Why do you celebrate Xmas?

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Why do you celebrate Xmas or what does it mean to you? Especially if you are not religious?

I'm an atheist but I see it as a cultural celebration - didn't a midwinter celebration exist in Pagan times? It's about family and fun at a time of year that is really bloody bleak and dark.

I’m not religious.

Christmas is an ancient mid-winter tradition that has nothing to do with Christianity. The exchanging of presents with loved ones and the date of 25 Dec come from the Roman festival of Saturnalia, for example. The tradition of Santa Claus originates in the ancient Norse idea of Odin’s ‘wild hunt’ across the sky. Remains at Stone Henge show that people gathered there at mid-Winter for a big hunt, feast, and piss up, thousands of years before the Jesus story was invented.

Mid-Winter needs a celebration to brighten up the long cold slog towards Spring. It’s a primal thing when resources are scarce to get together with loved ones and eat til we’re stuffed and remind ourselves that we are beating winter.

It used to be that 25 December was the shortest day of the year after which days get lighter: of course it’s the biggest celebration of the year! What a beautiful thing to celebrate: the return of light.

Does annoy me when Christians try to make it all about ‘baby Jesus’ 😂

Ha ha yes I agree the shops are a nightmare! I mainly shop online now so can happily ignore all that. And yes I agree that no one needs a two month build up. Ridiculous. I won’t really think about it until at least December 1st.

Re cosy, I’m totally a Summer person too. I get sad as the nights draw in but I’ve started to embrace winter recently rather than fight it. It’s part of life here in the uk. I’m starting to accept it’s a time to slow down and hibernate.

Yes Yule aka the winter solstice.

Mankind has always run in changes through the year with celebrations. We feel the need to get together and socialise and celebrate.

these feast times have been used throughout history and essentially just been rebranded by whoever’s in charge.

I’m human, I feel the need to celebrate, have fun and socialise. Having a day where everyone does the same adds to that feeling of community and bing a part of something

For the day itself - social/family conditioning. I did it because of my parents when I was younger and now do it for our DC.

I grew up with big family Christmases which my own children grew up in to as well. They have loved them while me and DH are introverts and have always struggled with them. I have been through a lot of therapy in the intervening years and realised Christmas is a huge symbol of most of the dysfunction in my family relationships. I can't quite untangle it. I am looking forward to the point when our DC go off and no longer want to be part of the big (extended) family Christmas.

The broader season I love - bringing the outdoors in through a tree and foliage, twinkly lights and decorations - it's a joyful celebration of light, nature and colour in the depths of winter.

I don't. I respect the Christian tradition, but the rest of it is just nonsense. I particularly dislike the "we must play happy families" tyranny.
The best bit about Christmas is that the shortest day is already behind us, and then we can hit January with a sense of relief.

We celebrate it in the pagan sense I guess. Can't imagine getting through November to Feb without something to look forward to.

I was raised Catholic, though I'm now an atheist, so it's sort of ground into me; but tbh I keep celebrating because I still love it. The decorations, the food, the gifts. It's a time of warmth and generosity and affection; for us, anyway, I realise not everyone is so fortunate.

We have built up our own traditions over the years that we all look forward to, and that make us all happy. Why would I deny us something that brings us all such joy?

Because it’s fun to get and give presents and Christmas dinner is delicious even if we usually have a tastier meat than Turkey.

Family time
Kids excitement
Gifts
Food
Drink
Christmas songs
Tree, lights and decorations
Santa
Parties
Time off work
Christmas markets
Carol concerts
The overall magic of it all

It has nothing to do with religion for me.

Because I love it.

Decorating a tree.
Special food.
Excited children
Santa
Christmas parties
The songs
Santa
Christmas markets

Some people will always argue that it's all pointless, waste of time, tat.

You could well say that about a lot of things.

I am Wiccan. I celebrate it because it's close to the solstice, which I'd celebrate anyway (it's a 2 week festival), I live within societal norms, my child goes to faith school and is Christian and, if nothing else, I love the lights, warmth, music and foods that are usually associated with Christmas.

I nearly always go to a particular stone circle that is oriented to the solstice sunset on the 21st. Not Wiccan or pagan, but it feels special to be somewhere that people from around here 3000 years ago marked as significant.

I don't really 'celebrate'. It is just an opportunity when everyone is off to all get together.
I like the sitting in a circle everyone opening presents. I like the fried breakfast. That's about it. Don't like Xmas dinner or going out for drinks.

I love Christmas. I was brought up Christian but am no longer religious. I love everything about the season. Spending time with friends and family. Making treats for the people we love. The lights, the food, the atmosphere, and community spirit.

Op why do you or don't you celebrate?

It's the darkest point of the year, it's wonderful to mark this with hope, lights and doing something fun.

The story of Mary and jesus is the perfect antidote to the excess around Christmas whether you believe in God or not.

Father Christmas, oranges, cinnamon, songs it's a brilliant collective thing we all do. It's quirky, exciting and in life where tragedy after tragedy occurs its nice to do something happy.

We pay lip service to it as we really have no choice. There is no escaping it. I endure it.

Once my parents pass on then we won't even do that. I'll be heading somewhere warm and sunny where Christmas is not the ridiculous overblown thing it has become in the UK.

We do celebrate the Solstice with greenery, a nice meal and we leave a candle burning over the longest night. No presents, no crass commercialisation -just people we enjoy spending time with.

I’m not Christian, and I grew up in a country where New Year’s is celebrated in the way Christmas is in the west. I celebrate it now on the 25th because I currently live in, and in future will live in, a country where that’s the date of the main winter holiday. I do it because I enjoy it.

For me it's a winter festival. I combine, Yule, Midwinter/Solstice and parts of Saturnalia. It was originally about feasting/partying and giving thanks/reflection. Presents were thrown in. We don't do adult presents. But we do the eating and drinking and meeting up. We do Christmas days out/events.

Not religious, but I love winter, love the nostalgia of Christmas, and absolutely adore everything Christmassy - the chintzier the better! I love Christmas food, the cold, the atmosphere, the films, the music, the special outfit, cooking Xmas dinner, decorations, TV. I just love it all and want to put my tree up NOW!

I like the fun, the festival nicely breaks up the cold, dark winter. I like the cheery lights and decorations, the food and drink, spending time with family. Life is boring. Winter is depressing. It's nice to inject a bit of fun into it.

Imo Britain is a pagan country wearing a Christian mask and many of us are participating in the mid winter festival rather than celebrating Jesus's birth. We may call it Christmas but we celebrate Yule.

Buck’s Fizz at 8am. 😉

I don't.

Because its part of my culture.

I'm agnostic but was brought up as C of E and love the music and traditions of Christmas. I'm in choirs and do a lot of singing around Christmas, some for charity and some at open-air events.

If we didn't have Christmas in the cold dark months we'd have to invent something else, and for me, Christmas is a very special time, full of bittersweet memories of childhood Christmases, and thoughts of people who I used to celebrate it with, but who are now gone. I like to think of them sitting around the fire with us on Christmas night.

The silly comments on some threads recently that a) Christmas is for children and b) it's meaningless if you're not a practising Christian are very simple-minded.

If you need to understand the cultural and spiritual significance of churches, religion etc to the non-believer, I refer you to Philip Larkin's poem 'Church Visiting'.