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Anonymous
Anonymous asked in Society & CultureHolidaysChristmas · 1 decade ago

Putting a ban on Christmas?

what do you think of this?

Update:

Banning Christmas

It is a special time of year. Everyone is looking forward to the days ahead. Bright lights decorate the exterior which contrast the thick smoke the chimney brings. Many houses smell like pine or maple trees mixed with left-over turkey and stuffing from the Thanksgiving meal. The parking lots of all stores are full. The streets and roads are filled with white. Wal-Mart is lowering their prices even more then they were originally. People rush to be the first to get the latest new toy. The endless loops of holiday movies are shown. The anticipation of December 25th is what I am referring too, “The Holiday Season”, “Christmas Time”, “Festivus”. This time of giving and sharing is an example of how kind-hearted the human race can be. And what is the reason, we do this every year; well, to gratify the children and see their smile on Christmas morning. On second thought, this is not a time for giving and sharing; instead, this is a time where depression is on the rise. Littl

Update 2:

Little kids are lied to in order to get them to behave well. Human materialism becomes even more evident. Also no one can universally agree on what we should call this time of year and reason we celebrate this period. These facts are why I have come up with a controversial solution to end Christmas.

Update 3:

Many people believe around the Christmas holiday there is a spike in the suicide rate. This is in fact not true. In a study analyzed about 3 years ago of 188,000 suicides in the Untied States, it was found that there were on average 102 less suicides on holidays compared to other days of the year, and with the focus on Christmas, there is an apparent drop in these deaths. Even though there are less suicides around this season, the depression rate seem much worse with many people sleeping and eating irregularly while trying to juggle the everyday hassle of work, an increase in social obligations and parties, shopping, decorating, wrapping, entertaining and staying on budget. "Over eating and over drinking combined with a decreased amount of sleep is also a formula for extreme emotional swings - feelings of elation followed twelve hours later by a transient drop in mood," Dr. Michael Spevack from MUHC psychologist explains. The extreme pressure to impress love with gifts can take a neg

Update 4:

This can cause many to go spend more money then they can afford, only building to the stress. As the year comes to its end, this period is also a time of reflection. Around this time, many look back and see the losses that may have happened throughout the year. This may include the loss of a family member or loved one be it through separation, divorce or death, or the loss of a job or position, or even the loss of familiar social environment as in recently moving away from home. Being around various friends and family members can heighten the tension and increase conflict, adding to the already depressing and stressful time. We as human have learned to deal with a lot of this stresses at an early age.

Update 5:

Almost as soon as we are born, we are indoctrinated to believe in a mythical being that fly around the world with eight or nine reindeers in one night, lives on the North Pole and goes by the name Santa Clause. Santa Clause also known as Saint Nicholas was a noble figure in early American history. The early Vikings dedicated their cathedral to him once they settled in Greenland. Many other places were named after Saint Nicholas in the Central American region, and he was even given a day on December sixth 1492 after Columbus names a port after him. Years later by the sixteenth century, during the Protestant reformation, saints were given a dimmer view. After the American Revolution, many left there colonial roots behind then. In January 1809, Washington Irving joined the Historical Society.

Update 6:

This is a society that promoted Saint Nicholas as a saint; which is a special protector of a person, group or place. The day he joined was Saint Nicholas day and that year he published the humorous fiction, Knickerbocker's History of New York, with several references to Saint Nicholas as a jolly character. The New York Historical Society held its first Saint Nicholas anniversary dinner on December 6, 1810, where he was given a more American makeover. This new gift-giving, children loving, jolly, old elf, received a big boost in 1823, due to the poem which was intended to become popular, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” which is now known as “The Night Before Christmas”.

Update 7:

Many other writers and artists continued the change to an elf-like St. Nicholas, or “Sancte Claus,” unlike the stately European bishop. This name was a direct phonetic modification from the German “Sankt Niklaus” and Dutch “Sinterklaas” which mean Saint Nicholas. Of course this is not what the children are taught to believe; instead they are lied to. This is a terrible habit that many people would be punished for, but in order to keep the children happy adults continually make false statement confusing children later on in life once there older. It is a common none fact that children are gullible, so being told Santa is a man that lives in the North Pole in temperatures well below zero, has an illegal work force of vertical challenged men, and has eight or nine magical reindeers that fly even though this is physical impossible is not hard for them to believe. Besides the fact that Santa is logically impossible are the least of what little kids care about, all the children really care a

Update 8:

about are toys.

Toys, gifts, presents, and more stuff, this is all that we as humans care about around this holiday. Materialism is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as, “a preoccupation with or stress upon material rather than intellectual or spiritual things.” When we were younger we were given free presents while being oblivious to the fact of all the work done in order to get them. This is the origin of our materialism.

Update 9:

If the end result is presents and happiness, we neglect the trouble we have to go through to get it. As we grow older it becomes even more significant as we feel the need to impress other around us. Humans have always been materialistic beings, from Neanderthals fighting over a big stick or shiny stone to the United States and Russia battling it out in the space race. It would even be a stretch to say materialism is evolutionarily in us. But seem around Christmas things seem to get a little over the top. We never need anything until someone asks us what we want; in all actuality if we really wanted something in the first place we would have just spent the money we used on gifts for other people to buy what we wanted.

Update 10:

No one ever knows what to get anybody, we try to think about what they would need, but in the end we seem to get them something we would enjoy having ourselves (or a gift card),this is yet another example of our materialism shining through. Everyone puts so much emphasis buying, sales and getting, that we have lost site of what the true meaning of Christmas really is.

Update 11:

The true meaning of Christmas is up for debate, there are many beliefs in how it came about. A popular Christian belief is that this is the day Jesus was immaculate born, but there is little evident that Jesus even existed and if he did the events of his life are still up for dispute. A more common argument is that the widely expected date in which winter beings, December 21th, the winter solstice was celebrated by the Pagans and was taken over by Roman Christians during Constantine’s death. They would recognize this day as the shortest of the year. For about 3 days the sun would seem to remain this way; but on December 25th, the 4th day, it seem the sun remains out slightly longer, foreshadowing longer days to come. Not knowing the source of Christmas or the holiday season may be one reason we cannot agree on what to call it.

6 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Not everyone epitomises the cynicism of Christmas.

    During WW1, a German voice sang "Silent Night" from the trenches. Slowly, soldiers from both sides emerged and met in "No Man's Land" to exchange cigarettes and food. They then held a soccer game under that Christmas unofficial truce.

    "Peace on Earth. Good will to all men" was respected for that one day - Christmas.

    Saint Nick' first gifts were pouches of gold to a poor family so the 3 daughters could afford a dowry and get married. That's why Saint Nicholas was the patron Saint of Maidens, too.

    Give peace a chance. Let people be friendly and good to each other on that one day of the year.

    Let estranged families celebrate together even if Christmas is their only excuse.

    Merry Christmas, my friend

    Signed,

    Santa's Helper

  • Tim
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    Little kids are lied to in order to get them to behave well. Human materialism becomes even more evident. Also no one can universally agree on what we should call this time of year and reason we celebrate this period. These facts are why I have come up with a controversial

    Let's see you try it. No one has the right or power to ban Christmas in a free society. The day this happens is the day I load my gun and help fight against the obvious dictatorship that has hijacked my country. All your psychologist and social scientist can go_____ themselves. MERRY CHRISTMAS.

  • 1 decade ago

    Christmas is a lie, it was originally saturnalia until the church decided to put christmas on the 25th of December to get rid of the festival. Its over commercialised and causes problems in many areas im sure, but it means a lot to many people and it's not only a time for being greedy and recieving gifts and running around buying things. It brings families together and creates many happy memories, i wouldn't want to get rid of Christmas because its the only time of the year where i get lots of presents, stuff my face and meet with all of my family. I was aware as a child of the amount of effort it took to buy me all the presents i wanted, my parents weren't rich and we had to scrimp and save to get luxuries.

  • 1 decade ago

    This is only something they would do in dictator countries that do not preserve the rights and freedoms of individuals. Christmas is part of Christianity. Christmas is celebrating the birth of Jesus. Not celebrating Christmas is like not celebrating your birthday.

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  • ?
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    The Puritans in the USA tried that already, it didn't work, just like Prohibition didn't work - you can not prevent people from having a party

  • 1 decade ago

    Christmas should definitely nott be "banned." it is the celebration of Jesus's birthday and if you really dont like Christmas that much then dont celebrate it. problem solved.

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