Merry Holidays!
On behalf of all LBF Administrators, we wish you all out there to spend a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year 2006 :) Finally, the holidays are here! Long live Xmas shopping and New Year's Eve celebrations!
posted by Maldoror @ 9:40 AM
13 Comments:
merry christmas for all!
I just can't get myself to utter words like merry and happy after all we've been through these last couple of weeks. But I do wish us all a blessed Christmas and Holiday season, hoping that it will mark the end, or at least, the beginning of the end to a lingering odyssey of suffering, injustice and death. May we all, christians and muslims alike, see the star that foretells the birth and rebirth we've so eagerly been waiting for.
Merry Christmas to all. :)
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Jaz, honey, what's ridiculous about it is you, of course. No, seriously, what's ridiculous about is that most of the celebration of "christmas" is actually not christian in origin at all, but rather seasonal (the tree, the snow, the reindeer, the stockings, the buche, etc.). All of that was appropriated by the church in its early days as a way of absorbing the pagan winter solistice celebrations that were much more popular at the time. There isn't even any proof that Christ was born at that day. Same thing with Easter and the spring equinox (really now, what do bunnies and chocolate have to do with crucifiction?). But that's all fine and dandy; after all, it's the season, it's the thought, it's the spirit (and YOUR spirit is anything but!). People need a reason to celebrate, and they don't have to be christian to do so, and as a good christian that you're not, you shouldn't be irked that anyone is celebrating just for the fuck of it. So, happy holidays to all (except you, mean spirit, of course)!
merry xmas & happy new year to all!
jaz, inno there is still this, that we didn't argue about! inno ma3leih ya3neh!
Wishing you all the merriest Christmas and Happy New Year...PEACE for lebanon
Jaz, oh darling, "an anti-Christmas campaign run by liberal activist", people like you do exist! You must be one of Limbaugh's sad friends! Well, allow me to introduce myself; I am one of those liberal activists, and let me tell you a secret, it's not christmas we're after, it's xenophobic bigots like you, sweety. And nobody is trying to destroy christmas, my little grinch; we're just trying to make it a more inclusive time of year. And, pardon me, but I would never waste my money or time on a biased piece of drivel like "The War on Christmas". And happy holidays to you, too! (How's that for inclusive christian spirit?)
Jaz just one thing to tell u:
Hope you spend a merry Xmas next to your family and loved ones :) You can sleep in a tent if you want, you won't change anything, except perhaps catch a cold :)
I can't believe people are getting into arguments about Christmas. Jaz, I feel your frustration and I share it, but it sure isn't a reason to go ballistic on someone for typing xmas instead of Christmas. As to your arguments, Arch.mem, they might be historically accurate (I won't get into that) but they're still somewhat irrelevent. Christians adopted these rites to celebrate the birth of Christ which is largely believed to be around this time of year. The tree and what not were originally pagan, so what. It has been linked to Christmas celebrations long enough, without anybody objecting to it until recently, to deserve the designation of Christmas tree. But now Christmas is a "hit" and everyone wants to be part of it, but they're so paranoid that how we call the tree makes them feel alienated.
Let's be fair. Nothing comes out of vacuum. All religions and religious rituals have inherited something from pagan rituals. Christians, or the church, have taken these symbols and adopted them. They've been so intimately linked for centuries now, that stripping them from their christian attributes makes no sense and serves no purpose. You're an atheist and you wanna take part in the festivities, then by golly, put up a tree and call it whatever you like. The joy and celebration is for everyone, but goign around trying to change names and symbols out of so-called political correctness and soci-religious paranoia, is downright silly, don't you think?
Fouad, very well put, indeed. The joy and celebration is for everyone, though I don't think it's a matter of goign around "trying to change names and symbols out of so-called political correctness and soci-religious paranoia". I think it's a matter of not freaking out, as dear Jaz did, if someone said the more inclusive "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" (now that's paranoia if I've ever seen it). And I don't think it's downright silly, no. In a country like the US, where you have such a wide mix of beliefs, I think it's only a matter of respect and sensitivity to other people's differing beliefs, out of civility. And that is something that we in Lebanon can certainly use to learn from (a quasi-secular country again with a multitude of beliefs and denominations). Nobody's forcing anyone to say anything. But if someone does wish another Happy Holidays, or a happy anyday, or a happy life for that matter, I don't think it should irk anyone else! I think such a protective attitude towards ultimately appropriated social rituals is at the end self-defying and uncalled for. And I think at the basis of this is something that we, the Lebanese, can especially learn from: how to live in a truly secular and civilized state where one is not identified by religion.
Arch.mem, you're absolutely right, respecting each other's beliefs is essentially what makes a civil and secular society civil and secular. I have nothing against saying happy holidays. I do it all the time, although I don't see what there is to get offended about. Would I feel offended if in Lebanon at Ramadan, people said Ramadan kareem or yin3ad 3leik to me? On the contrary, I would regard it as an invitation to take part in their joy and I would feel both grateful and happy about it. In the end, it's the words of someone wishing you well. Why would that be taken the wrong way. Hence what I perceive as paranoia when I see people feeling insulted and/or threatened by a mere "merry christmas". Also, and along the same lines, I find silly the perceived need to change "christmas tree" to "holiday tree" and the likes (card etc.). The tree is put up on Christmas and for christmas, the gifts are christmas gifts and santa claus comes on christmas eve and the creches depict the birth of jesus. Why would anyone have a problem with it and be offended by it is beyond me.
سلام
سنة سعيدة
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