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Monday, December 25, 2006
Dare I say... Merry Christmas!
By Tom Ball: Happy Hanukkah!Happy Kwanza!Happy Winter Solstice! Let's be clear. It's okay to say any one of these AND exclude the others if you wish... It drives me nuts (and I'm probably not the only one) when some people get soooooo uptight about various seasons greetings. They think that being culturally sensitive means being culturally neutral. That is NOT true. Instead, the way to cultural sensitivity is through cultural acceptance. That means that we embrace different cultures and revel in the brilliance of diversity they offer. It does not mean that we ignore those differences and treat others as though their cultural make-up is some ambiguous hodge-podge of innocuous thoughts worthy only of the most generic well-wishing. Nor does it mean that we should be fearful of expressing the joys of our own preferred celebration.Labels: Christmas, hanukkah, kwanza
How Religious-based is your Christmas?
By stormbear: The Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianization of the ancient Pagan idea that the evergreen tree represents a celebration of the renewal of life. In actuality, when the Roman Empire was converted en masse to Christianity, many cultures did not give up their Pagan ideals and traditions and so they were incorporated into the Christmas tradition... When the first missionaries began converting the Germanic peoples to Christianity, they found it convenient to provide a Christian reinterpretation for popular feasts such as Yule... versus trying to confront and suppress them.Labels: Christianity, Christmas, yule
Christmas in Iraq
By VictorM: Wondering how Christians in Iraq may be celebrating Christmas, I found this, via Juan Cole: "The Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad appeared almost deserted on Christmas Eve. Christian celebrations of Christmas were limited to private homes. Iraqi Christians had announced last week that they would suspend official celebration, out of solidarity with the tragedy of the Iraqi people." Iraqi Christians, who had enjoyed relative freedom under the regime of Saddam Hussein, now face fear of attacks by powerful Islamic groups or Shiite militias. Few are making any use of the Christmas lights and decorations of yesteryear.
