The Holiday Season
What holiday should one celebrate at this time of year? The answer is easy if you're religious. Simply celebrate the holiday of your chosen religion. Hanukkah (which has passed now) if you're Jewish, Christmas if you're Christian (and no, I don't want to hear that "Christmas is pagan" crap), or Yule, Saturnalia, or the Winter Solstice if you're a pagan reconstructionalist (or other neo-Pagan).
But what if you aren't religious? What holidays are available to the non-religious? One option is to celebrate the holiday your religious family members celebrate. Christmas if you're related to Christians, Hanukkah if you have Jewish relatives, etc. Christmas can also be an option if you want to argue that Christmas has been secularized and no longer belongs strictly to Christians.
If you're like me, you don't want to celebrate a holiday solely because you have relatives that celebrate it. You may also not want to argue that Christmas is secular just so you can have an excuse to celebrate someone else's holiday. Well, if that's the kind of person you are, there are only a few holidays left. The more well-known ones are HumanLight and the Winter Solstice.
HumanLight is celebrated on December 23rd and celebrates human inventiveness, reason, and discovery. It's celebrating hope for humankind. Mostly it's a holiday for secular humanists and other non-religious types (though not all humanists celebrate it). It's a very good cause for celebration, mind you, but there's just one drawback-- it's a completely arbitrary date.
The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year and usually lands on December 21st (although this year it's the 22nd-- today). There are a multitude of reasons a neo-Pagan might celebrate this day, but if you aren't religious, you're only left with one rather arbitrary reason: it's the shortest day of the year. It feels more like an excuse to celebrate rather than a reason to celebrate.
I should mention Festivus, whose very reason for celebration is its own arbitrariness. As the saying goes, "A Festivus for the rest of us!" It started from an episode of Seinfeld and has actually grown quite popular as an alternative to Christmas (which it doesn't pretend not to be). At least it makes no effort to hide what it is.
Well there you have it. Choose one, or none, as you will. Happy holidays (or not).
But what if you aren't religious? What holidays are available to the non-religious? One option is to celebrate the holiday your religious family members celebrate. Christmas if you're related to Christians, Hanukkah if you have Jewish relatives, etc. Christmas can also be an option if you want to argue that Christmas has been secularized and no longer belongs strictly to Christians.
If you're like me, you don't want to celebrate a holiday solely because you have relatives that celebrate it. You may also not want to argue that Christmas is secular just so you can have an excuse to celebrate someone else's holiday. Well, if that's the kind of person you are, there are only a few holidays left. The more well-known ones are HumanLight and the Winter Solstice.
HumanLight is celebrated on December 23rd and celebrates human inventiveness, reason, and discovery. It's celebrating hope for humankind. Mostly it's a holiday for secular humanists and other non-religious types (though not all humanists celebrate it). It's a very good cause for celebration, mind you, but there's just one drawback-- it's a completely arbitrary date.
The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year and usually lands on December 21st (although this year it's the 22nd-- today). There are a multitude of reasons a neo-Pagan might celebrate this day, but if you aren't religious, you're only left with one rather arbitrary reason: it's the shortest day of the year. It feels more like an excuse to celebrate rather than a reason to celebrate.
I should mention Festivus, whose very reason for celebration is its own arbitrariness. As the saying goes, "A Festivus for the rest of us!" It started from an episode of Seinfeld and has actually grown quite popular as an alternative to Christmas (which it doesn't pretend not to be). At least it makes no effort to hide what it is.
Well there you have it. Choose one, or none, as you will. Happy holidays (or not).
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Labels: christmas, festivus, hannukkah, holiday, humanlight, winter solstice
posted by squarecircle at
10:06 PM
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