who's families, and behind the idiot at check out who just had their fifth credit card declined.

Then there's the traffic. Don't even get me started on that! Can't wait til January.

When the catholic church would take over a country, it would integrate pagan rituals into their form of religion.
Jesus' date of birth was probably around October, coinciding with the Jewish festivals at the time and the shepherds feeding their flocks in the fields! December would be BAD!

The Two Babylons, written in 1853

How, then, did the Romish Church fix on December the 25th as Christmas-day? Why, thus: Long before the fourth century, and long before the Christian era itself, a festival was celebrated among the heathen, at that precise time of the year, in honour of the birth of the son of the Babylonian queen of heaven; and it may fairly be presumed that, in order to conciliate the heathen, and to swell the number of the nominal adherents of Christianity, the same festival was adopted by the Roman Church, giving it only the name of Christ. This tendency on the part of Christians to meet Paganism half-way was very early developed; and we find Tertullian, even in his day, about the year 230, bitterly lamenting the inconsistency of the disciples of Christ in this respect, and contrasting it with the strict fidelity of the Pagans to their own superstition. "By us," says he, "who are strangers to Sabbaths, and new moons, and festivals, once acceptable to God, the Saturnalia, the feasts of January, the Brumalia, and Matronalia, are now frequented; gifts are carried to and fro, new year's day presents are made with din, and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar; oh, how much more faithful are the heathen to their religion, who take special care to adopt no solemnity from the Christians." Upright men strive to stem the tide, but in spite of all their efforts, the apostacy went on, till the Church, with the exception of a small remnant, was submerged under Pagan superstition. That Christmas was originally a Pagan festival, is beyond all doubt. The time of the year, and the ceremonies with which it is still celebrated, prove its origin. In Egypt, the son of Isis, the Egyptian title for the queen of heaven, was born at this very time, "about the time of the winter solstice." The very name by which Christmas is popularly known among ourselves--Yule-day --proves at once its Pagan and Babylonian origin. "Yule" is the Chaldee name for an "infant" or "little child"; * and as the 25th of December was called by our Pagan Anglo-Saxon ancestors, "Yule-day," or the "Child's day," and the night that preceded it, "Mother-night," long before they came in contact with Christianity, that sufficiently proves its real character.

Christmas goose, anyone?