comment: >
  
  And mostly likely not even around the time of year he was actually born.
context: This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.
  Remember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not "thoughts had in the shower!"
  (For an explanation of what a "showerthought" is, please read this page.)
  Rule-breaking posts may result in bans. >
  
  It's even weirder in Colombia where Jesus is actually the one giving you the presents apparently.
  So instead of not getting anything he's the one giving you the gifts. >
  
  I mean, that's kinda like giving out candy on your birthday at school >
  
  When I was in school, we gave out cupcakes at school on our birthday.  Does that count? >
  
  Him not getting present is fairly reasonable, when was the last time you bought your dead relative a present?
  And most people celebrate it like I do I think, where it's not about what the holiday is about, but family tradition >
  
  Well tbf the dead man in question did get better after a couple days. >
  
  Let me reword it then, how many of your relatives or friends who have ascended to heaven are you buying gifts for? >
  
  None of them since it's been a bit difficult for me to find the postal code for heaven. >
  
  it’s just “4”, oddly enough >
  
  Mista would like to have a word with you. >
  
  My immigrant parents have no idea the true meaning of American holidays. They just know it looks fun and there's tons of food. So really it's more like we're celebrating Winter Solstice, so all the fun parts of modern Christmas that the Christians co-opted and none of the religion parts. Unless, you are me in my 20s where my celebrations were more akin to Saturnalia. >
  
  That is kinda wholesome >
  
  As is usually the case in this sub, OP is mistaking etymology for meaning.
  Those of us who do not believe in Jesus are NOT, in fact, celebrating his "birthday." We're continuing a celebration that long predated the celebration's re-naming to Christmas, in fact. >
  
  Also, atheists don't believe that there is a god or that Jesus walked on water, but not all of them think that Jesus was made up entirely >
  
  Atheist here. I celebrate the American parts of christmas. The tree, Santa, gifts, holiday spirit. No church or religious aspects of it. I also believe Jesus existed, there's plenty of historical documents supporting that. But I highly doubt he was born on this date. There's no evidence to suggest we know Jesus' birthday, and Its too coincidental that it falls under the same date celebrating the winter solstace under Paganism and the Roman Empire. Most believe the date was chosen by Constantine when he converted the Roman Empire to Christianity to make the transition seamless, since most in the Roman empire celebrated Sol Invictus on that day. >
  
  You sound like 99% of religious Americans. >
  
  How so? The celebrating of the tree and Santa and all that but without all the religious baggage? Sounds good to me if so. >
  
  Tons of Americans say they’re Christian and believe in Jesus C but they don’t go to church but still celebrate the Xmas tree, presents, Xmas songs, American tradition, etc. At least we’re honest and we say we’re atheist/agnostic. 
  So, you/we sound like most religious Americans.
  TLDR; Christian Americans and atheists Americans celebrate Xmas very similarly. >
  
  I guess. To me it's more about intent and belief than anything. I don't disagree that many somewhat religious Americans treat this holiday as more of a corporate hallmark holiday like valentines day vs a truly religious day. I was raised in that American sense of let's open presents and relax. Jesus never came up. So maybe that's why I'm happy to carry on this tradition in my family as it holds little to no religious significance to me. >
  
  More TLDR; I know way too many Christians that never go to church but celebrate Xmas and when good things happen they say it’s due to god, etc. >
  
  I always thought it was about the winter solstice. Fairly certain Jesus was not born on December 25. >
  
  (I say this as a committed Christian critical of many traditions) It was just a solid marketing tactic. >
  
  Nah, Christmas is just millions of people celebrating Saturnalia without knowing it. >
  
  Absolutely this. But our people never stopped celebrating Yule/Winter Solstice(Saturnalia was the Roman version)
  Didn't even know that christmas was about jesus' death day until pretty late >
  
  I don’t know much about religion (atheist) but it’s not his death day. It’s his birthday. Do you mean Easter? >
  
  No, Easter is the celebration of spring and new life.
  It's the day of the goddess Oestre. >
  
  You're correct, but the Christian tradition is indeed the opposite of what you think. Easter is the celebration of Jesus' resurrection (new life) after his death 3 days before (Good Friday). Christmas is his birthday (the birth of new light, when the days start getting longer again). >
  
  Never understood the math on that. Jesus died on specifically Friday, then is resurrected specifically 3 days later on specifically Sunday (which is 2 days later). ?? >
  
  Well, ancient Roman tradition was that both the first and the last day were included in the count. So Friday, Saturday, Sunday = 3 days.
  In some parts of Germany, people say "in acht Tagen" (in eight days") when they mean "in einer Woche" ("in a week"), for the same reason. Explanation in English on Wiktionary. >
  
  As an Atheist, I know Jesus existed, I just think people are chatting shit about what he got up to >
  
  I know next to nothing about Christianity so I’ve just gone down a rabbit hole trying to understand people existing before Jesus and figuring out God and Jesus aren’t the same at all and wow. So much and so confused. >
  
  Well the kicker is that they are the same, along with the holy spirit, kind of.
  And since the holy spirit is what got Mary pregnant, and Jesus refers to God as his father, it kinda looks like he had 2 dads, both of whom are also him. >
  
  "How the hell are you pregnant Mary??? We haven't even had sex!"
  "Oh, ummmm.. it was the holy spirit that got me pregnant."
  "Ah, fair enough."
  The world's oldest cheating story🙃 >
  
  It happened because he had a dream where an angel confirmed that Mary was telling the truth >
  
  Could be he was a pretty decent guy and lied to everyone else and went along with it to either cover up for her infidelity or she had been raped >
  
  Or, and hear me out, he impregnated her himself and made up the story with her to keep from being outcasts. >
  
  Most of the "christmas" traditions are actually Yule traditions that predate Christianity. Christmas mass and the nativity scene are the only christian elements of the holiday >
  
  I’m not convinced I’m celebrating anyone’s birth or unknowingly celebrating any holiday of any religion. 
  I’m just spending time with my family. Surrounded by decorations of snowmen, snow, lights, Santa clause. Surely this doesn’t resemble the celebration of anyone’s birth. Even if it were so I do not do it with the intent of recognizing that person. 
  If I go out for pizza on a random day with my friends, am I celebrating the birthday of everyone on that day? >
  
  Christmas is just like any other day just presents included. >
  
  Pretty much everyone believes Jesus existed, surely? It’s just whether or not he was the divine son of god that’s a problem >
  
  Why would people believe he was real? There are 0 contemporary sources for his existence during his lifetime. The earliest is like 200 years after his supposed death. >
  
  There’s no need to make stuff up mate >
  
  Then why are you? >
  
  Well, I’m not. A majority of people believe in historical Jesus. There’s scholarly consensus on the matter too. There are sources for his existence within a century of his birth, let alone 200 years of his death >
  
  I'm not religious but Christmas for me is the biggest festivity, it just means to stay with my family, have dinner/lunch together etc. You don't have to believe to celebrate. >
  
  1) it's not his real birthday
  2) who cares that it is ?
  3) it was a thing before it had anything to do with him
  4) just another pretext to eat and drink too much and hopefully enjoy a familly reunion
  5) in many languages, christ(as in christmas) is not even part of the name
  6) for many it's more about offering/receiving gifts. Religion is just optional decorations. Santa claus(and others) will often steal the show. >
  
  Winter solstice has been celebrated by many cultures long before Jesus existed. Christianity came along and stole a lot of the traditions and made them about Jesus. 
  Cause what the fuck does an evergreen tree symbolize about Jesus? 
  Next we will learn about Easter and how rabbits and ducks and eggs symbolize fertility and not Jesus! >
  
  Same with midsummer in sweden, we party big at the night when the sun is up the lpngest to celebrate and enjoy the fact warm times are here for a while. >
  
  Technically people are celebrating christmas for santa not jesus >
  
  I believe it still a popular holiday because stores profit a lot with otherwise society would ignore like the other christian holidays. >
  
  Pretty sure in the myth he got presents from those three guys >
  
  Nope, there's only 3 presents; there is no mention of how many guys it was except that it had to be 2 or more. >
  
  Also no mention of the unspecified number of guys being kings >
  
  Christmas is the ancient celebration of the sun getting higher in the sky. As winter reaches its apex the sun spends less and less time in the sky. For ancient peoples this was horrifying, considering the sun gave warmth and grew their crops. Christmas is this first day that the sun is seen to be trending in the direction of staying out longer and longer, leading eventually to spring, and non-starvation. “Jesus” is the “sun” of god. He is literally the sun. >
  
  Christmas is actually the spiritual successor of Saturnalia, a Roman holiday. >
  
  Which was the successor of yule, the winter solstice celebration dating back thousands of years >
  
  Interesting! Surprised I never learned this. Thanks for sharing 😊. >
  
  People were celebrating the winter solstice long before it was hijacked by Christianity. >
  
  Jesus ain’t the guy that’s being celebrated, it’s the Sun. The shortest day is December 21st then by the 25th we can tell that the days are getting longer, the rebirth. >
  
  ... we do have a church service where we give him presents, you know. >
  
  Huh? Not where I live. >
  
  Every year on the regular, third sunday of Advent. Gift and Crib service, like the harvest festival but Christmas themed, gifts ceremonially presented to Jesus and then sent to the homeless of the parish. I mean, he must be fed up of all the 'we made a charity donation in your name for Christmas' but we've always done it.
  Given that my church is very ecumenical in nature I can't tell you which denomination we inherited it from. Maybe the Baptists? >
  
  Most people are celebrating time off work and some much needed relaxation, nothing more. >
  
  It's a purely secular holiday for me. Just an excuse to take a few days off and eat too much. >
  
  It used to be a pagan celebration of the solstice so traditionally doesn’t even have Christian roots I’d that makes you feel better. It’s secular for me too >
  
  Christmas was a mid-winter festival which was co-opted by the bishops after they gained control of the Roman Empire. 
  It has nothing to do with Christianity. It celebrates the feast of the unconquered Sun ‘ Sol invictus’ >
  
  Knew a guy that his wife would buy a birthday cake for celebrating jesus' birthday on Christmas >
  
  Jesus isn't to be believed or not believed in, my good bitch. >
  
  It's true, Jesus is shady af.
  Dude still owes me $20 >
  
  I’m not celebrating the religious Sid rod Christmas. I fully understand that j am celebrating the commercial side of the holiday. Thus the trees and decorating and gifting giving and cards and candy and mulled hot beverages. >
  
  I've celebrated christmas all my life.  It has nothing to do with the jesus myth.  More like family, tradition, and atmosphere. >
  
  It's actually a winter solstice celebration that the catholic church Christianed Up because they couldn't get people to stop celebrating as Pagans. >
  
  I'm celebrating the pagan aspect. It was Yule first before the Romans messed with it. >
  
  That’s….that’s not at all what Christmas is. Not to mention you’re applying parts of the secular side of Christmas to the Christian side >
  
  If he existed it probably wasn't his birthday in the first place >
  
  Also in the wrong time of year. The Shepard would not have been out tending their flocks at night if it weren't lambing season, which is in April. >
  
  He got his gold, francincense and myrr. What more.does he need >
  
  Per Tim Allen - "Christmas is about giving" ...all your money to the corporations at the end of q4 so they finish the year strong. >
  
  If I were Jesus I wouldn't be upset about the lack of gifts. Id be upset that everyone celebrates on some random winter day instead of on my (his) birthday. >
  
  But then the hyper consumerization of Christmas by corporations is even more weird >
  
  Nah, the tradition existed before Christianity. It was a pagan celebration after the winter solstice - celebrating that days are getting longer. Its been celebrated for thousands of years predating Jesus. Christianity appropriated it fully. Take that out of the equation and it makes a lot more sense. So much of the celebration has continued to this day, just with a weird Abrahamic covering. >
  
  It was also a feast made to make the people put on some weight and get energy before the harsh winter months. >
  
  Half of people don’t believe he existed?
  I’m not Christian or accept supernatural events. 
  But the Roman era evidence is pretty strong considering he was a wandering illiterate peasant who was unceremoniously executed. >
  
  Christmas is based of Saturnalia. A Roman holiday that was around fro nearly 1000 years before Christ. It's still a time of celebration and togetherness and always has been. >
  
  Christmas and Easter are both a Christian patch-over of more ancient (Celtic etc) festivals.  These are Yule and Eostre. >
  
  It is a little strange, but Jesus was a pretty cool guy, many of his more progressive views are annoyingly still controversial today. (Like how the rich should give to the poor, prostitutes are alright etc) >
  
  Christmas in America is really just an amalgomation of several European “pagan” winter solstice traditions that just got retooled into a Christian holiday, then all combined with the different groups of European immigrants coming to America. >
  
  It's really not weird. It's a typical human society early brain hack.
  Religious symbology isn't just for the True Believer. People are really good at tricking parts of their mind into believing small Concepts in order to willfully manipulate their feelings.
  This is why you get people who will throw holiday parties but aren't necessarily into the traditional reason for the holiday. It's a mental hack in order to generate an interesting experience.
  Some families like to use their tradition, for good or for worse, to reinforce the social connection in their family using the suggested structural elements from the religion. They may not follow other aspects of the religion so closely but they like the structure it provides. 
  Many humans like taking structure from traditions and then adding their own feelings based goals on top of it.
  Classic human ape behavior. >
  
  It's more of a holiday now. Not much religiosity involved unless you're a fanatic >
  
  There's plenty of religion involved when you're from a Christian country. >
  
  The UK doesn't celebrate Christmas all that religiously. >
  
  My love, my boyfriend, was born today. I gave him his presents yesterday, just because I couldn't wait. (And Taeget decided I need to work since assholes HAVE to wait until the day before Christmas to get fucking gifts!!! -.-) >
  
  Dead Palestinian wandering mystic who may have been part of a mushroom cult. Humans are weird af. >
  
  Why the fuck would you buy a dead guy who you didnt know a present?
  Also, atheists by and large dont deny that jesus christ was a person. There's significant evidence he existed. Not quite as much evidence that his dad was a man who lives in the sky as he claimed. >
  
  Moisturiser >
  
  FYI a lot of us aren't celebrating anything except the fact that it's Christmas. I could care less about Jesus. I'm here for trees and lights and Santa shit. Christians that still think Christmas is a Christian holiday are kidding themselves. Jesus was born in the summer. They stole literally every component of Christmas from other cultures, from people who have been celebrating this time of year for thousands of years, and just slapped Jesus onto it and claimed the best holiday? Fuck that. Christmas is for everyone, and it has nothing to do with Jesus, otherwise how the fuck does Santa fit in? Songs about Christmas that talk about Jesus are all boring as shit, and people who try to make Christmas about Jesus are absolutely insufferable. >
  
  Jesus was born in the spring >
  
  I heard June but I might be wrong. >
  
  Nah it's April 6th, same day he died >
  
  God, why such a terrible birthday present? >
  
  This is why Christians invite you to Christmas mass, to bring new souls to their hungering God, a present for their Lord is souls stolen from reason
  But also dozens of stories pre-dating Jesus of Nazareth already existed claiming the exact same godliness. Plus "Christmas" is just a hodgepodge of winter celebrations that the Roman Catholic church couldn't squash in their colonies. >
  
  Christmas has become more of a commercial thing anyway. Just to buy shit and do family gatherings, I guess. Most of the time >
  
  When i was a kid, my mom would bake Jesus a birthday cake and we would sing happy birthday to him.  cringe >
  
  And we don’t even know for certain when Jesus was born >
  
  Nope, we don't. However, we know to within a 60-minute window when he died, which tells what was more important. >
  
  Fun fact, even if Jesus was real, he most likely wasn't born in December. 
  December 25th was picked as the day of Christmas because of the concentration of various pagan and foreign religious holidays falling in the same time period (Winter Solstice); such as the Jewish Hanukkah, and the pagan Norse Yuletide. >
  
  Easter is weirder. 
  “We should celebrate the son of God rising from the dead after being publicly executed” 
  “Great idea, what are you thinking? Re-enactments of him carrying the cross or rising again?”
  “Actually, I’m thinking a giant rabbit that lays chocolate eggs, and everyone has to look around for the eggs”
  “You sonofabitch, I’m in” >
  
  
  “Great idea, what are you thinking? Re-enactments of him carrying the cross or rising again?”
  
  This is actually the catholic celebration ( I mean, kind of anyways). If you've never heard, look up 'Stations of the Cross' it's a 14 step celebration of Jesus' big haul of the cross up the hill, and you have to kneel through it all to suffer like Jesus did. Hated that shit in school.