{"id":5662,"date":"2021-12-21T15:20:25","date_gmt":"2021-12-21T15:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/why-is-christmas-a-national-holiday"},"modified":"2021-12-21T16:38:38","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T16:38:38","slug":"why-is-christmas-a-national-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/why-is-christmas-a-national-holiday","title":{"rendered":"Why Is Christmas A National Holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. <\/strong><\/span>With Christmas Day around the corner, the annual debate has resurfaced about why it is celebrated with a national holiday and not any other religion. Christmas is not seen in the same way as Eid is for Muslims, Diwali is for Hindus, or Yom Kippur is for Jews. In Liberia, like America, which wrote our constitution, even if you do not believe in the tenets of the Christian faith, most people are raised \u201ccultural Christians.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Wynfred Russell, [email protected], Contributing Writer<\/b><\/p>\n

This means even though some people are not Christians, the values of Christianity are deeply intertwined with American values. The same is true in Liberia, where I grew up. Without absorbing Judeo-Christian values, one cannot grow up in America or be an American. Similarly, anyone who has lived their entire life in India is considered a cultural Hindu. Someone from Sudan will be a cultural Muslim, no matter their actual faith or lack thereof.<\/p>\n

However, that is not why Liberia, and the US passed a law declaring Christmas Day a national holiday, but not Diwali, Yom Kippur, or Eid al-Fitr. Christmas is not a \u2018religious\u2019 holiday, unlike Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim festivals.<\/p>\n

I am a Christian and attended the Ganta United Methodist Mission boarding school; I learned that Christmas is not fundamental in biblical teachings. It is not referenced in the Bible and was not even mentioned by Christian theologians until centuries after Jesus\u2019 death. None of the Gospels gives a date or season for Christ\u2019s birth, certainly not in December, which is so narrowly confined to White North Americans and Europeans nostalgia.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheologically, I find Christmas meaning in two dimensions,\u201d said Mark Nordell, a retired United Methodist pastor. \u201cThe first, in the mythic angel telling us not to be afraid. The second is in John 1:14, where the vision of incarnation begins for me. Christologically, incarnation, \u2018word becoming flesh,\u2019 means much more to me than redemption.\u201d<\/p>\n

The early settlers in colonial Boston [USA] outlawed Christmas. Christians in New England kept up their \u2018war on Christmas\u2019 until the late 1800s, as they considered it a pagan holiday that had more to do with the \u201cheathen\u2019s Saturnalia\u201d (an ancient Roman festival honoring the god Saturn) than with Jesus.<\/p>\n

Christmas is a religious, secular, cultural, and commercial phenomenon with its reindeer, Christmas trees, elves, and Sani Clauses. It is celebrated worldwide: in Kano, Nigeria, which is 95% Muslim; Christmas has become popular in Japan, although only about 2% of the population is Christian.<\/p>\n

Christmas is more a cult of capitalism than anything else, accounting for more than 20% of total yearly retail sales in the US alone. Christmas is about buying stuff and exchanging gifts. I do not intend to insult Christians, but Christmas does not hold the same sacred significance as other religions\u2019 holidays.<\/p>\n

That is why most people globally, regardless of their faith, celebrate Christmas but do not, for example, observe Easter. The former is a secular festival, while the latter is Christianity\u2019s most important religious holiday. The Establishment Clause of the Liberian constitution was intended to prevent the government from \u201cestablishing\u201d an official state religion; that is why Easter, Eid, Diwali, Yom Kippur, and other religious festivals are not observed national holidays. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Liberia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. With Christmas Day around the corner, the annual debate has resurfaced about why it is celebrated with a national holiday and not any other religion. Christmas is not seen in the same way as Eid is for Muslims, Diwali is for Hindus, or Yom Kippur is for Jews. In Liberia, like America, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":5661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,6,8,16],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-5662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-liberia","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Is Christmas A National Holiday - Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With Christmas Day around the corner, the annual debate has resurfaced about why it is celebrated with a national holida ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/why-is-christmas-a-national-holiday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Is Christmas A National Holiday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With Christmas Day around the corner, the annual debate has resurfaced about why it is celebrated with a national holida ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/why-is-christmas-a-national-holiday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Liberia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-21T15:20:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-21T16:38:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/img-61c202e9bb29b.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1556\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"951\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/why-is-christmas-a-national-holiday#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/why-is-christmas-a-national-holiday\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Why Is Christmas A National Holiday\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-21T15:20:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-21T16:38:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/why-is-christmas-a-national-holiday\"},\"wordCount\":558,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/why-is-christmas-a-national-holiday#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2021\/12\/img-61c202e9bb29b.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Liberia\",\"Liberia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/why-is-christmas-a-national-holiday#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/why-is-christmas-a-national-holiday\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/why-is-christmas-a-national-holiday\",\"name\":\"Why Is Christmas A National Holiday - 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