Why I don’t celebrate the 'Holidays'

Let’s start with Thanksgiving. It’s a holiday based on the tradition of celebrating the harvest. In America it was also tied to the celebration performed when the Native Americans saved the lives of a group of invaders from Europe (most people call them settlers).

Firstly I no longer perform any form of harvesting. I can respect those that do. I do understand the impact that the farming community has with my being able to function without having to grow my own food. But I don't feel the need to celebrate the harvest. The celebration served many purposes depending on who you talked to (reward for the hard work, thanking the 'gods', etc). Some people seem to think that the idea of Thanksgiving is to get together and spend time with family. They are mistaken. The act of getting together and spending time with family or any other action you may do on this day is the 'way' you celebrate not the reason.

In addition the holiday has taken on a taint as an American holiday. What are we celebrating as Americans? Some Native Americans helped out a group of settlers and these settlers (and many others) returned the favor by performing genocide.

As it stands I have no reason to participate in this ritual.

This leads me to Christmas. What a sham. The holiday itself is simply a religious holiday. Whether you believe it’s a day for Christ or follow the old pagan beliefs, it still exists as a religious event. Now, there are those that think that they are following the old ritual of Kris Kringle and simply exchanging gifts. This is just another distortion of the history of Kris and the fact that his existence is based on the same old pagan beliefs. Some people simply look at this holiday as another reason to get together with family but this is just a repeat of the above.

I believe that any religion is nothing more than a life philosophy that has become grossly distorted. This means that there is no reason to participate in this ritual either.

Now come the difficult part. How to interact with the rest of the world that still hangs on to outdated beliefs?