Are door wreaths religious?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| We are not a christian family, esp averse of christmas and the culture around it. But in our new home I got a wreath for the door, from trader joes so I can compost it later. DH thinks its too christmasy. Is it? |
Anonymous
| Nah, it’s just winter decor |
Anonymous
|
Lol “averse to Christmas?”
you sound judgmental AF. |
Anonymous
| It’s festive and associated with Christmas, but not religious. I think the origins of the tradition actually come from the pagan religions that preceded Christianity in Europe. |
Anonymous
| Winter solstice is celebrated by most cultures who experience short days and evergreens have been associated with those celebrations for far longer than Christianity has existed. If anything, Jesus’s birth was grafted onto those celebrations |
Anonymous
This is so mean. I grew up in a religious Jewish home and my mother was extremely "averse to Christmas" and drew offense at anything related to Christmas. I was not because she was judgmental. It was because she was forced to practice Christian customs as a child even though she was Jewish. This includes saying daily prayers in public school. There is a long-standing tradition of expecting non-Christians to celebrate the birth of someone else's Lord and Savior and it's offensive. A Christmas-style wreath would never have been displayed in her home. |
Anonymous
|
Only if you put a baby Jesus or Mohammed on it.
Greenery is a seasonal thing, not religious. |
Anonymous
| It has pagan roots, not Christian. |
Anonymous
| This is a religious season. You are free to culturally appropriate our religious holiday as an excuse for consumption or home decor, but it doesn’t change the fact that a Christmas wreath is a Christmas wreath. |
Anonymous
You have that backwards. Christians have co-opted pagan traditions and commercial efforts. |
Anonymous
The only people who believe this are the people on this board who want to feel better about using a religious holiday of a faith they despise to feel a part of something cultural. Because the only culture they have left is ideology. |
Anonymous
|
https://time.com/5482144/christmas-wreath-origins/
Sorry, op. If it makes you feel better to somehow connect your wreath to ancient Athens - by all means. By its Christians who popularized the door wreath. |
Anonymous
Did OP mention “ancient Athens”? |
Anonymous
|
A Christmas wreath on a door has become a symbol that the people who live there are celebrating Christmas. It may have had other meanings in the past, but in the present, in this particular country, that is the meaning.
Kind of like how candles aren't inherently religious, but if you arrange them in a menorah, or an advent wreath, or a Santa Lucia wreath, or on a Birthday cake they become a symbol that people use to show that they are celebrating a specific occasion. So, it's not a religious act, but it communicates a message. If you're averse to Christmas, I don't see why you want want to signal to other people that you are celebrating Christmas. |
Anonymous
Who’s gonna tell her |