Y U CHRISTMAS, HUH?

Nodin

robindch wrote: »

^^^ Somalia, Tadjikistan and Saudi Arabia too:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/23/christmas-banned-somalia-tajikistan-brunei
http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/691766

Somalia is a bit of a surprise, but I might be confusing its demographics with Nigeria as I'm old and doddery. No idea about Tadjikstan. If Saudi did any different, we might suffer collective shock and trauma.

pH

Next time someone is looking for a return to the true meaning of Christmas, ask them when that was!

“Can you in your Conscience think, that our Holy Savior is honoured, by Mad Mirth, by long Eating, by hard Drinking, by lewd Gaming, by rude Revelling; by a Mass fit for none but a Saturn, or a Bacchus, or the Night of a Mahometan Ramadam?”
Cotton Mather 1712

http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/print/cotton.htm

A nice quote from that article, which I think echoes a point I've been making for years - the *true* meaning of Christmas is the eating/drinking and being merry - the Christianity stuff is an add-on that need to be excised.

"The Puritans knew what subsequent generations would forget; that when the Church, more than a millennium earlier, had placed Christmas Day in late December, the decision was part of what amounted to a compromise, and a compromise for which the Church paid a high price. Late-December festivities were deeply rooted in popular culture, both in observance of the winter solstice and in celebration of the one brief period of leisure and plenty in the agricultural year. In return for ensuring massive observance of the anniversary of the Savior's birth by assigning it to this resonant date, the Church for its part tacitly agreed to allow the holiday to be celebrated more or less the way it always had been. From the beginning, the Church's hold over Christmas was (and remains still) rather tenuous. There were always people for whom Christmas was a time of pious devotion rather than carnival, but such people were always in the minority. It may not be going too far to say that Christmas has always been an extremely difficult holiday to Christianize. Little wonder that the Puritans were willing to save themselves the trouble.''
Stephen Nissenbaum, The Battle for Christmas

recedite

pH wrote: »

http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/print/cotton.htm

..the Massachusetts General Court outlawed the celebration of Christmas in 1659, setting a fine of five shillings for violators of its ruling. Christmas remained illegal in Massachusetts until 1681, when the General Court revoked the law under pressure from English authorities.

Ha.. so banning Christmas is actually "as American as Mom and Apple pie".
And turkey is really only for Thanksgiving Day, of course.