Celebrating Holidays/Traditions Other Than Christmas

[SilverSabre25]

AnneCordelia, I would LOVE to hear some more about what you teach, how, what you eat, etc!! PM or share it here, please!

[SilverSabre25]

To everyone, thank you for the ideas and input. I had thought of St. Lucia's day because I've read some about it over the years (cougcoughAMERICAN GIRL DOLL BOOKS coughcough good grief did I just show how young I am or what?!)

Daycare, I must admit that I know next to nothing about either Eid or Ramadan...in fact, I think I was a teenager before I even heard of either of them. Could you share some information please? What are they about, how are they usually celebrated?

[Mandy_Jane]

My point being, if you feel that way, you should not celebrate or teach or whatever about CHRISTmas. Celebrate whatever you want, but if you are talking about December 25th, that is the BIRTH of CHRIST and THAT is CHRISTmas. Notice the first word in the holiday.

If you don't believe in CHRIST, than you are not celebrating CHRISTmas. Saying you are not going to use the reglion aspects of CHRISTmas, is like saying you are going to teach about Independence Day and not talk about America.

Sorry to burst your bubble SandeeAR, but Christ was NOT born on December 25th. Anyone that takes even the SLIGHTEST amount of effort to research this knows that he was not born on that date. That date was adopted because a pagan holiday known as Saturnalia already took place on that date. It was a celebration of the sun God. The church took that day, and turned it into a celebration of Christ. They knew if they tried to banish the pagan holiday all together, people would rebel. So instead they made it in to a so called "Christian" holiday. Yet, to this day almost EVERY singe aspect of Christmas traditions originated from pagan roots.

[Mandy_Jane]

Like many things, the word 'Christmas' has evolved over time. Christmas is much more than the just Christian religion at this point, and is a very real secular holiday as well. Just as Christmas evolved originally as Pagan holiday to a Christian one, and now to a secular one.

I am not Christian but I celebrate Christmas. I celebrate gift-giving, good food, family, friends, decorating my home, listening to music, and the many other traditions from this holiday that aren't religious.

I totally agree with you Anne. I celebrate Christmas for all the reasons you listed. Religion plays no part in my Christmas celebration. By the way, I LOVE your name! Anne with an E and hair as red as carrots, right? : )

[SandeeAR]

I am not going to flame you. BUT I am also not going to start a religious debate with you, either. My beliefs are my own and they have no place here--I'm not sure I've even ever said whether or not I'm Christian and I plan not to ever say specifically because *it should not matter*. In fact, as far as I know, *my daycare families* aren't even sure what my religious beliefs are.

SandeeAR, would it sit better with you if I said simply that I plan to teach an overview of many of the major world celebrations that occur at this time of year? What do YOU think is a fair, simple way to present your holiday of choice (Christmas)? What is a way that it could be presented so that it would not be offensive if YOUR child were in my (non-religious) daycare? This is exactly the reason I posted the thread in the first place...to get opinions and input from people with beliefs that may be different from mine.

Please, share what you think--politely, please.

To start, I don't believe anything I have said has been done in an Unpolite way. That would not be my personality to do so. I do appreciate not being flamed, (so far). I also have no interest in starting a religious debate with you.

My point is, you can't say you aren't going to do the religious parts of CHRISTmas and then do the regligious parts of another religion. Taking CHRIST out of a CHRISTmas celebration, then you need to take the menorah out of your Jewish celebration. See what I mean? Why exclude one and not the other? They are both a religion? As for the other holidays, I'm not commenting on them, b/c I don't know enough about them to comment.


It is talked about all the time on this board, about needing a backbone. I'm simply showing my backbone for my Christian beliefs by not letting this get by without comment.

Regardless of anyones belief, I would not be much of a Christian, if I didn't stand up for my believes would I?

I've stated my views on the subject, so I'm walking away now before this thread gets turned into something I did not intend for it too.

[SilverSabre25]

To start, I don't believe anything I have said has been done in an Unpolite way. That would not be my personality to do so. I do appreciate not being flamed, (so far). I also have no interest in starting a religious debate with you.

My point is, you can't say you aren't going to do the religious parts of CHRISTmas and then do the regligious parts of another religion. Taking CHRIST out of a CHRISTmas celebration, then you need to take the menorah out of your Jewish celebration. See what I mean? Why exclude one and not the other? They are both a religion? As for the other holidays, I'm not commenting on them, b/c I don't know enough about them to comment.


It is talked about all the time on this board, about needing a backbone. I'm simply showing my backbone for my Christian beliefs by not letting this get by without comment.

Regardless of anyones belief, I would not be much of a Christian, if I didn't stand up for my believes would I?

I've stated my views on the subject, so I'm walking away now before this thread gets turned into something I did not intend for it too.

I didn't say that you didn't say it impolitely, I merely wanted to remind EVERYONE to stay respectful. You did come across as awfully harsh though, hence the reminder.

I understand what you're saying, and I thank you, because it gives me chance to clarify to you, others, and even myself what my plans are re: Christmas. I'm going to gloss the story, and present it as "what some people believe" rather than "this is TRUE!!!!!!!" because in the end, it's all just a belief no matter what religion you're talking about--It's a story you believe is true.

That can be said of everything: that Barack Obama is an American, that trees make noise if they fall in the woods and no one is around to hear them, that dinosaurs lived 60 million years ago. These are nothing but stories to us because *we cannot know for SURE because we are not/were not THERE when it happened*. We choose to believe, or not believe, and that is one of the great things about this country is that we HAVE that freedom. You choose to believe that this story, and all the others in the Bible, are absolute truth and that is fine. Other people don't feel that way, and it is not up to me to decide what is right nor is it up to me to present something as truth when I don't know WHAT that family finds to be true. The most fair way I can think of is to merely share stories, with an air of "some believe this, some believe that, isn't it great that we live in a world with so many different stories?"

So. I am going to present Christmas as what some people believe, just like I will present Hanukkah and the others. Yes, the story of WHY we celebrate Christmas does include Jesus and mangers and inns and donkeys. I do NOT need to get into the whole "Son of God", "Savior of sinners" stuff--that's religion. I will present American traditions (which include Santa and trees and stockings) as well as other traditions (the Mexican one mentioned by others, St. Nicholas Day, Santa Lucia, etc) and traditions that are fairly common (nativity scenes, for example--I'm considering whether or not to buy the Little People Nativity set because that tradition is fairly multicultural).

As a parent, would that approach be all right with you?

And please, don't "walk away" because I think that this can stay very respectful. I really want your input because religion and belief is a very touchy subject for most people. It's not for me because I'm comfortable in my beliefs and I'm also comfortable with others believing differently--it's called tolerance.

[Cat Herder]

I am doing our December THEMES (story time, illustration images) based on how different FAMILIES celebrate together. It will be about joy, love, giving, hope and FAMILY time together. Some will not even be human...snowmen, reindeer, penguins, bears...etc.

Looking at beautiful multicultural photos showing families eating, playing and spending time together is my only curriculum goal. Isn't that the point of all of it? :confused:

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer is one of my childhood hero's. Island of misfit toys was my childhood dream vacation place. Frosty the Snowman never even declared his religion to my knowledge....he just wanted to be our friend.

My Christmas PARTY will include a gift exchange and sugar cookies. Simple enough for me. happyface The way I was raised was such that I could care less if you wanted to worship a cardboard box. It is your right and I would lay down my life to protect that right.....Freedom of Religion. On the flip side, I will fight to the death to protect my right NOT to have to worship YOUR box.

[sharlan]

I personally know nothing about other religions or other cultures. If I had a parent with another religion/culture, I would ask them to share what the holiday means to them.

[Unregistered]

I am a christian. I believe the meaning of christmas to be religious. I celebrate christmas in my home as being a religious holiday.

However, I do NOT do ANY of that with my dck's. despite what I believe, I have children in care that have many other beliefs, customs and traditions.

I plan on doing what Silver is doing and touching a bit on everything I can think of that is celebrated by those families. My families are all aware that I plan to "talk" about and introduce these new subjects, concepts and ideas to their children. I do not plan on teaching the children that any one way is right or wrong. That is the difference.

Exposure, discussion, recognition and education of other beliefs and cultures is completley different than pushing ONLY one belief (mine).

This subject is really no different than our own personal beliefs about what our children should and shouldn't eat, whether our kids should or shouldn't watch TV and/or what our own personal beliefs are about parenting our children.

Just because TImmy's family hates peas and doesn't eat them at home doesn't mean I am not going to continue serving (exposing) Timmy to them at daycare. kwim?

[BigMama]

Yes, holidays (Holy-days) such as Christmas and Hanukkah are embedded in religion, but there are cultural aspects as well. It is possible to talk about/teach CULTURE without teaching RELIGION. I have children of many different backgrounds in my daycare: Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, Atheist...we talk about all of their traditions and celebrations that are special to their families.