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In a society where originality is something most people press for, why do we stick to old traditions?
We are a generation of people where it is ‘cool’ to be atheists and not give two hoots about following rules and suchlike. But those same ‘bad ass’ atheists will sit around on Christmas morning with their families and open presents. With Christmas day being the birth of Jesus, isn’t it a little hypocritical for atheists, people who believe religion is a load of rubbish, to still celebrate the occasion. It is the equivalent of a Manchester United fan celebration Tottenham beating Brighton. But atheists still will celebrate Christmas, probably get chocolate eggs at Easter and get married in a church. Why? Not because they are religious but because it is traditional.
Tradition seems to override pretty much everything and people will follow it to the bitter end. Think of major traditions that effect your life. On the 5th November we have bonfires and set off rocket into the sky. This is all because a revolutionary tried to blow up the king. Most people, regardless of how the movement would have affected their own lives, will attend bonfires and cheer as a newspaper-centred dummy is torched.
Christmas is a prime example of a tradition. I know people who are Hindu’s, Sikhs, Mormons and Muslims, and all of them get presents on Christmas day. Not because they are celebrating the birth of Jesus, or even necessarily believe in him, but we are a selfish species and find it hard to turn down gifts in the name of faith. Gifts are a physical thing, faith is not. People will have you believe material good cannot bring happiness – but they have a lot of opposition I am sure.
Pretty much everyone I know celebrates on New Years Eve. Why? It is just a day that happens to be at the end of the year. Nothing significant happened there but without fail ever year we will go out and get smashed and make a resolution that we will break within the hour. We sing ‘Auld Lang Sein’ without the faintest idea as to what it means, but somehow we all know the words. Perhaps some bloke called ‘Lang Sein’ invented New Year. I am typing this in Microsoft word and the term “new year” is auto-changed to “New Year” as if there is some sort of importance about it.
We celebrate Halloween for perhaps a poorer excuse, it is pagan belief that the dead rise on this occasion, and so what do we do? We dress our kids up in costumes and send them round to the neighbours to get free sweets. I would say that people believed this was stupid, but no, when my little sister went trick or treating (where the term itself comes from it a mystery) she brought home a wheelbarrow full of sweets. People stick carved pumpkins on their doorsteps and cobwebs in their windows and jolly novelty-shop owners roll in cash and laugh at us for buying silly misshapen plastic thingies.
Valentines day is another commercialised tradition and the shops are filled with soppy cards and fluffy bears holding oversized hearts that you are meant to give to those you fancy in hope they will be besotted with your trend following and marry you. This is a ‘saint’s’ day, which means absolutely nothing. There wasn’t really a St Valentine, nor is there a fat little cherub who shoots people with a bow and arrow. Valentines day is another silly tradition to help blundering idiots try and be romantic.
There are other saints days, St Georges day is a load of rubbish, but it seems that people don’t really do anything except act slightly more patriotic and put up a union jack for a day. What’s the point in celebrating a fictional bloke who killed a fictional dragon? It was probably, in reality, a drunken man fighting a lizard. St Patrick’s day is another chance for the Irish to get drunk and hit things whilst celebrating a man who also got drunk and punched things. The other saint’s day run along similar lines and are equally rubbish.
So why do we stick rigidly to these age-old traditions? There is no real reason or motive to do so; it is just something we, by large majority at least, are driven to do. I’m not going to implore you to beat the corporate system and boycott traditions, just to see if anyone shares my view. Killjoy; me?
We are a generation of people where it is ‘cool’ to be atheists and not give two hoots about following rules and suchlike. But those same ‘bad ass’ atheists will sit around on Christmas morning with their families and open presents. With Christmas day being the birth of Jesus, isn’t it a little hypocritical for atheists, people who believe religion is a load of rubbish, to still celebrate the occasion. It is the equivalent of a Manchester United fan celebration Tottenham beating Brighton. But atheists still will celebrate Christmas, probably get chocolate eggs at Easter and get married in a church. Why? Not because they are religious but because it is traditional.
Tradition seems to override pretty much everything and people will follow it to the bitter end. Think of major traditions that effect your life. On the 5th November we have bonfires and set off rocket into the sky. This is all because a revolutionary tried to blow up the king. Most people, regardless of how the movement would have affected their own lives, will attend bonfires and cheer as a newspaper-centred dummy is torched.
Christmas is a prime example of a tradition. I know people who are Hindu’s, Sikhs, Mormons and Muslims, and all of them get presents on Christmas day. Not because they are celebrating the birth of Jesus, or even necessarily believe in him, but we are a selfish species and find it hard to turn down gifts in the name of faith. Gifts are a physical thing, faith is not. People will have you believe material good cannot bring happiness – but they have a lot of opposition I am sure.
Pretty much everyone I know celebrates on New Years Eve. Why? It is just a day that happens to be at the end of the year. Nothing significant happened there but without fail ever year we will go out and get smashed and make a resolution that we will break within the hour. We sing ‘Auld Lang Sein’ without the faintest idea as to what it means, but somehow we all know the words. Perhaps some bloke called ‘Lang Sein’ invented New Year. I am typing this in Microsoft word and the term “new year” is auto-changed to “New Year” as if there is some sort of importance about it.
We celebrate Halloween for perhaps a poorer excuse, it is pagan belief that the dead rise on this occasion, and so what do we do? We dress our kids up in costumes and send them round to the neighbours to get free sweets. I would say that people believed this was stupid, but no, when my little sister went trick or treating (where the term itself comes from it a mystery) she brought home a wheelbarrow full of sweets. People stick carved pumpkins on their doorsteps and cobwebs in their windows and jolly novelty-shop owners roll in cash and laugh at us for buying silly misshapen plastic thingies.
Valentines day is another commercialised tradition and the shops are filled with soppy cards and fluffy bears holding oversized hearts that you are meant to give to those you fancy in hope they will be besotted with your trend following and marry you. This is a ‘saint’s’ day, which means absolutely nothing. There wasn’t really a St Valentine, nor is there a fat little cherub who shoots people with a bow and arrow. Valentines day is another silly tradition to help blundering idiots try and be romantic.
There are other saints days, St Georges day is a load of rubbish, but it seems that people don’t really do anything except act slightly more patriotic and put up a union jack for a day. What’s the point in celebrating a fictional bloke who killed a fictional dragon? It was probably, in reality, a drunken man fighting a lizard. St Patrick’s day is another chance for the Irish to get drunk and hit things whilst celebrating a man who also got drunk and punched things. The other saint’s day run along similar lines and are equally rubbish.
So why do we stick rigidly to these age-old traditions? There is no real reason or motive to do so; it is just something we, by large majority at least, are driven to do. I’m not going to implore you to beat the corporate system and boycott traditions, just to see if anyone shares my view. Killjoy; me?
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Thanks for the in-depth reply mate. I guess Christmas is now seen as more of a family thing where everyone comes together and stuff, which is a reform of what it originally was, but a good one nethertheless
I agree with you about Valentines Day. But, I don’t share your views when it comes to Christmas and New Year.
I have been brought up in a Christian family, and although I’m not a Christian myself I do celebrate Christmas. I don’t see it as a religious occasion; I see it as a family occasion, a day to celebrate just how lucky we actually are and the chance to try and make someone happy by giving them a gift.
I’m sure there are people out there that see Christmas as a day when they have the chance to receive gifts; I mean hey, I used to be one of them. But I think this has to with age.
I also know of people that don’t celebrate Christmas in the slightest. There are plenty of other celebratory events in which I don’t partake. So I think to generalise and say that the human species is selfish is wrong. The vast majority may be, but not all.
One Christmas tradition that does confuse me is the people who aren’t Christian, don’t go to church at all, all year round, but do go on Christmas day. Who knows?
Right, New Year.
Again for me this is a chance to think how lucky I am. Not only that, but also to reflect on the year that has passed and think a little about the year to come…probably why the suicide rates are so high at this time of year, eh?
Halloween is not something I celebrate. I can’t stand it, but that’s just me.
I have been brought up in a Christian family, and although I’m not a Christian myself I do celebrate Christmas. I don’t see it as a religious occasion; I see it as a family occasion, a day to celebrate just how lucky we actually are and the chance to try and make someone happy by giving them a gift.
I’m sure there are people out there that see Christmas as a day when they have the chance to receive gifts; I mean hey, I used to be one of them. But I think this has to with age.
I also know of people that don’t celebrate Christmas in the slightest. There are plenty of other celebratory events in which I don’t partake. So I think to generalise and say that the human species is selfish is wrong. The vast majority may be, but not all.
One Christmas tradition that does confuse me is the people who aren’t Christian, don’t go to church at all, all year round, but do go on Christmas day. Who knows?
Right, New Year.
Again for me this is a chance to think how lucky I am. Not only that, but also to reflect on the year that has passed and think a little about the year to come…probably why the suicide rates are so high at this time of year, eh?
Halloween is not something I celebrate. I can’t stand it, but that’s just me.
In a society where originality is something most people press for, why do we stick to old traditions?
We are a generation of people where it is ‘cool’ to be atheists and not give two hoots about following rules and suchlike. But those same ‘bad ass’ atheists will sit around on Christmas morning with their families and open presents. With Christmas day being the birth of Jesus, isn’t it a little hypocritical for atheists, people who believe religion is a load of rubbish, to still celebrate the occasion. It is the equivalent of a Manchester United fan celebration Tottenham beating Brighton. But atheists still will celebrate Christmas, probably get chocolate eggs at Easter and get married in a church. Why? Not because they are religious but because it is traditional.
Tradition seems to override pretty much everything and people will follow it to the bitter end. Think of major traditions that effect your life. On the 5th November we have bonfires and set off rocket into the sky. This is all because a revolutionary tried to blow up the king. Most people, regardless of how the movement would have affected their own lives, will attend bonfires and cheer as a newspaper-centred dummy is torched.
Christmas is a prime example of a tradition. I know people who are Hindu’s, Sikhs, Mormons and Muslims, and all of them get presents on Christmas day. Not because they are celebrating the birth of Jesus, or even necessarily believe in him, but we are a selfish species and find it hard to turn down gifts in the name of faith. Gifts are a physical thing, faith is not. People will have you believe material good cannot bring happiness – but they have a lot of opposition I am sure.
Pretty much everyone I know celebrates on New Years Eve. Why? It is just a day that happens to be at the end of the year. Nothing significant happened there but without fail ever year we will go out and get smashed and make a resolution that we will break within the hour. We sing ‘Auld Lang Sein’ without the faintest idea as to what it means, but somehow we all know the words. Perhaps some bloke called ‘Lang Sein’ invented New Year. I am typing this in Microsoft word and the term “new year” is auto-changed to “New Year” as if there is some sort of importance about it.
We celebrate Halloween for perhaps a poorer excuse, it is pagan belief that the dead rise on this occasion, and so what do we do? We dress our kids up in costumes and send them round to the neighbours to get free sweets. I would say that people believed this was stupid, but no, when my little sister went trick or treating (where the term itself comes from it a mystery) she brought home a wheelbarrow full of sweets. People stick carved pumpkins on their doorsteps and cobwebs in their windows and jolly novelty-shop owners roll in cash and laugh at us for buying silly misshapen plastic thingies.
Valentines day is another commercialised tradition and the shops are filled with soppy cards and fluffy bears holding oversized hearts that you are meant to give to those you fancy in hope they will be besotted with your trend following and marry you. This is a ‘saint’s’ day, which means absolutely nothing. There wasn’t really a St Valentine, nor is there a fat little cherub who shoots people with a bow and arrow. Valentines day is another silly tradition to help blundering idiots try and be romantic.
There are other saints days, St Georges day is a load of rubbish, but it seems that people don’t really do anything except act slightly more patriotic and put up a union jack for a day. What’s the point in celebrating a fictional bloke who killed a fictional dragon? It was probably, in reality, a drunken man fighting a lizard. St Patrick’s day is another chance for the Irish to get drunk and hit things whilst celebrating a man who also got drunk and punched things. The other saint’s day run along similar lines and are equally rubbish.
So why do we stick rigidly to these age-old traditions? There is no real reason or motive to do so; it is just something we, by large majority at least, are driven to do. I’m not going to implore you to beat the corporate system and boycott traditions, just to see if anyone shares my view. Killjoy; me?
We are a generation of people where it is ‘cool’ to be atheists and not give two hoots about following rules and suchlike. But those same ‘bad ass’ atheists will sit around on Christmas morning with their families and open presents. With Christmas day being the birth of Jesus, isn’t it a little hypocritical for atheists, people who believe religion is a load of rubbish, to still celebrate the occasion. It is the equivalent of a Manchester United fan celebration Tottenham beating Brighton. But atheists still will celebrate Christmas, probably get chocolate eggs at Easter and get married in a church. Why? Not because they are religious but because it is traditional.
Tradition seems to override pretty much everything and people will follow it to the bitter end. Think of major traditions that effect your life. On the 5th November we have bonfires and set off rocket into the sky. This is all because a revolutionary tried to blow up the king. Most people, regardless of how the movement would have affected their own lives, will attend bonfires and cheer as a newspaper-centred dummy is torched.
Christmas is a prime example of a tradition. I know people who are Hindu’s, Sikhs, Mormons and Muslims, and all of them get presents on Christmas day. Not because they are celebrating the birth of Jesus, or even necessarily believe in him, but we are a selfish species and find it hard to turn down gifts in the name of faith. Gifts are a physical thing, faith is not. People will have you believe material good cannot bring happiness – but they have a lot of opposition I am sure.
Pretty much everyone I know celebrates on New Years Eve. Why? It is just a day that happens to be at the end of the year. Nothing significant happened there but without fail ever year we will go out and get smashed and make a resolution that we will break within the hour. We sing ‘Auld Lang Sein’ without the faintest idea as to what it means, but somehow we all know the words. Perhaps some bloke called ‘Lang Sein’ invented New Year. I am typing this in Microsoft word and the term “new year” is auto-changed to “New Year” as if there is some sort of importance about it.
We celebrate Halloween for perhaps a poorer excuse, it is pagan belief that the dead rise on this occasion, and so what do we do? We dress our kids up in costumes and send them round to the neighbours to get free sweets. I would say that people believed this was stupid, but no, when my little sister went trick or treating (where the term itself comes from it a mystery) she brought home a wheelbarrow full of sweets. People stick carved pumpkins on their doorsteps and cobwebs in their windows and jolly novelty-shop owners roll in cash and laugh at us for buying silly misshapen plastic thingies.
Valentines day is another commercialised tradition and the shops are filled with soppy cards and fluffy bears holding oversized hearts that you are meant to give to those you fancy in hope they will be besotted with your trend following and marry you. This is a ‘saint’s’ day, which means absolutely nothing. There wasn’t really a St Valentine, nor is there a fat little cherub who shoots people with a bow and arrow. Valentines day is another silly tradition to help blundering idiots try and be romantic.
There are other saints days, St Georges day is a load of rubbish, but it seems that people don’t really do anything except act slightly more patriotic and put up a union jack for a day. What’s the point in celebrating a fictional bloke who killed a fictional dragon? It was probably, in reality, a drunken man fighting a lizard. St Patrick’s day is another chance for the Irish to get drunk and hit things whilst celebrating a man who also got drunk and punched things. The other saint’s day run along similar lines and are equally rubbish.
So why do we stick rigidly to these age-old traditions? There is no real reason or motive to do so; it is just something we, by large majority at least, are driven to do. I’m not going to implore you to beat the corporate system and boycott traditions, just to see if anyone shares my view. Killjoy; me?
Page: