Celebrate Holiday Ignorance

It's the holiday seasons, and for some reason I'm not really enjoying it for one simple reason. And no, it isn't my family this time.

It's all religion's fault.

How did this come about, you may ask? Someone either was asking an innocent question or was being an idiot. Basically, Gaia Online is setting up for their yearly Christmas event. This year, we got to get a peak into Gaia's Santa's past. Apparently, when he was a little man, he was beaten up by the Easter Bunny for reasons unknown. Bunny's gang had several holiday icons in it, some global and some cultural. Well, after this went live, someone asked where Jesus was in this whole mess. Site veterans explained how religion doesn't belong on Gaia Online's holiday events, as the site is a global one and not all the users believe in God or in the religion of Christianity. Someone replied to this saying that the reason why we have Christmas and Easter is because of Jesus. The intellectuals then popped in and pointed out that the holidays were assimilated and appropriated over history. Well, enter the people that believe everything in The Bible is fact and absolute.

You can see where I'm going with this.

Why do the holidays have to be about religion? Don't get me wrong. I think it's all fine and dandy for you and your family to celebrate the holidays with whatever religion you are a part of. But why is it that some people feel like their religion is more important than others for one reason or another? I mean, these are the things that start wars. This is also the reason why nobody learns anything past "that's just how it's always been."

Very few people know anything about the history of their religion or their holidays. They know the why's of some of the major ones and maybe even some of the how's, but I seriously doubt many people know the history of how this holiday got this date on the calendar and why it's been that way for centuries on end. I'm not saying that nobody knows, because like I said earlier, there are people that know. I'm not one of them. I don't even know the history of my own family. Then again, nobody has bothered to even teach me let alone tell me short of a few anticdotes here and there.

As a matter of personal opinion, the holidays are no longer about what they were. Easter is no longer about the alignment of the stars and sun in the Spring, and is more about giving out pastel candies and dressing all cute. Even Jesus rising from the dead takes a back seat to the bunny and chickens that dominate the holiday. Halloween is no longer a day about the dead so much as it is about candy begging and dressing up. Come to think of it, I don't think I was ever told or read why All Hallows Eve was considered scary originally outside of that's when ghosts and spirits were allowed to come back to life for one night. Even that reasoning is hard for me to grasp as logical. The witch burnings made more sense to me than this.

And now for the subject of Christmas. What is this holiday really about now? Decorations? Gifts? Giving charity? Santa? Jesus? At this point, I personally don't know. A part of me actually just doesn't care. Humanity's mental safe haven of religion has screwed up everything about the season. Combine that with elements of capitalism, and you can see why the holidays are so special. It's probably the only time of year where we collectively as a society celebrate our own ignorance by quietly pushing our own beliefs on everyone through the Dradle song and the Silent Night carol to the point where we don't give a damn. Sure, some of us get offended by it, but as soon as someone gives us that shiny new XBox360, we immediately forget about it. Capitalism and materialism cancel out religious offenses in our country. Now that's real holiday magic.