I have to ask though, given America is a multicultural country: how come we don’t see celebrations on HN of the other two Abrahamic religions? I mean they have their own religious holidays and celebrations, and one actually coincides with Xmas this year.
Christmas is much more widely celebrated. Pretty much everyone in my family is atheist and we've always celebrated it. I'm in China right now and many of my Chinese friends are doing something for Christmas and wishing me "Merry Christmas", despite none of them being Christian. There are Christmas trees and decorations everywhere. It has become more of a cultural celebration than a religious one for many people around the world.
Christmas is not about Jesus at all, it's the American red-and-green snowy holiday with family, Santa, gifts and drinking. It's not perceived as a religious holiday by most of us. If you want those other threads, then perhaps you should personally create them. I'm sure nobody here will be upset with that.
As an aside, the letter X a literal form of Jesus's name.
It's not perceived as a religious holiday by most of us - of course not when majority of them are christians. For rest of us its a religious holiday. by not acknowledging it as religious event, you are just ignoring people of other faiths.
There’s still a lot more Christian than Muslim or Jewish people in the USA/YC-prone countries, as well as people that celebrate it in some way for cultural reasons. So, demographics and it isn’t actually about religion at all for a lot of people.
Yep, exactly. Very few of my friends are religious at all, but we all celebrate Christmas. Not as a religious holiday, but as a time that by tradition we spend time and share gifts and love with friends and family.
This is the beautiful thing about Christmas. It’s a buildup of hundreds of years of traditions if you trace it back to Saturnalia. It’s a mix of ancient and modern customs, folklore from many cultures, and infinite family or personal traditions. The Christian angle is certainly there, but you can leave it out entirely and still have a full experience.
Christianity is uniquely welcoming in a way that neither Islam nor Judaism are. Judaism is exclusive and you're not invited. Islam is more similiar to Christianity but in many ways mutually exclusive with it, so again not really inviting for us in the western hemisphere with a Christian background.
In any case it is not up to people with a Christian background to decide to get their noses in the traditions of other cultures. That would be culturally insensitive. You should have posed this question to the Muslims and the Jews of America.
That's not strictly true. I suspect those that follow Orthodox and Ultra Orthodox Judaism are exclusive. However, those that follow Reform Judaism and the Conservative Movement support conversion to Judaism, so you are invited.
I have to ask though, given America is a multicultural country: how come we don’t see celebrations on HN of the other two Abrahamic religions? I mean they have their own religious holidays and celebrations, and one actually coincides with Xmas this year.
Why the waspy vibe on HN?