Merry Chirstmas or Happy Holidays?

[mikester]

I know this came up a couple of weeks ago, here's an article I read this morning.

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/2052812.html

Personally, I am Jewish and feel that they should be called Christmas trees.

On the other hand I have no problem with people saying "Happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." In fact I do it myself, it would be like me saying "Happy Hanukkah" to everyone I met instead of "Merry Christmas" just because I am jewish, no reason I should assume everyone is. I agree with what is said in the article - it seems like the polite thing to do. We need more polite in this world anyway.

No - they aren't Holiday trees - they are Christmas trees but if a business wants to have a "Holiday" sale rather than a "Christmas" sale - what do I care? I just want low prices right?

In publicly funded or sponsored(read tax payer) displays I do not think they should favor a religion. I do not think that Christmas should be a holiday over Hanukkah and it is a yearly sore spot for me.

So...hopefully you won't think I'm here to pick a fight but just how unreasonable is it to have a "Holiday" parade instead of a "Christmas" parade? Or other event that the City sponsors?

We have Christians in our family and whenever they are in my home for the holidays - which is nearly every year - I always Get a tree for them and do other decorations. It just seems polite - it isn't a holiday tree, it isn't a Hanukkah bush - it's a Christmas tree and I want them to feel good around the holidays.



Happy Holidays everyone.

[turbo6bar]

Happy Festivus to all!

[cool_chick]

Christmas trees. They're not jewish, muslim, etc., they're a Christian tradition...or Pagan.

Call them Christmas trees or Pagan trees. Both are accurate.


I say Merry Christmas to Christians, I wish Happy Hannukah to my Jewish friends during Hannukah, etc. Why would I say "merry Christmas" to a Muslim? I wish my Muslim friend "Happy Ramadan" during Ramadan (which, BTW is an appropriate greeting).

That's what I do. And it doesn't bother me one bit (some get up in arms saying "Christmas is gone"...but honestly, it's alive and well....look around....).

[rcecale]

Originally posted by cool_chick
...(some get up in arms saying "Christmas is gone"...but honestly, it's alive and well....look around....).

Spent the day at the mall yesterday with my wife. She was looking for something to wear to the Governor's Christmas Gala. Aside from the area where they had Santa seeing the kiddies, one was hard pressed to find any evidence of Christmas, Hanaukah, Kwanzaa, or any other holiday.

My wife, who typically has NO problems finding several items that would be "just perfect" (Trust me, this woman can shop! I actually had to convert a bedroom in our house into a huge closet just to house "some" of her clothes...double closet rods all around with a department store clothing rack in the center.) had a hard time finding any Christmas outfits.

"Look around"? You have to, just to see a bit of evidence.

Randy

[cool_chick]

What's the goal of a mall? To sell stuff! When did you ever see that kind of stuff in a mall? It's always been about Santa and buying...... Hell, even the movie A Christmas Story.....that's set in the 50s, and is reminiscent of a 50s Christmas...

Why is a mall supposed to do something different now?

[island911]

some of you really piss me off.

How could you all use Happy Holidays for Christmas/Hanukkah, when knowing full well that Happy Holidays is reserved for Presidents day & MLK-jr Day, or those two personal weeks a year devoted to the prolitariate working masses?

-sheesh!


For the record, I generally use "Happy Hanukkah" for my Christian friends (Christ was Jewish, right?) And "Merry Chistmas" to my Jewish friends (who really need to get with the times.)

(read: some people take this all waaayyy too seriously.)

[island911]

My wife has it...

She's been busy this morning putting up lights, wreaths . .. all the little stuff.

She brings me to see it all, and announces "Merry kitsch-mas"

hahahaha


So, Merry kitschmas all. . . .I have a tree to go put up.

[cool_chick]

Or perhaps named to Saturnalia as that's what it really is.

[red-beard]

How about "Deckel 25" ?

[cool_chick]

Originally posted by SoCal911SC
I can't believe that you would be so exclusionary and insensitive as to suggest a name that is not reflective and inclusionary of ALL the planets.

Well, technically, December 25th itself is for Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, an infant god no less......

And Saturn was the god of Agriculture, why would one include the god of war, etc. when talking about foodl??? LOL

[Nathans_Dad]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

[rcecale]

Originally posted by cool_chick
What's the goal of a mall? To sell stuff! When did you ever see that kind of stuff in a mall?

I have no idea where you've been doing your shopping for the last 20...30...(40?) years, but until this year, every mall I've ever gone into, around this time of year, has always been decorated with garland, banners, and all sorts of decorations. Not so much, this year.

Why is a mall supposed to do something different now?

I never said they were supposed to do anything. Just making an observation that they don't seem to be doing anything this year.

Randy

[aways]

The "holiday" is Christmas. It's a National holiday. It's the ONLY reason that we have "the Holidays" at the end of December. Hanukkah is a relatively minor Jewish holiday, and is only celebrated to the extent it is as an alternative for Jewish kids to get presents in lieu of Christmas.
Kwanzaa, on the other hand, was a joke dreamed up by a criminal professor at CSULB in the late 60's as a way to alienate blacks from American culture:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25998.

An excerpt from the article:

There are few holidays we can actually attribute to one man's vision. Kwanzaa is such a holiday – coined by Ron Karenga in 1966.

Who was Ron Karenga?

Glad you asked.

He is a convicted felon – sentenced five years after inventing Kwanzaa for torturing two black women by whipping them with electrical cords and beating them with a karate baton after stripping them naked. He placed in the mouth of one of the victims a hot soldering iron, also scarring her face with the device. He put one of her big toes in a vise, and detergent and running water in both of their mouths.

But that wasn't the beginning of the bizarre and violent behavior of Karenga, the patron saint of Kwanzaa – not by a long shot.

Just about the time he was dreaming up this new holiday, he was also inventing a new political movement on the campus of UCLA. That movement was called "black cultural nationalism." His group was called United Slaves. And it was defined mainly by violent confrontations with the Black Panthers at UCLA. Two of his followers shot dead two members of the Panthers in 1969.

But no sooner did Karenga get out of prison on the torture charges in 1975 than all was forgotten about his criminal and violent past. He was proclaimed Saint Karenga. Four years later, he was running the Black Studies Department at California State University in Long Beach.

How did he get that job in academia with his record?

Glad you asked again.

Paul Mulshine, who has done an admirable job of chronicling Karenga's history for FrontPagemag.com, has a theory.

Karenga had a jailhouse conversion.

No, he did not become a born-again Christian. He did not renounce violence. He did not even repudiate his past. But he did become a Marxist.

And, while becoming a Christian might have disqualified him for a role in the world of the modern U.S. university, a conversion to Marxism was perceived as a sign of rehabilitation. The one-time psychopath had seen the light.

In conclusion, I hope this little cultural and history lesson helps you see the light – about Kwanzaa. It's being taught to your kids in your government schools. It's become a commercial bonanza in black communities through the United States. And, now, even the president of the United States is praising it as a legitimate holiday.

Good grief. What's wrong with America?


Happy Kwanzaa!

[cool_chick]

Originally posted by rcecale
I have no idea where you've been doing your shopping for the last 20...30...(40?) years, but until this year, every mall I've ever gone into, around this time of year, has always been decorated with garland, banners, and all sorts of decorations. Not so much, this year.

That's strange, because that is not a problem in my area.

Your mall is weird. LOL. Stupid too, I can't believe they're not capitalizing on the time of year to sell, sell, sell. Decorations get people in the "mood" to spend.

[cool_chick]

Originally posted by aways


.......In conclusion, I hope this little cultural and history lesson helps you see the light – about Kwanzaa. It's being taught to your kids in your government schools. It's become a commercial bonanza in black communities through the United States. And, now, even the president of the United States is praising it as a legitimate holiday.

Good grief. What's wrong with America?


Happy Kwanzaa!

What's wrong with America? Absolutely nothing. Kwaanza teaches nothing of what you write....

This is what Kwaanza teaches:

Kiswahili is the language privileged as the main means of communication of the rituals. The word itself, Kwanza is the Kiswahili word for beginning. It comes from the verb ku-anza, that is, to begin. It indicates thus the firm determination of a community to begin a new year of committment, hard work and fulfilment that require collective effort. The week of celebration is also an opportunity to highlight seven principles that serve as the building blocks of Ubiquity. They represent the aspiration and the goals each community sets itself collectively and its members individually. These seven principles are the following:

Umoja (Unity). This is to strive for a principles and harmonious togetherness in the the family, community, nation and world African community.

Kijichagulia (self-Determination). To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for our ourselves and speak for ourselves instead of being defined, named, created for and spoken for by others.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility). To build and maintain our community together and makes our sisters' and brothers' problems our problems and solve them together.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics). To build our own businesses, control the economics of our own community and share in all its work and wealth.

Nia (Purpose). To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community\ in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba (Creativity). To do always as much as we can in the way we can in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it.

Imani (Faith). To believe with all our heart in our Creator, our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.


Ohhh the horrors! Those poor, poor kids, learning such things!

[aways]

Originally posted by cool_chick
What's wrong with America? Absolutely nothing. Kwaanza teaches nothing of what you write....

This is what Kwaanza teaches:

Kiswahili is the language privileged as the main means of communication of the rituals. The word itself, Kwanza is the Kiswahili word for beginning. It comes from the verb ku-anza, that is, to begin. It indicates thus the firm determination of a community to begin a new year of committment, hard work and fulfilment that require collective effort. The week of celebration is also an opportunity to highlight seven principles that serve as the building blocks of Ubiquity. They represent the aspiration and the goals each community sets itself collectively and its members individually. These seven principles are the following:

Umoja (Unity). This is to strive for a principles and harmonious togetherness in the the family, community, nation and world African community.

Kijichagulia (self-Determination). To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for our ourselves and speak for ourselves instead of being defined, named, created for and spoken for by others.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility). To build and maintain our community together and makes our sisters' and brothers' problems our problems and solve them together.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics). To build our own businesses, control the economics of our own community and share in all its work and wealth.

Nia (Purpose). To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community\ in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba (Creativity). To do always as much as we can in the way we can in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it.

Imani (Faith). To believe with all our heart in our Creator, our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.


Ohhh the horrors! Those poor, poor kids, learning such things!

Yea, right.

Are and is the following FACT about the Kwanzaa "founder" Karenga consistent with what you naively believe Kwanzaa teaches???

"He is a convicted felon – sentenced five years after inventing Kwanzaa for torturing two black women by whipping them with electrical cords and beating them with a karate baton after stripping them naked. He placed in the mouth of one of the victims a hot soldering iron, also scarring her face with the device. He put one of her big toes in a vise, and detergent and running water in both of their mouths."

get real.

[Victor]

A buddy of mine has this theory that Christmas is a conspiracy of Jewish retailers, hell bent at squeezing the last cent from us gullible gentiles. I don't know if I agree with this cynical point of view, but if it makes my 7 year old daughter happy then Merry Christmas to all.

[930addict]

Originally posted by cool_chick
That's strange, because that is not a problem in my area.

Your mall is weird. LOL. Stupid too, I can't believe they're not capitalizing on the time of year to sell, sell, sell. Decorations get people in the "mood" to spend.

Christmas is alive and well in my neck of the woods. I was at the mall today and not only were they playing Christmas music throughout, they had the place decorated as it should be - complete with Santa Clause. BTW...the sign on the Christmas tree lot down the street from us says "Christmas trees", not "Holiday trees."

[targa911S]

Christmahannakwanza...that should cover it! Where will it stop?

I just say Merry Christmas if it offends you ...OOPS. now get over it.

[cool_chick]

Originally posted by aways
Yea, right.

Are and is the following FACT about the Kwanzaa "founder" Karenga consistent with what you naively believe Kwanzaa teaches???

"He is a convicted felon – sentenced five years after inventing Kwanzaa for torturing two black women by whipping them with electrical cords and beating them with a karate baton after stripping them naked. He placed in the mouth of one of the victims a hot soldering iron, also scarring her face with the device. He put one of her big toes in a vise, and detergent and running water in both of their mouths."

get real.

No, YOU get real!

This is what Kwaanza teaches:

Kiswahili is the language privileged as the main means of communication of the rituals. The word itself, Kwanza is the Kiswahili word for beginning. It comes from the verb ku-anza, that is, to begin. It indicates thus the firm determination of a community to begin a new year of committment, hard work and fulfilment that require collective effort. The week of celebration is also an opportunity to highlight seven principles that serve as the building blocks of Ubiquity. They represent the aspiration and the goals each community sets itself collectively and its members individually. These seven principles are the following:

Umoja (Unity). This is to strive for a principles and harmonious togetherness in the the family, community, nation and world African community.

Kijichagulia (self-Determination). To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for our ourselves and speak for ourselves instead of being defined, named, created for and spoken for by others.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility). To build and maintain our community together and makes our sisters' and brothers' problems our problems and solve them together.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics). To build our own businesses, control the economics of our own community and share in all its work and wealth.

Nia (Purpose). To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community\ in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba (Creativity). To do always as much as we can in the way we can in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it.

Imani (Faith). To believe with all our heart in our Creator, our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.


Ohhh the horrors! Those poor, poor kids, learning such things!