Christmas For Non-Christians

Odd story, really.

So, there I am in class exploring with the kids the meaning of festivals and celebrations for communities. We’d been discussing what a festival was. One of the lads, trying to grasp the idea, asked whether “festivals are a bit like Christmas”… which kicked off a wholly weird conversation.

Let’s not get into the specifics of the lesson dialogue, because that’s not really the point.

Let’s pick up on one of the questions raised by the kids which really threw a spanner in the works:

“If Christmas is about Jesus’ birth, then why do non-Christians celebrate it?”

Consider the Enquiry

The kid wanted to know why non-Christians celebrate Christmas. The first answer was, “because you get presents!”

The response was telling: someone else pointed out that, in a school with only 2 Muslims, none of the non-Muslims celebrated Eid al-Fitr… “and Muslims give kids presents on Eid al-Fitr, don’t they?”

The second answer was interesting too: “Because it’s a British tradition!”

The third made me really stop and listen: “Because it’s a family get-together and family is important.”

At this point I was really trying to work out what Christmas meant for these kids.

Secular Christmas?

Religious folk, myself included, tend to be guilty of playing the “But you’re not doing it right!” game. You know, the insistence that Christmas is about Christ, and all that stuff.

They’re not wrong… at least not from their religious stand-point.

But.

There is a Secular Christmas. I suspect that there always was. It just seems more obvious these days.

It’s the time of year when, in Britain at least, we have a State-supported public holiday. We stop work. We go home. We share gifts, food, alcohol, games, arguments, and watching TV. It’s the mid-Winter festival. The Christians go to church and sing carols, the rest of you sit at home and play XBox. And burp a lot.

Talking to the secular kids I teach, Christmas is about family and tradition and identity and presents.

Is Secular Christmas Anti-Christian?

The story is told that a guy called Joe had to take his pregnant fiancée to the other side of the country so that he could register himself with the authorities (who were doing a Census). Because there was no room in the local hostels, Joe ended up renting a space in a cattle shed. While they were there, his partner popped her baby… who, it turns out, was the direct descendant of the King’s line.

When kids talk about Christmas being about family, they find a connection with the Nativity of Jesus through the idea of family sticking together. They might reject the idea that Mary was a virgin (“yeah, right, like that happens!”) but they do like the image of the family huddling together (with the animals) in a stable.

When kids talk about Christmas being about tradition, they find a connection with the Christmas music and carols. In our school, with 47% of kids being from “no religion” families, it’s amazing to see 99% of them gather in the Main Hall on the last day of term… to sing Christmas Carols. Loudly. With passion. It’s a tradition, you see.

When kids talk about Christmas being a British thing, they find connection with the sense of national identity and “taking part” that gives them a sense of safety.  It’s a moment of being rooted in place, of knowing who you belong to and what you’re a part of. They’re not being Christian, but they are being British.

When kids talk about the presents, especially all the stuff they’re going to get, they are also expressing the wonder and excitement of having somebody make you feel special. Did they buy you a present? Then maybe you’re important… at least for one day a year. Or two.

Is any of this anti-Christian? I’m not sure. But it sure is human.

Why Do It?

Honestly, even as a Christian, why do I do it? Why take part?

What about you? Whether you are religious or not, do you take part? If so, why? (Actually… if not, why?)

I know many non-Christians, and not just atheists or agnostics, who celebrate Christmas. They are joining in. Sharing. Having a blast. Oh, and maybe “enjoying” the family tensions too.

For me, Christmas will come on January 7th (by the secular calendar). Being Orthodox for only the last year or so, I have begun to recognise that I get to have two celebrations: one on December 25th during which we do it the British, family, and present-giving way; the other, on January 6th/7th, is the spiritual festival. Last year they were qualitatively different.

But here’s my question: Can you tell someone they are “doing it wrong”? Would it be right for me to tell the non-Christian kids that they need to stop celebrating Christmas? Is something “deeper” and emotive rooted into that festival, despite the commercialism?

Food for thought, perhaps.