Why do Westerns force christmass on others

[jeager106]

I think it's a real stretch to feel Christmas is being forced
upon others by merely saying "Merry Christmas".
I cover bases by saying "happy holidays to you and yours".
This phrase carries no religious undertones.
"Happy holidays and have a great New Year".
What's wrong with that?
We are friends with a Jewish couple and they say "happy holidays"
to others.
I was raised by a Jehovah's Witness mother and they don't celebrate
Christmas either.
Dad wasn't a J.W. so mother let the tree be decorated and presents
bought and such.
No conflict.
Frankly I see Christmas as a National Holiday.
My departed Uncle Wilbur a deacon in a Church celebrated it as
a National, not religious holiday.

 

[jeager106]

Real birthday of Jesus was in the summer

Can you narrow that down a bit?
I know Dec. 25th is way off the mark.

 

[pearl]

But why should someone say to me happy christmass? I dont believe Jesus is divine or that he is part of trinity? Or that he died for our sins?

Its quite possible that neither does the person who offered the wish. Christmas has become a national holiday more than a holyday. That's why its easier just to extend a generic happy holidays.

 

[sun rise]

I know you were not really asking a question in the OP but making a statement, but I have to wonder if you dress in a way that identifies you absolutely as a Muslim? Because then I would not wish you happy Hanukkah or Merry Christmas just as I would not wish someone obviously Jewish "Merry Christmas" But if I were not sure I might.

 

[Revoltingest]

Real birthday of Jesus was in the summer

The timing of Xmas is all about the winter solstice.
Days will start getting noticeably longer soon....woo hoo!

 

[columbus]

Can you narrow that down a bit?
I know Dec. 25th is way off the mark.

Nobody knows. Apparently nobody thought Jesus important until years after His death. The only clues come from the stories in the NT which also include some datable events. Things like The Star, Slaughter of the Innocents, and a census are the sorts of things a historian would expect to find outside evidence for.
But there isn't any.
Tom

 

[sun rise]

The timing of Xmas is all about the winter solstice.
Days will start getting noticeably longer soon....woo hoo!

Since this time of year has the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere and Jesus is noted as the "light of the world", there is symbolic meaning in fixing Jesus' birth in late December when the light starts returning. I suspect without proof this was motivation for his symbolic birthday of 12/25.

 

[Revoltingest]

Since this time of year has the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere and Jesus is noted as the "light of the world", there is symbolic meaning in fixing Jesus' birth in late December when the light starts returning. I suspect without proof this was motivation for his symbolic birthday of 12/25.

Or it could be the coopting of Saturnalia.

 

[Servant_of_the_One1]

Is it a very big deal if western folks in western lands wish people around them to have a merry Christmas? Is it a very big deal if they were to wish you a Merry Christmas?

If this is a big problem for you, then you've got no seriously real worries at all.

May I take this opportunity to wish readers a Merry Christmas, but not you...... OK?

Yes go ahead wish everyone u want merry christmass. Iam not policeman lol

Iam just saying some other communities dont celebrate christmass at all.
For example if i was westerner/christian i would wish merry christmass people who might be considered christian/atheist(atheists celebrate christian holidays yet they disbeliever in god) by their appearances.

 

[Augustus]

Or it could be the coopting of Saturnalia.

25th Dec as a date for Christmas likely predates the adoption of Christianity by the Roman government though. When Christianity became the official religion of Rome under Theodosius in the 4th C is when Christianity started to overtly absorb aspects of paganism.

At the time when they first became interested in trying to identify when Jesus was born, Christians were still being persecuted for their refusal to adapt their traditions to accept pagan practice. They were still distancing themselves from pagans, not coopting their practices at this point.

No source earlier than the 12th C makes this argument either, and we might expect earlier sources to note if the church deliberately moved it from one date to another to absorb pagan practices.

If the dating is Christian, then 25th December is 9 months after 25 March, the Annunciation. Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day, and this was considered to be 25th March in many traditions.

 

[psychoslice]

If I went to an Islamic part of the world, then do I have to put up with their festivals and celebrations ?.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

If you can take offense by people having a positive greeting and intentions, then I pity you for how miserable your self-involved and small-minded pessimism and cynicism must make you.

As an interesting corollary, I've found that most people who expect to be acknowledged for and catered to their differentness as a minority, are also the same people who wouldn't think about it twice when the situation is reversed.

Regardless, if you find offense at a greeting of "merry Christmas" in a society where Christmas is a major holiday and a cultural representation of connection and positivity, then I suspect your capacity for offense eclipses any capacity for understanding.

I don't know crap about most religion's holidays, but, even in the US, if somebody is positive about their celebrations, I appreciate and respect their willingness to share it. If I was in a foreign country and culture, I would be even more so. Anything less would be so rude and disrespectful that I wouldn't even be there in the first place if I thought so little of the place and culture. To expect a culture that I'm the outsider in to cater to me implies a level of arrogance that I would never even consider.

 

[Sakeenah]

For example they know u are muslim or buddhist or whatever and still they tell u: merry christmass.
Well i dont want to be the badguy so i just say: happy days to u.
I avoid mentioning christmass.


Imagine i say to non-muslim: happy eid day(eid mubarak).

He must be like: what the hell man, iam not muslim.

Asalamu alaikum,

How did they force christmas on you??

You live in a western country..majority are non muslims and christmas is a national holiday so they might think you celebrate christmas or it's their way of saying happy holidays.It's not like they kidnapped you and force-fed you a christmas meal. If this is really bothering you can simply explain you don't celebrate christmas but hope they have a nice holiday.

I live in a muslim country and Eid is a national holiday here. We wish non muslims a nice holiday and they'll say happy Eid. At the end of the day it shows that two people from different religions can be kind to each other.

 

[Nyingjé Tso]

Vanakkam

I wish Eid mubarak to my muslim friends and muslims wish me eid mubarak every year.
I don't take that as forcing ramadan on me...

Here Christmas is cultural. The very word for Christmas doesn't even have "christ" in it.
It's a happy wish, not an invitation to convert.

Am hindu, don't believe in Jésus, but Christmas is the time where all the whole family eat together. The only time of the year. There is no prayers or Jésus.

Joyeux Noël

 

[Godobeyer]

I have no problem to salute Christians or Jews or any other religion by. their own religious salutation. as kind of respect.

btw many non-Muslims made salutation to Muslims in Eids, I find it lovely .

 

[Laika]

For example they know u are muslim or buddhist or whatever and still they tell u: merry christmass.
Well i dont want to be the badguy so i just say: happy days to u.
I avoid mentioning christmass.


Imagine i say to non-muslim: happy eid day(eid mubarak).

He must be like: what the hell man, iam not muslim.

Happy days to U servant of the one1!

 

[Servant_of_the_One1]

If I went to an Islamic part of the world, then do I have to put up with their festivals and celebrations ?.

No u dont have to


U are free to celebrate christmass

 

[Revoltingest]

I'm in a forcing mood today.

May your pole be genuine 6061-T6 aluminum alloy!

 

[Scuba Pete]

Imagine i say to non-muslim: happy eid day(eid mubarak).

I love to be reminded of others' holy days. I went to an office Christmas party, where two Jews wore Happy Hanukkah shirts. I made a point to tell them Happy Hanukkah and they replied "Murray Christmas". That's my last name and my SO bought us matching red/green shirts with a picture of Bill Murray and that saying on it. I don't have a problem with people believing differently than myself.

 

[Augustus]

No u dont have to

In many places there are legal and/or social pressures to conform with fasting during Ramadan.

Close your food business, don't eat or drink at work, don't eat or drink in public. Some people are even literally forced to join in the fasting, even though they are not Muslims.

In most cases though when they are not forced, non-Muslims tend to be respectful and understanding. Many even join in fasts out of solidarity with their friends.

It's really not very difficult to be tolerant of diversity.