Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

OP, just curious. Are you of another faith besides Christianity?

Hi, we are practicing Sunni Muslims

In that case, it sounds like you are trying to avoid anything Christian in appearance, and might want to avoid the wreath at Christmas time. Any other time of year it's just decor, but at Christmas time it definitely will look like a Christmas thing, especially on a door.

Anonymous wrote:I see this time of year as a part of American culture. Yes, it’s celebrated in other countries but even other countries celebrate differently than most Americans.

American culture Christmas to me is:
Santa
Presents on Christmas morning
Milk and cookies on Christmas Eve
Presents and obnoxious amounts of shopping
Lights and decor
Holiday themed events like the Ice show at the Gaylord or Zoolights.
Time to unwind because work life, sports life, school life slows down.
Cookies of all varieties
Ugly sweater contests
Secret Santa parties
Cookie exchanges

These are all very much part of American culture irrespective of religion. Not everyone does all of them but most of these things are done by most people and they have nothing to do with Jesus.

These things are not done by most Jews or Muslims. This is the majority privilege I mentioned earlier, where people airily assert that these are just American traditions, not Christian ones. Tons of these traditions came over from Europe--they are culturally Christian traditions, even if not overtly religious.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

You have that backwards. Christians have co-opted pagan traditions and commercial efforts.

This is rich, seeing as how Christians "culturally appropriated" the Jewish religion and called it their own!

I guess they like to “appropriate” many things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

OP, just curious. Are you of another faith besides Christianity?

Hi, we are practicing Sunni Muslims

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never understood the "Christmas traditions are actually pagan" argument. That just means you're culturally appropriating pagan traditions.

It's not an argument, it's a statement of fact.

Ok, the fact is that you are engaging in someone else's religious tradition. Unless you're pagan, how is that less offensive?

You're either a troll or you don't understand what appropriation is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never understood the "Christmas traditions are actually pagan" argument. That just means you're culturally appropriating pagan traditions.

It's not an argument, it's a statement of fact.

Ok, the fact is that you are engaging in someone else's religious tradition. Unless you're pagan, how is that less offensive?

Growing up In my black southern Christian family, a simple evergreen wreath on the door symbolized a death in the family. You could pass a house in august and if there is a wreath on the door, the first thought would be “someone there passed away”. Even the funeral Homes would deliver a wreath to the family home as a part of their services.

I looked this up years later and read that the door wreath for Xmas was faith-based and symbolized Christ’s death. There are thoughts too that attempt to associate the tree and gifts and decorations to Christ too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol “averse to Christmas?”

you sound judgmental AF.

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.

So why would you buy a wreath? What a strange post.

This post was not OP. It was me, and I didn't way whether or not I had a wreath at all.

So why are you weighing in or wreaths? Still a strange post - to assert offense where none has been had

I see this time of year as a part of American culture. Yes, it’s celebrated in other countries but even other countries celebrate differently than most Americans.

American culture Christmas to me is:
Santa
Presents on Christmas morning
Milk and cookies on Christmas Eve
Presents and obnoxious amounts of shopping
Lights and decor
Holiday themed events like the Ice show at the Gaylord or Zoolights.
Time to unwind because work life, sports life, school life slows down.
Cookies of all varieties
Ugly sweater contests
Secret Santa parties
Cookie exchanges

These are all very much part of American culture irrespective of religion. Not everyone does all of them but most of these things are done by most people and they have nothing to do with Jesus.

No, it's decoration and not particularly religious unless you make it religious themed. You can decorate for Christmas, for Yule for Kwanza,.for Hanukkah or just because you like wreaths.

I have a wreath for every season, not just winter.

Anonymous wrote:I've never understood the "Christmas traditions are actually pagan" argument. That just means you're culturally appropriating pagan traditions.

It's not an argument, it's a statement of fact.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol “averse to Christmas?”

you sound judgmental AF.

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.

Well, who forced her to do that? Her family? Don’t lay that on the rest of us. And as we all know, schools don’t do that anymore. It’s the 21st century last I checked.

To be “averse to Christianity” is bigoted.

I'm not that poster, but I am also Jewish and grew up in a Christian place and was forced to participate. It was just the norm in the rural area where I was. The school had manger scenes and said prayers at assemblies, and there was required "religious instruction" after school, that actually started before school ended. The school even paid for a bus to take the kids home afterward. You could skip it, technically, but the bullying would have been bad. But unlike the PP, this didn't make me "Christmas averse." On the contrary, Christmas feels like "my" holiday. Our family celebrated all of the usual holidays that apparently some people consider Christian, because that was what you did in our town, and I enjoyed it. I still love Christmas and even Easter. I understood that we were not Christian, but we made the distinction between the religious part of the holiday and the fun parts. In fact, even the priest in town made the distinction, often admonishing people for doing gifts, candy, even Christmas trees, which he said were not really true Christian traditions and had nothing to do with Christ. So it makes me angry to see someone tell me that this is not my holiday because I'm not a Christian - I can assure that it is mine too. I can celebrate it just fine without doing or thinking anything especially Christian. So while I understand the PP's aversion, it also ticks me off that he or she seems to be criticizing my own participation.

Anonymous wrote:I've never understood the "Christmas traditions are actually pagan" argument. That just means you're culturally appropriating pagan traditions.

If you engaging in cultural appropriation, you are denying the origins of something. When Christians say this is pagan stuff we took on, they are doing the opposite.

It's not Christmas-y unless it has Christmas stuff on it. I've seen all kinds of wreaths at craft shows, year-round, with every possible theme. It's just decor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Who’s gonna tell her

LOL not another Santa thread....