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 Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:46 pm
Well, it isn't a crime to be Catholic...-_- I've never been baptised because Mom wanted us to find God on our own so that the bond would be stronger (it did work), but I go to a Catholic church and there really isn't much difference between the two.
The only real thing is that we're more traditional. I'm not so fond of the hierarchy, but the flat out church, which is all that counts, is fine. Catholics just kept the traditions that Protestants cast out.
And now, I don't want to get into a fight about religion, so let's drop it.
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Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:51 pm
Akira_Hoshino Embarrassingly enough, I was shocked to read that some (Americans) don't know the meaning behind Easter... but I was born and raised in church. It should make more sense to me that non-believers don't know. Christmas and Easter have become totally commercialized. I don't mind, because I think it's important for people to have holidays to relax and have fun. But as a Christian I guess I celebrate it a little differently than a non-Christian. I watched a video about Japanese holidays, and the family was eating KFC at their Christmas dinner too. xd We got a laugh out of that, but hey, why not? Personally I've never liked our usually Christmas turkey. (We have ham at my aunts house but not at home because I have Jewish friends and relatives.) The one thing that annoys me is that people think if you celebrate Christmas and Easter for its original "meaning" that you must be Catholic. I'm not Catholic; I'm a Protestant. So before people start asking me if I go to confession... >.< Sorry, it just happens all the time. I don't really know them but they don't really matter to me because even though I'm baptised a United Christian I'm Atheist thus I don't believe in god so I don't really care what they're about. I just give gifts to people.
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Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:52 pm
stare I never said there was anything wrong with being Catholic - most of my friends are for goodness' sake. I just hate that so many people seem to think all Christians are Catholic. It's a perfectly understandable feeling. I don't know where you live, but where I am Catholic and Protestant religion are very different. I get along with my friends because the underlying belief that there is only one God and that Jesus is our Savior is present in both denominations and we have decided that for us nothing else matters - doctrines, traditions, etc. I'm also friends with plenty non-believers and we don't fight over our beliefs either - we respect each other and know how to talk civilly.
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Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:54 pm
Mikagi-sama Akira_Hoshino Embarrassingly enough, I was shocked to read that some (Americans) don't know the meaning behind Easter... but I was born and raised in church. It should make more sense to me that non-believers don't know. Christmas and Easter have become totally commercialized. I don't mind, because I think it's important for people to have holidays to relax and have fun. But as a Christian I guess I celebrate it a little differently than a non-Christian. I watched a video about Japanese holidays, and the family was eating KFC at their Christmas dinner too. xd We got a laugh out of that, but hey, why not? Personally I've never liked our usually Christmas turkey. (We have ham at my aunts house but not at home because I have Jewish friends and relatives.) The one thing that annoys me is that people think if you celebrate Christmas and Easter for its original "meaning" that you must be Catholic. I'm not Catholic; I'm a Protestant. So before people start asking me if I go to confession... >.< Sorry, it just happens all the time. I don't really know them but they don't really matter to me because even though I'm baptised a United Christian I'm Atheist thus I don't believe in god so I don't really care what they're about. I just give gifts to people. Yeah, that makes sense. The reason I was suprised is that I just never really thought about how people who didn't grow up in a church wouldn't know. It just wasn't something that occured to me, because it's such a big part of my life, y'know? xd But like I said, I'm totally for Christmas being for everyone... it lifts people's hearts, I think, when they're not totally stressing over stuff.
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Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:00 pm
Akira_Hoshino Mikagi-sama Akira_Hoshino Embarrassingly enough, I was shocked to read that some (Americans) don't know the meaning behind Easter... but I was born and raised in church. It should make more sense to me that non-believers don't know. Christmas and Easter have become totally commercialized. I don't mind, because I think it's important for people to have holidays to relax and have fun. But as a Christian I guess I celebrate it a little differently than a non-Christian. I watched a video about Japanese holidays, and the family was eating KFC at their Christmas dinner too. xd We got a laugh out of that, but hey, why not? Personally I've never liked our usually Christmas turkey. (We have ham at my aunts house but not at home because I have Jewish friends and relatives.) The one thing that annoys me is that people think if you celebrate Christmas and Easter for its original "meaning" that you must be Catholic. I'm not Catholic; I'm a Protestant. So before people start asking me if I go to confession... >.< Sorry, it just happens all the time. I don't really know them but they don't really matter to me because even though I'm baptised a United Christian I'm Atheist thus I don't believe in god so I don't really care what they're about. I just give gifts to people. Yeah, that makes sense. The reason I was suprised is that I just never really thought about how people who didn't grow up in a church wouldn't know. It just wasn't something that occured to me, because it's such a big part of my life, y'know? xd But like I said, I'm totally for Christmas being for everyone... it lifts people's hearts, I think, when they're not totally stressing over stuff. lol oh I get it razz I guess I just misread the part where you said non-believers make more sense that they don't know what they're about. xp I kinda misread it and thought it meant "people" didn't know about it. So I said I don't but I'm Atheist. lol Sorry about that xp
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Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:17 pm
che_hyun What do you do to celebrate? O.o We never celebrate anything for more than a day or two, so I'm rather clueless. Unless you're Catholic, but it's not really celebrating. Like for Lent (a forty-day period in which is the anniversary of when Jesus Christ went into the desert) we don't eat meat on Fridays and give up something for the period of time, like my friend chose not to eat her most favorite food - chocolate. Christmas as well. Advent starts off the Catholic new year and then when Christmas comes it is really 12 days long like that song "Twelve Days Of Christmas."
Here's my faourite verse in the Bible:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life."
Christians in the days of the Romans took one of the Roman feasts and used that to celebrate Christ's birth. No one nowadays really knows when He was born so we continue to celebrate Christmas on December 25. Same with a few other Catholic celebrations. As for St. Valentine's day and St. Patrick's day, they are feast days of two Catholic saints.
Now I'm like really rambling here. sweatdrop Obviously I didn't read through the whole thread because someone's probably already answered the question the way I did.
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Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 8:45 pm
Christmas is great! In my native language you say it Boze Narodzenie, which means the Birth of God. All families gather on Christmas Eve and open the presents then. And I love the presents. heart
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Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:36 am
Oh yeah, did i mention chrismas cake an dhow people blow out the candles?
By the way, only about 35% of the population knows the origin of christmas, only 0.1% of them christain xd
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Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:44 pm
Ah, I agree with the Japanese about it not being a national holiday. If Christians are such a minority, of course there is no need for it to be a national holiday. It is just like Kwanzaa and Hanukkah in the United States; there are no official vacation days for those because Christianity is one of the more popular religions here, so I understand why it would not be any different about Christmas in Japan.
Christmas is celebrated by Christians because it is the birthdate of Jesus Christ. Although, the funny thing is, my AP History teacher says that historians say he wasn't even supposed to have been born until sometime in March. And we give gifts to one another as appreciation for Christ and to express kindness and love to one another.
Christmas parties are popular in America too, but I have never really been to one. For me, it mostly means spending time with family and friends. Is Christmas very commercialized in Japan as it is in the United States at times? I know that the United States tends to get very big on the gift-giving part and there are lots of advertisements and encouragement for people to buy things…
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Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 11:06 pm
Jesus was born in September and conceived (so to speak) in December. (^__^)
ANYWAY, I found Christmases in Japan to be very, very materialistic. It was all about the glitz and nothing truly about the family. Given it was another country it just felt depressing to me. I had to take Christmas day off because it was not an official holiday as another poster said.
My students have another story about santa clause. As most of us may have been told, he came from the North Pole, my student told me he came from Finland eek Interesting, isn't it?
Also, Japanese children usually only receive one gift for Christmas, there isnt a tree and they are told that Santa brings there gift to them while they sleep. It is just placed by their bed or futon. I think its cute.
I did get a kick out of Christmas cake. They sell those things early! They are also ultra expensive. Try $25 for a round 8" cake. Anyway, they are usually in a kiddie format aka decorated in popular children themes like Pokemon, Power Rangers and tons and tons of Disney characters.
Though I did live in the country side I do agree that Christmas Eve was posed to people as a lover's holiday which was very strange to me. Love hotels made bank on this night I am sure.
(^__^)v
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Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 7:02 am
1koza Jesus was born in September and conceived (so to speak) in December. (^__^) ANYWAY, I found Christmases in Japan to be very, very materialistic. It was all about the glitz and nothing truly about the family. Given it was another country it just felt depressing to me. I had to take Christmas day off because it was not an official holiday as another poster said. My students have another story about santa clause. As most of us may have been told, he came from the North Pole, my student told me he came from Finland eek Interesting, isn't it? Also, Japanese children usually only receive one gift for Christmas, there isnt a tree and they are told that Santa brings there gift to them while they sleep. It is just placed by their bed or futon. I think its cute. I did get a kick out of Christmas cake. They sell those things early! They are also ultra expensive. Try $25 for a round 8" cake. Anyway, they are usually in a kiddie format aka decorated in popular children themes like Pokemon, Power Rangers and tons and tons of Disney characters. Though I did live in the country side I do agree that Christmas Eve was posed to people as a lover's holiday which was very strange to me. Love hotels made bank on this night I am sure. (^__^)v This is a very good explanation. i would of that more, very good explanation. i would of that more, kansai has pretty much the whole christian populus. （←Is that an odd word to use here?）
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