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Would you ban Christmas

Deleted User

if you could?

A deliberately controversial title Blush

How many people welcome Christmas with open arms, I wonder?

It's purportedly a Christian festival based upon a pagan one.

However, in the UK today (a secular society) and a lot of the West, the God being worshipped appears to be money.

When I was a child we were working class.

In those days (60s/70s) goods were far more expensive as the mass manufacturing we see today of cheap imported goods didn't happen.

Borrowing money from banks etc was far more difficult than it is today.

We didn't have much and didn't get much for Christmas.

Also, my mother became cyclically depressed every Christmas and because of all the arguments and misery during my childhood Christmases, I get depressed too.

There are other causes of the depression - bereavement, most of my life spent in deep anxiety about how I was going to pay for presents and spending time in mass gatherings I hated.

I went shopping today and the shops are mad, completely mad with people rushing around buying stuff that the recipients may not even want.

This is what Mind says:

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/christmas-and-mental-health/christmas-and-mental-health/

What do you think?

Does it cause more misery than happiness?

Parents

  • I think it's a wheel some (most) would prefer to get off but it's going too fast to stop. I think I live in too much of my own bubble to comment further. Unless you'd like a wall of text.

    Maybe we all find our own meaning within it, whether we are religious or not, materially orientated or not.

  • in reply to Deleted User
    Unknown said:
    Maybe we all find our own meaning within it, whether we are religious or not, materially orientated or not.

    Nope.

    I dread it each year and love January.

    A wall of text would be most welcome.

  • in reply to Deleted User

    Interestingly this year, rather than rolling my eyes at everyone's lights which seem to have gone up extremely early, I have found myself thinking it's nice people are wanting to brighten up their homes and street etc. This isn't then specifically about Christmas,  more, the time of year in general. 

    I have to consider what I say. I am aware Christmas can be a difficult time for quite a lot of people for a variety of reasons. I think this is also what I meant by "meaning". It isn't always necessarily positive. 

  • in reply to Deleted User

    I'm not so sure of that. I think it is a deeply instinctive thing to want for a festival at the darkest, and therefore to some, the most miserable time of the year. All the extra lighting is to counter the lack of sunlight, and the desire to see longer days in the spring again. Possibly too, it is a good time to fatten up on the harvest reserves, in preparation for the coldest part of winter. 

    Nowadays many people are less thrilled about the extra pounds accrued from all the feasting and merriment. 

  • in reply to Deleted User
    Unknown said:
    However this isn't something we do in the modern world. With artificial lighting and everything on tap, we just carry on as usual. We are missing some of the natural flux.

    We are indeed.

    The ancient peoples were much more in touch with the natural world than us.

  • in reply to Deleted User

    I actuslly like the hibernation aspect of this time of year. I feel we should be naturally winding down as the nights get darker etc and connecting with that side of life before Spring.....springs. However this isn't something we do in the modern world. With artificial lighting and everything on tap, we just carry on as usual. We are missing some of the natural flux.

Reply
  • in reply to Deleted User

    I actuslly like the hibernation aspect of this time of year. I feel we should be naturally winding down as the nights get darker etc and connecting with that side of life before Spring.....springs. However this isn't something we do in the modern world. With artificial lighting and everything on tap, we just carry on as usual. We are missing some of the natural flux.

Children
  • in reply to Deleted User

    I'm not so sure of that. I think it is a deeply instinctive thing to want for a festival at the darkest, and therefore to some, the most miserable time of the year. All the extra lighting is to counter the lack of sunlight, and the desire to see longer days in the spring again. Possibly too, it is a good time to fatten up on the harvest reserves, in preparation for the coldest part of winter. 

    Nowadays many people are less thrilled about the extra pounds accrued from all the feasting and merriment. 

  • in reply to Deleted User
    Unknown said:
    However this isn't something we do in the modern world. With artificial lighting and everything on tap, we just carry on as usual. We are missing some of the natural flux.

    We are indeed.

    The ancient peoples were much more in touch with the natural world than us.