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Post by Galactus on Dec 20, 2005 22:42:47 GMT -5
I hear about constantly and am sort of surprised it hasn't really come up around here...maybe it has and I missed it...
My feeling on the matter is that in Gov. and public arenas it's "Holidays" and whatever the hell you want it to be in your own home. I don't celebrate Christmas at Target and if you do you're missing the point.
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Post by rockysigman on Dec 20, 2005 22:44:12 GMT -5
It's come up several times on a bunch of these boards, just not in the CE section for some reason. I think the general consensus seems to be that there's a whole lot being made of nothing and that its kind of a ridiculous debate.
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Post by phil on Dec 20, 2005 22:58:09 GMT -5
I don't want anybody wishing me Happy Anything ...
I claim the right to be sad and morose anytime I want !!
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Post by riley on Dec 21, 2005 5:08:40 GMT -5
lol
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Post by kmc on Dec 21, 2005 7:47:33 GMT -5
This was created by the right to galvanize the base and further separate Americans. Noone gives a shit.
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Post by maarts on Dec 21, 2005 7:59:12 GMT -5
I don't want anybody wishing me Happy Anything ... I claim the right to be sad and morose anytime I want !! Well, that's one more address I can cross off my Christmas card-list...  |
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Post by phil on Dec 21, 2005 8:04:37 GMT -5
LoL ... !!
HÉ ! I never said anything about being MERRY !!
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Post by shin on Dec 21, 2005 8:10:20 GMT -5
Yeah! Get with the program, Weinberg!
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Post by luke on Dec 21, 2005 9:08:30 GMT -5
I tell people Happy Holidays when I'm wishing them a happy holidays. On Thanksgiving Day, though, it's Happy Thanksgiving. When I'm working the retail job and I sell some people a camera and have to print them out a gift receipt, it's Merry Christmas. And when it's New Years Day, I eat a bottle of Ibuprofen, vomit all over my house, wonder how the fuck I got home the night before, and try to muster up the energy to wish call my mom and wish her a Happy Birthday.
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Post by chrisfan on Dec 21, 2005 9:09:18 GMT -5
I think there are a few different issues rolled up into this one. I think wishing someone a happy holiday is fine. That's all about what you wish to say - wish me a happy holiday season, a merry Christmas or a happy Hanukkah, I'll be thankful regardless because it's a friendly greeting. When I was working in retail, I'd say happy holidays unless the customer I was talking to had some way of giving me a definite hint as to what holidays they celebrated (the women who were decked from head to toe in Santa crap got a Merry Christmas from me)
When it gets into symbols of the specific individual holidays, I think it's another matter. There's only one holiday at the end of December which makes a tree significant, so it's a Christmas tree, not a holiday tree. It's a menorah, not a holiday candelabra. When I was growing up, my Jewish friends didn't teach me holiday top, they taught me how to play with a dradel (sp?). I think it's very very silly to try to pretend that the specific holidays must be meshed into one in the name of political correctness, but at the same time, I'm not offended when the overall season is all meshed together.
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Post by rockysigman on Dec 21, 2005 21:57:29 GMT -5
That's fair. I'm certainly not offended by places using the term "holiday tree" or anything, but I definately agree that its incredibly stupid. Some things are just so dumb that its a waste of energy to be offended by it though. Not that you necessarily said you were offended, you just pointed out that it's a different matter than simply saying "Happy Holidays", which I guess I agree on. Basically it all comes down to this though, and I think we all probably agree on this: the whole big cultural war that is being played out in the media right now over Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays is basically a bunch of bullshit, and only those who are either the most sensitive or the most easily manipulated are getting worked up about the issue one way or the other.
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Post by phil on Dec 22, 2005 11:30:00 GMT -5
The problem is more with people objecting to
religious symbols being displayed on public properties
and people objecting to not being able to display
religious symbols on the same public properties ...
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Post by phil on Dec 22, 2005 13:05:37 GMT -5
CHRISTMAS TREE TRADITION HAS ANCIENT ORIGINS
King Tut never saw a Christmas tree, but he would have understood the tradition which traces back long before the first Christmas, says David Robson, Extension Educator, Horticulture with the Springfield Extension Center.
The Egyptians were part of a long line of cultures that treasured and worshipped evergreens. When the winter solstice arrive, they brought green date palm leaves into their homes to symbolize life's triumph over death.
The Romans celebrated the winter solstice with a fest called Saturnalia in honor of Saturnus, the god of agriculture. They decorated their houses with greens and lights and exchanged gifts. They gave coins for prosperity, pastries for happiness, and lamps to light one's journey through life.
Centuries ago in Great Britain, woods priests called Druids used evergreens during mysterious winter solstice rituals. The Druids used holly and mistletoe as symbols of eternal life, and place evergreen branches over doors to keep away evil spirits.
Late in the Middle Ages, Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreen trees inside their homes or just outside their doors to show their hope in the forthcoming spring. Our modern Christmas tree evolved from these early traditions.
Legend has it that Martin Luther began the tradition of decorating trees to celebrate Christmas. One crisp Christmas Eve, about the year 1500, he was walking through snow-covered woods and was struck by the beauty of a group of small evergreens. Their branches, dusted with snow, shimmered in the moonlight. When he got home, he set up a little fir tree indoors so he could share this story with his children. He decorated it with candles, which he lighted in honor of Christ's birth.
The Christmas tree tradition most likely came to the United States with Hessian troops during the American Revolution, or with German immigrants to Pennsylvania and Ohio, adds Robson.
But the custom spread slowly. The Puritans banned Christmas in New England. Even as late as 1851, a Cleveland minister nearly lost his job because he allowed a tree in his church. Schools in Boston stayed open on Christmas Day through 1870, and sometimes expelled students who stayed home.
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The fir tree has a long association with Christianity, it began in Germany almost a 1000 years ago when St Boniface, who converted the German people to Christianity, was said to have come across a group of pagans worshipping an oak tree. In anger, St Boniface is said to have cut down the oak tree and to his amazement a young fir tree sprung up from the roots of the oak tree. St Boniface took this as a sign of the Christian faith. But it was not until the 16th century that fir trees were brought indoors at Christmas time.
Bony was no ecologist !!
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Post by Nepenthe on Dec 22, 2005 15:37:29 GMT -5
Also the Cedars of Lebanon are referenced in the old testament. It is a symbol for God's people.
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Post by Nepenthe on Dec 22, 2005 15:55:41 GMT -5
The part about the Druids reminded me of a book I am ordering. What many people do not realize is that Christianity, as a Church, was born in England before anywhere else. England was a professed Christian country one hundred years before Rome and, in fact, when Rome was still persecuting Christians.   |
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