S/O Atheist/Agnostic Question and Poll

jasmineh7777 · June 2010

If you identify as Atheist or Agnostic, do you still celebrate religious holidays?
Is yes, why?

danieliza1127 · June 2010

My H and I have Easter dinner with his parents every year even though we don't practice any religion. It's important to his Mom and it's a good excuse to have a big home cooked meal and get together.

Obviously we celebrate Christmas but that's just as secular anymore as it is religious.

smokeybailey · June 2010

How do you define celebrate? Go to church/mass? Exchange gifts? Take the day off work? Put up a pagan tree? Decorate your home with more tinsel and lights than any one man needs?

jasmineh7777 · June 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_atheistagnostic-question-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:dae04e66-42aa-4bf8-b09d-e8fb8df0294dPost:36c3402c-30ad-4d4b-a738-275c24e4ffb4">Re: S/O Atheist/Agnostic Question and Poll</a>:
[QUOTE]My H and I have Easter dinner with his parents every year even though we don't practice any religion. It's important to his Mom and it's a good excuse to have a big home cooked meal and get together.<strong> Obviously we celebrate Christmas but that's just as secular anymore as it is religious.
</strong>Posted by danieliza1127[/QUOTE]

See, that's what I'm wondering. Have all of the Christian holidays come to be viewed as secular?
I mean, I wouldn't celebrate Passover because I'm not Jewish. Fi still celebrates Christmas with me, but he doesn't acknowledge it as the birth of Christ.

Audrey&Austin · June 2010

We celebrate Krismas, but for us it is about family and friends, love, peace, and being able to share this time of year with our families. For us, there is nothing religious about it. We don't observe any other religious holidays.

jasmineh7777 · June 2010

Any of those work Smokey. Obviously, some of those days everyone has off from work. Do you have a special meal, or do anything to acknowledge that it is that specific holiday?

quotequeen · June 2010

I celebrate the non-religious aspects of religious holidays - eating with family, exchanging gifts, etc. Like any other holiday, it's just an excuse to get together and do something enjoyable.

BecW2be · June 2010

Seeing as all the Christian holidays were once pagan holidays, I don't think celebrating them means you recognize them as Christian. It was Winter Solstice before it was Christmas for thousands of years.

emilykathleen511 · June 2010

I celebrate Christmas and Easter. Both were Pagan holidays first anyway, and it is so important for families to have annual holiday traditions, regardless of what you call them. I definitely don't see them as holding any religious or spiritual meaning for me.

danieliza1127 · June 2010

Well Christmas is a religious holiday if you believe it's the celebration of the birth of Christ, or it's just a holiday to give gifts and watch for Santa if you don't.

quotequeen · June 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_atheistagnostic-question-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:dae04e66-42aa-4bf8-b09d-e8fb8df0294dPost:fd58247e-fd6a-4a37-a3a9-6ea50928c500">Re: S/O Atheist/Agnostic Question and Poll</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: S/O Atheist/Agnostic Question and Poll : See, that's what I'm wondering. Have all of the Christian holidays come to be viewed as secular? <strong>I mean, I wouldn't celebrate Passover because I'm not Jewish.</strong> Fi still celebrates Christmas with me, but he doesn't acknowledge it as the birth of Christ.
Posted by jasmineh7777[/QUOTE]

I have "celebrated" Passover, by which I mean attended seder. It's part of the Jewish tradition to have non-Jews over for Passover.

andyandhillary · June 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_atheistagnostic-question-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:dae04e66-42aa-4bf8-b09d-e8fb8df0294dPost:fd58247e-fd6a-4a37-a3a9-6ea50928c500">Re: S/O Atheist/Agnostic Question and Poll</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: S/O Atheist/Agnostic Question and Poll : See, that's what I'm wondering. Have all of the Christian holidays come to be viewed as secular? I mean, I wouldn't celebrate Passover because I'm not Jewish. Fi still celebrates Christmas with me, but he doesn't acknowledge it as the birth of Christ.
Posted by jasmineh7777[/QUOTE]

I think it's interesting too but to me, if celebrating Christmas makes people nicer and reminds them of peace on earth then I think they should celebrate it. Even if it's only for a few weeks (days, hours, etc) a year I think the additional kindness and generosity by Christians and non-Christians alike is something Jesus would be game for.

eastunder1 · June 2010

We celebrate Christmas. But by celebrate I mean "Buy people we care about presents and think happy well wishy thoughts." I don't think Christmas has much to do with religion to a great percentage of the population anymore anyways. Thats not to say I'm dismissing it's religious beginnings as frivilous, but it would be ridiculous to argue that a non-religious person should not celebrate a holiday that has clearly mainstreamed into much more than just that.

We do not celebrate Easter. I'm actually in Vegas the capital of sin every year on Easter, a fact that I find humorously ironic.

I can't think of any other religious holidays.

BecW2be · June 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_atheistagnostic-question-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:dae04e66-42aa-4bf8-b09d-e8fb8df0294dPost:d5987161-8a37-4d57-ac2e-c01bdedc4aba">Re: S/O Atheist/Agnostic Question and Poll</a>:
[QUOTE]Well Christmas is a religious holiday if you believe it's the celebration of the birth of Christ, or it's just a holiday to give gifts and watch for Santa if you don't.
Posted by danieliza1127[/QUOTE]

Exactly. And renaming it Krismas doesn't make it more or less secular. It just makes it look like a Ke$ha Holiday. And we all know how I feel about her! :)

emilyinchile · June 2010

We celebrate Christmas and Easter in the sense that we get together for a meal and presents/eggs with family because it's a family tradition for both of us.

ohwhynot · June 2010

Yeah, I've explained to the kids that these so-called holidays were just seasonal celebrations co-opted by organized religions and that we're kind of using them as an excuse to celebrate family and togetherness.

mandysmear · June 2010

If I could, I would stop celebrating christmas and go on vacation with just my husband, my sister and brother in law.

For a number of reasons

1. I hate having to run around the fricken province to spend one day with the ILs and then go to spend a day with my family members. By the time is all said and done, H and I have driven 10 hours and we're exhausted and have to go back to work.
2. Christmas is different every year and I am very very attached to my old family christmas traditions. I hate Christmas.

I do not celebrate Easter. Never really was a big deal in my family. We got chocolate, had a nice turkey dinner. That was it.

eastunder1 · June 2010

Calling Christmas "Krismas" might be one of the stupidest things I've seen in a long time. I'v never seen that before. Please tell me its not a common occurance in the world.

BecW2be · June 2010

East said that so much better than I did.

Femlin · June 2010

Like what bec said, I'm pretty sure that most "religious" holidays were originally pagan holidays, or created around the same date so as to overshadow them. My history might be completely wrong, but that's what I always thought happened.

Celles · June 2010

I don't celebrate Easter, but I do celebrate Christmas. I figure I have as much claim to it as any Christian, since it's a stolen holiday anyway.

Edit: Or, y'know. What Bec said. I need to post faster.

jasmineh7777 · June 2010

Yes, the calendars are very similar but the meaning is pretty specifc to the most important Christian events- birth of Christ, ascension of Christ.
I can see why everyone celebrates Christmas (presents!), but I don't see celebrating Easter if you're not religious. (I'm not offended, I just don't see why.)
Easter is the most important Catholic holiday, and for me it means 4 days of religious services.

FutureMrsTR · June 2010

Neither FI nor I attend church, I would call him agnostic and myself a lapsed Baptist. We celebrate holidays inasmuch as we visit our families and spend time with them, but I don't even bother going to church on Christmas and Easter anymore $:\$

crfische · June 2010

Imma start spelling my name Kri$tee.

jasmineh7777 · June 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_atheistagnostic-question-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:dae04e66-42aa-4bf8-b09d-e8fb8df0294dPost:97d21785-9907-46f3-afb6-3d24a7186e97">Re: S/O Atheist/Agnostic Question and Poll</a>:
[QUOTE]Like what bec said, I'm pretty sure that most "religious" holidays were originally pagan holidays, or created around the same date so as to overshadow them. My history might be completely wrong, but that's what I always thought happened.
Posted by Femlin[/QUOTE]

This, yes. They changed the date to compete with the Winter Solstice. Mary and Joseph would not have been traveling in the winter to pay taxes. Although the time of year was changed, the meaning still remains.
The church also made the decision to put 40 days between the start of Lent and Easter. They wanted to watch us squirm for 40 days.

ohwhynot · June 2010

I thought Easter was the takeover of pagan springtime/fertility rituals. Springtime rituals are cool - it's a time to celebrate making through another cold winter, welcome the gathering sun, etc. etc. Not to mention shower your family with candy and ham. What could be more fun?

Now it's a christian holiday, but it hasn't always been.

kikibaby · June 2010

Only Christmas, but not in a religous way.

I celebrate Easter by being grumpy that so many things are closed.

jasmineh7777 · June 2010

The time of year was definitely a conscious decison, but the events and meaning behind it are quite different.

Christianity has adopted quite a bit of paganism though, basically to accomodate and intice people towards monotheism.

eastunder1 · June 2010

I think the term "celebrate" is relative to begin with.

Lets say an agnostic family all comes together every year on Easter to exchange baskets and have a family meal, just because that's what they have always done since the children were tiny. What are they actually "celebrating"? Easter, or the family togetherness that the holiday tradition has afforded them the opportunity to enjoy? But more importantly, what does it matter?

future-mrs · June 2010

We celebrate most of the holidays with family. Some of our family members have their own views of each holiday and why they celebrate it. FI and I celebrate as a time to get together with family because it's so hard any other time with being so busy. But we don't look at any holiday as religious...just a time to get together with friends and family and have a blast with each other.

ETA: east, you said it perfectly. I use the term "celebrate" loosely as well.

BecW2be · June 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_atheistagnostic-question-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:dae04e66-42aa-4bf8-b09d-e8fb8df0294dPost:cb6e5dd6-19cf-4ec0-b8cd-b245fd30bab0">Re: S/O Atheist/Agnostic Question and Poll</a>:
[QUOTE]Yes, the calendars are very similar but the meaning is pretty specifc to the most important Christian events- birth of Christ, ascension of Christ. I can see why everyone celebrates Christmas (presents!), but I don't see celebrating Easter if you're not religious. (I'm not offended, I just don't see why.) Easter is the most important Catholic holiday, and for me it means 4 days of religious services.
Posted by jasmineh7777[/QUOTE]

Actually, the birth of Christ was probably sometime around September, the tax season of Bethlehem during that time. And Passover marks his ascension, but Easter sometimes is not even in the same month as Passover. It's scheduled after Ishter (or maybe Ishtar?) which is a pagan holiday. The Church scheduled their celebrations as the exact same time as the pagan holidays to pull focus away and hijack festivities. It worked. Now agnostics and non-believers are just doing the same thing back. People use their work schedule and the work schedules of family and friends to dictate their holidays now. So thank you, Church, for Good Friday and Christmas Eve. :)

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