Merry Xmas

[Graham Todd]

On Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:33:53 -0500
Michael Haney <thezorch at gmail.com> uttered these words:

> On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 4:41 AM, Amedee Van Gasse (u2s)
> <amedee-ubuntu at amedee.be> wrote:
> > Hey Romans, first you had to change our Yule to Saturnalia, then it
> > had to be the birth of some baby in a country you occupied, and now
> > it's some fat bloke in a red coat.
> > Make up your mind already!
> >  
  That fat bloke in a red coat was foisted on us by the Coca-Cola
  corporation and thus is the representative of American capitalism.
  The sound of cash registers can be heard worldwide as global
  capitalism celebrates with consumerism.

DOWN WITH ALL THESE SYMBOLS!!!  HAPPY SATURNALIA!!!!!

> Celebrate Christmas like the Japanese do.  Only a small percentage are
> Catholic (the rest are Shinto or Buddhist) but the rest put up a tree
> and give gifts.  Its more a get together of family and friends than a
> religious holiday.  Its also a popular time for proposals and
> weddings.  Also, traditional Japanese culture doesn't celebrate
> Birthdays with a party and gifts but with a special dinner and gifts
> are given at New Years, but like with Christmas they've pretty much
> adopted the western custom of parties and gifts on Birthdays.  I'm
> such an Otaku.

There's nothing wrong with giving gifts as symbols of friendship, love,
or even to celebrate the winter solstice and abundance in times of
scarcity - and that's what I'm doing.  I wish everybody on the list all
the best in whatever they do in the coming year.

I don't celebrate Christmas/Saurnalia as a religious festival and
neither do most of those in my community; the UK is increasingly
secular.  My wife tells me that her local church is filled at
Christmas, but my local vicar tells me that the Harvest Festival
celebrations are the only other days when the church is anything more
than a quarter-filled.  I'm happy with those who wish to celebrate any
religious festivals as long as they do not expect me to celebrate them
along with them, nor preach to me about joining in!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
-- 
Graham Todd