Yes, Yes, I know that Christmas was almost two months ago at this point. But I figure that I write this blog mainly for myself and the handful of people who occasionally read it and therefore I can write whatever I want, whenever I want.
Growing up we always "celebrated" Christmas. I put celebrated in quotes because I'm Muslim and I was raised Muslim; celebrating Christmas as a child was something my family did with my mother's side of the family who are, more or less, culturally Christian. My mother was raised in the Episcopalian church, the daughter of a Catholic and a Protestant. Were it not for my maternal aunt, uncles, cousins, and grandparents, I doubt that my own parents would have really done much for the holiday. As a child I loved Christmas - what kid wouldn't love Santa Claus, the decorations and the tree, the Christmas feast, and ALL the presents?! Christmas is like crack for kids.
The pictures above are the Christmas morning scene at my sister-in-law's house after 4 children and 3 adults opened gifts. I really do not understand the connection between such blatant, vapid consumerism and the birth of the supposed savior (Prophet Jesus, pbuh). When it is my birthday, I do not get my friends gifts; rather, I am the one to receive gifts on my birthday. So if December 25th is supposed to be a celebration of Jesus's birthday, shouldn't believers be giving gifts at an alter? Perhaps a donation to one's church is really the only acceptable Christmas present.
Here is an excellent account of one religious Christian family's journey away from the celebration of this essentially Pagan holiday. As this family discovered, when you step away from Christmas the other holidays really gain importance. Growing up, this was the same discovery my own family had. As my siblings and I grew older, we stopped caring so much about celebrating Christmas. When we stopped the Christmas celebrations we found that we all had much more time, money, and energy to put in to the truly important holidays - specifically Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha. This was of course made possible only by the enormous effort that my parents put forth to make Eid just as much "fun" as Christmas.
Exchanging gifts on either Eid is not necessarily traditional for Muslims, but my mother knew that if Eid ul-Fitr wasn't more fun than Christmas than we kids would like Christmas more. It's sad that holidays have to be in competition with one another, but really, how does one month of fasting culminating in a special morning trip to the mosque (dressed to the nines) compare with Santa, Christmas carols, the tree and decorations, and ALL THOSE GIFTS?! So yes, my parents gave in and commercialized Eid ul-Fitr. And you know what? It was worth it. We decorate the house, exchange gifts, and go out to eat after the Eid prayer; it is so much fun!
I'm writing this post on Valentine's Day, another holiday we do not celebrate. Mike and I refuse to succumb to societal pressure to buy each other trinkets on the same day as everyone else. Who wants chocolates when you're trying to lose weight? And how are flowers which eventually die supposed to symbolize our own undying love? Another glaring reason to abstain from this holiday is that it is originally the celebration of the martyrdom of a Catholic saint (or at least I've heard anyway). So to all those Muslims out there who celebrate Valentine's Day but refuse to celebrate or participate in Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, etc. I say: hypocrisy. Ditto to the Christians who celebrate Christmas but abstain from Halloween.
Anyway, my birthday is next month and I wouldn't want another holiday to overshadow Sarah Day ;)
Growing up we always "celebrated" Christmas. I put celebrated in quotes because I'm Muslim and I was raised Muslim; celebrating Christmas as a child was something my family did with my mother's side of the family who are, more or less, culturally Christian. My mother was raised in the Episcopalian church, the daughter of a Catholic and a Protestant. Were it not for my maternal aunt, uncles, cousins, and grandparents, I doubt that my own parents would have really done much for the holiday. As a child I loved Christmas - what kid wouldn't love Santa Claus, the decorations and the tree, the Christmas feast, and ALL the presents?! Christmas is like crack for kids.
The pictures above are the Christmas morning scene at my sister-in-law's house after 4 children and 3 adults opened gifts. I really do not understand the connection between such blatant, vapid consumerism and the birth of the supposed savior (Prophet Jesus, pbuh). When it is my birthday, I do not get my friends gifts; rather, I am the one to receive gifts on my birthday. So if December 25th is supposed to be a celebration of Jesus's birthday, shouldn't believers be giving gifts at an alter? Perhaps a donation to one's church is really the only acceptable Christmas present.
Here is an excellent account of one religious Christian family's journey away from the celebration of this essentially Pagan holiday. As this family discovered, when you step away from Christmas the other holidays really gain importance. Growing up, this was the same discovery my own family had. As my siblings and I grew older, we stopped caring so much about celebrating Christmas. When we stopped the Christmas celebrations we found that we all had much more time, money, and energy to put in to the truly important holidays - specifically Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha. This was of course made possible only by the enormous effort that my parents put forth to make Eid just as much "fun" as Christmas.
Exchanging gifts on either Eid is not necessarily traditional for Muslims, but my mother knew that if Eid ul-Fitr wasn't more fun than Christmas than we kids would like Christmas more. It's sad that holidays have to be in competition with one another, but really, how does one month of fasting culminating in a special morning trip to the mosque (dressed to the nines) compare with Santa, Christmas carols, the tree and decorations, and ALL THOSE GIFTS?! So yes, my parents gave in and commercialized Eid ul-Fitr. And you know what? It was worth it. We decorate the house, exchange gifts, and go out to eat after the Eid prayer; it is so much fun!
I'm writing this post on Valentine's Day, another holiday we do not celebrate. Mike and I refuse to succumb to societal pressure to buy each other trinkets on the same day as everyone else. Who wants chocolates when you're trying to lose weight? And how are flowers which eventually die supposed to symbolize our own undying love? Another glaring reason to abstain from this holiday is that it is originally the celebration of the martyrdom of a Catholic saint (or at least I've heard anyway). So to all those Muslims out there who celebrate Valentine's Day but refuse to celebrate or participate in Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, etc. I say: hypocrisy. Ditto to the Christians who celebrate Christmas but abstain from Halloween.
Anyway, my birthday is next month and I wouldn't want another holiday to overshadow Sarah Day ;)
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