I read something recently that stated that there are two kinds of people: Halloween People and Christmas people. I thought this was a fun idea to ponder, so I researched a bit this morning to see what attributes these sort of people have.

As I navigated the internet rabbit hole, I happened across something on http://www.live365.com. It was an article about the fifteen most popular holidays around the world.

  1. Valentine’s Day
  2. Easter
  3. Christmas
  4. Thanksgiving
  5. St. Patrick’s Day
  6. Halloween
  7. New Year’s
  8. Chinese New Year
  9. July 4th
  10. Oktoberfest
  11. Dia De Muertes
  12. Hanukkah
  13. Ramadan/ Eid al-Fitr
  14. Diwali
  15. Bodhi Day

Looking at this list got me thinking:

Why do we choose to celebrate certain things?

which led to-

Should we hold celebrations for religious holidays?

Religion is private. It is personal. Everyone is allowed to pick and choose what religion they want to follow. You are also allowed to not choose a religion and not celebrate a religion.

So- does it make sense to celebrate any religious holiday, because it might exclude someone and make them feel bad about their choice, or lack, of religion. I mean, we want everyone to be equal and treated fairly…

Let’s get rid of large scale celebrations of religious holidays:

  • Valentines
  • Easter
  • Christmas
  • St. Patrick’s
  • Halloween
  • New Years
  • Dia De Muertes
  • Hanukkah
  • Ramadan/Eid al-Fitr
  • Diwali
  • Bodhi Day

So these are the holidays that we will celebrate with large celebrations:

  1. Thanksgiving
  2. Chinese New Year
  3. July 4
  4. Oktoberfest

But wait- is the Chinese New Year religious? Technically it isn’t…but as it borrows from Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism…

So- Discussion Point 1) Should we include Chinese New Year as a non religious holiday?

Ok- so while we ponder that, we are left with:

  1. Thanksgiving
  2. July 4
  3. Oktoberfest

Ok- good- these are our holidays…

Oh wait…

Oppression….

  • Thanksgiving
  • July 4

Ok- so we are left with:

Oktoberfest….

The official holiday of the year is Oktoberfest…

What do you want for Oktoberfest?

Oh wait…

Not everyone can drink, or likes beer…

And I can’t help but wonder: When will we have sales?

Happy Wednesday…

90 thoughts on “Eliminate the Positive”

  1. When I worked at the library there was so much angst over the possibility of someone being offended by a holiday display I started coming up with reasons to be offended by every display. It was a big issue at one branch where someone who didn’t celebrate Christmas banned those displays but allowed displays for other religious holidays. It was a mess.

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  3. Maybe if we stop promoting holidays as money making events and just celebrate our personal life events then we could stop judging each other and let each other be who we are.

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    1. Agree with the sentiment, but I’m going to give you a snapshot of my morning. I just walked my dog, I was out maybe 15 minutes. In those 15 minutes I had a neighbor in my building tell me that since I’m on three I shouldn’t be using the elevator (and this neighbor has said this before to me) I had someone on the street tell me I should have my dog wear booties and she should report me to animal cruelty, and someone else said my dog shouldn’t be wearing* a coat that they should just get adjusted to the weather because they’re dogs. No matter what we do or don’t do, we will offend someone or be judged. We’ve become a society of conscious offendees and unconscious offenders.

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      2. I reminded the woman in the elevator that I pay the same maintenance for the elevator as she does, told the animal control woman to go ahead and do it because they have nothing better to do than investigate me and my exceedingly well cared for and happy puppy who would eat the boots if I put them on her (which I know from having tried to put booties on her) and I told the guy with the coat that I would take it under consideration but first he should consult with the boot woman. I’m on a roll.

        Liked by 5 people

      7. Wow! Does the concept of “mind your own business” apply in the big city? The stereotype is that people move to cities to be anonymous. So much for stereotypes! I love your responses!

        Liked by 1 person

      8. You have no idea how many times my neighbor next door has sent a letter to the board because we left wet shoes or umbrellas in front of our door….

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  4. Once upon a time I had a poll on my blog asking about your favorite holiday. Christmas won, of course. But I was amazed by how many people did not like Valentine’s Day. I never take it too seriously, but many people do and hate it– which baffled me about why they just didn’t ignore it.

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    1. I think I remember…though I think I remember saying I hated April fools day….I really didn’t start out to right a sarcastic cancel culture post today…I really did mean to talk about how people can be like certain holidays. Then I saw the lost and I couldn’t help myself

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  5. As the years go by it seems the holidays all start to blend into different versions of the same thing..sexy New Year’s eve dress, sexy Valentine nightie, sexy Santa hat , sexy bunny ears, sexy witch costume.. it’s exhausting! HAHA

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  6. I sense a bit of tongue-in-cheek here and perhaps a bit of overthinking. In addition to the observance, holidays, whether religious or not, are an excuse to gather with family and friends to bridge the gap of loneliness. And, the good news is we are free to choose which holidays we want to observe and those we don’t, at least in this country.

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    1. Oh…it’s very tongue in cheek…I didn’t intend to go down this road this morning…I meant to write about how are personalities correlate to holidays. Then yeah…in for a penny in for a pound I guess

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  7. As someone who worked in retail for over 15 years, I wouldn’t be opposed to getting rid of Thanksgiving/Black Friday simply out of spite.
    I love a good Oktoberfest celebration and I hate beer. But I love bratwurst.
    I believe there is a website out there that tells of random days that celebrate things such as National Ketchup Day (or Catsup Day, depending on who you are). So I feel like there are possibly celebrations going on every day of the year that we aren’t privy to.

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    1. It is funny how there are all these little celebrations now. When my daughter was little I used to have mini celebrations for a lot of them, like cupcake day. It was just something little to.look forward to. And I’m with you on black Friday..I hate shopping

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    1. Oh…and I’m serious about this….there’s been talk of the birthday not belonging the the person born on the day, but for the biological mother because it was her accomplishment. On Facebook I’ve seen people write happy birthday to my kid posts, and people actually commented…happy anniversary to the day you gave birth….I thought it was a joke on Big Bang Theory but then I realized it’s a thing….

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      1. I watched Firefly Lane on Netflix. The biological mother Cloud (yes that’s her name) felt she and her daughter shared the birthday because of that very same reason! I had never ever thought of it that way. I guess it’s a thing, but it’s not mine….

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      3. It helps you organize your chapters, thoughts, notes, etc., so it’s easier to handle a large document. I find myself stalled on the beginning part of something longer I wrote, never having time or energy to get to the stuff in the middle. This lets you break out chapters, etc., allowing you to work on things as you go. And it has a section with index cards and a bulletin board to organize things, something I think you’d love.

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      4. Really? That sounds interesting. When you’re up and running with it would be very interested in hearing how you’re liking it

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  10. Love it! I was in a Mommy and Me class with my toddler daughter in a building owned by our city. One of the other Mommies was outraged at a construction paper cutout of a Christmas tree taped to the door. She complained to the Parks and Rec boss because she said there should be no religious displays at a government building! Next time we went to Mommy and Me the tree was gone. All we wanted to do was hang out with our kids and sing “I’m a Little Teapot” and “Itsy Bitsy Spider.”

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      1. Do you think the kids at age five would be offended? And shouldn’t they learn about other cultures and religious practices? My daughter’s best friend was Orthodox and my daughter went to Temple with her on many Saturdays. Then the friend went to Mass with us a few times. I think it enriched both of them.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. I think we should teach them about all the religions from an early age. I don’t think we can understand that it’s ok to be different if we keep hiding these things away. We contribute to a culture of hate if we say these things are “bad”. It’s only through education that we can learn…both education and tolerance

        Liked by 1 person

  12. Oktoberfest?

    We give so many people a hard time about oppression but somehow the Germans get a free pass.

    The world needs to forgive and have fun. The only holiday I would ban on your list would be Bodhi day. Let’s face it, what are the Buddhists going to do about it?

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  13. When my daughter was in college our little town made the news by not having Christmas trees, they were called “magical Trees”. Holidays have become a land mine of issues. Celebrate what you want, as long as you are not physically harming people, who cares. I am all about being inclusive, the Jewish holidays were taught to us in public school along with songs way back in the 60’s. Maybe you are right that religious holidays should be out of the public domain, but Christmas is hardly considered to be a religious holiday anymore.

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    1. I was bring a tad sarcastic. I think everything should be celebrated if it makes people feel good about themselves and gives them a sense of hope. Tolerance is learned when we get to see how others live and see that we can be different and still the same

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  15. I take issue with. many of the holidays being too commercialized. Take any major holiday and there is an accompanying retail sale and it tends to turn into holidayze madness. The origins of some of the holidays and on what dates we celebrate are quite interesting. Almost every religious holiday is tied to a pagan ritual. To learn about all of them makes for a more well-informed, interesting person in which to have a discussion…..oh, wait…….

    For those who truly celebrate a holiday in its truest form, they can carry its message with them to provide some much-needed comfort during challenging times. If you don’t agree with a holiday worldview, don’t celebrate it. 💘🐣🇺🇸👻🎃🍻🍗🎅🏼🎄🥂

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      3. It doesn’t matter. My birthday is three days before Christmas, and I’ve never had the kind of celebrations others had. I’m content, so legislating against birthdays won’t really hurt me. I don’t like being the center of attention.

        Liked by 1 person

  17. lol hand me my Miller Lite, please and thank you. Since it’s a holiday, hand me two.

    Seriously though, I celebrate most holidays and I subscribe to no religion, so there’s that. I just like gifts, trees, food, and getting together with people.

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    1. I’m the same way. I’ll celebrate anything, go to a house of worship of any religion, listen to what they say, their music, how they pray….isn’t life supposed to be a celebration? Especially now….don’t we all need something?

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  18. Well, here’s the thing … holidays were never really meant to be big commercial events. They were originally celebrations of various communities giving thanks for a harvest, winter solstice, spring and other seasonal events. Villages got together and had a celebration. Religious holidays were celebrated in a house of worship or in the wilderness, wherever people could pay homage to their G-d. However, somehow all that changed.

    But, You can’t take away holidays. However, You can make them less public. Jews even in concentration camps celebrated Shabbat every Friday night and said their prayers in secret. Being Jewish I know how my relatives during WWII still prayed, celebrated, and worshiped under the most hideous of circumstances. Their faith was part of their survival . Unfortunately, all of my French relatives but two died in Auschwitz. But, while they could, their faith gave them hope. So That’s how I see holidays. As holy days not as a commercial joke.

    As an elementary school teacher for over three decades we did celebrate the seasonal holidays being all inclusive and not allowing anything too religious to get in the way of separation of church and state. There is history behind holidays and it’s often quite interesting. For instance Christmas around the world takes the religious aspect out of it and gets into cultures. THAT is what we should celebrate. Everyone’s unique culture.

    In the school system we celebrate almost every month as something. I will attach a link of National months worthy of celebrating. But I tried to embrace each month for something in my class. Sometimes a famous author each month etc. . October wasn’t Halloween. It was a fall festival and the school had the children dress up as their favorite book characters rather than typical spooky Halloween costumes.

    Humanity needs celebrations. People work hard and for centuries mankind has rejoiced when our work was done.
    So if you want to celebrate here’s a few ways to do it.

    http://diversitycentral.com/calendar/heritagemonthguide.php

    The list below provides commentary and resources for selected national observances and commemorative months.

    African American History Month (February)
    National African American History Month in February celebrates the contributions that African Americans have made to American history in their struggles for freedom and equality and deepens our understanding of our Nation’s history.
    American Indian Heritage Month (November)
    National American Indian Heritage Month celebrates and recognizes the accomplishments of the peoples who were the original inhabitants, explorers and settlers of the United States.
    Asian Pacific Heritage Month (May)
    Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month is a month to celebrate the contributions Asian/Pacific Americans have made to American history, society and culture.
    Constitution Day and Citizenship Day (September 17)
    Constitution Day and Citizenship Day is observed each year on September 17 to commemorate the signing of the Constitution on September 17, 1787 and “recognize all who, by coming of age or by naturalization, have become citizens.”
    Human Rights Day (December 10)
    Human Rights Day is observed each year to commemorate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948.
    Irish-American Heritage Month (March)
    Irish-American Heritage Month is a month to celebrate the contributions which Irish-Americans have made to the United States.
    Jewish American Heritage Month (May)
    Jewish American Heritage Month is a month to celebrate the contributions Jewish Americans have made to America since they first arrived in New Amsterdam in 1654.
    Law Day (May 1)
    Law Day is a national day to celebrate the rule of law and its contributions to the freedoms Americans enjoy.
    Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month (June)
    Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month commemorates the events of June 1969 and works to achieve equal justice and equal opportunity for LGBTQ Americans.
    National Disability Employment Awareness Month (October)
    National Disability Employment Awareness Month celebrates the accomplishments in the workplace of persons with disabilities and reaffirms the commitment to ensuring equal employment opportunities to all citizens.
    National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15)
    National Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates and recognizes the contributions Hispanic Americans have made to American society and culture and to honor five of our Central American neighbors who celebrate their Independence days in September.
    Women’s History Month (March)
    Women’s History Month honors and celebrates the struggles and achievements of American women throughout the history of the United States.

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    1. I’m all about holidays and I think we should celebrate anything we want. However, with the cancel culture permeating our society…I’m not sure how many people are going to battle celebrating them. There’s now opposition to everything….this is another area where we have to be careful

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  19. we have so many holidays in Brazil – not all holy, and not always national – that instead of giving children 3 months summer vacation, they started giving them between 2 months, and 2 and a 1/2 months every year.

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    1. That’s exactly it. Someone is going to be offended by something. I wish we could stop focusing on being offended, and start focusing on being truly good people who try not to hurt others. If we focused on that, maybe we would get somewhere.

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  22. The key is to just treat each other as we want to be treated. Not always easy (I almost took down my comment, since I could see where it could be hurtful to the poster of that list, and I didn’t mean it to be. She has every right to her opinion.) We won’t always understand each other, and we won’t always agree, but honestly, if just tried to treat each other better, the rest would work itself out, I think.

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  25. This is one of my new favorite of your posts!
    I love absolutely everything about it. From the initial Halloween and Christmas people (I’m not either or, I’m both, so how does that mess with your theory?) to the crossing off of holidays. Thank you for making me grin this big today! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

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