Christmas is the main festive of Christians, celebrated on 25th December every year to honor Jesus’s birth. This holy festival is spreading happiness worldwide, some people celebrate Christmas by attending church or offering gifts to their families and loved ones.
Christmas is glorious in different countries and is celebrated by various regions and cultures such as Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism. Different religions have faith in the celebrations of Christmas, while on the other hand, some may have their festivals during the winter season, let us take a look at how different religions celebrate Christmas.
1. Who Celebrate the Christmas?
Before exploring how different religions celebrate Christmas, let us first understand who celebrates Christmas. As we all know Christmas is an important festival celebrated by the Christian community each year.
Various regions celebrate the Christmas occasion because this enlightening festival is filled with the joy of happiness, beautiful decorations, spending time with loved ones and families, or just waiting for the moment when Santa clause comes and gives gifts, these are the things that various people appreciate and participate in the celebration of Christmas.
Buddhists are the religion that celebrates Christmas wonderfully, individuals observe the holiday and celebrate as Christians do, they believe Jesus is a teacher, an amazing man, and a protector whose teaching is a blessing to them, this is the only reason they celebrate Christmas. During the Christmas holiday, they distribute food to needy people, send gifts and cards to families and loved ones, attend the Christmas ceremony in church, and feel peace and kindness.
2. How Different Religions Celebrate Christmas
Now, that it is clear who celebrates Christmas, let’s start exploring how different religions celebrate it. Forty-two hundred religions worldwide have their own cultures and traditions, but some religions celebrate Christmas differently apart from their festivals.
Like Judaism (Hanukkah) is a festive of lights usually celebrated during Christmas, Hinduism celebrates Diwali between October and November along with Christmas. Muslims do not celebrate Christmas while some Christian minorities observe the occasion and celebrate it. Read more about the religions that celebrate Christmas differently or on similar occasions that showcase their cultures, and traditions.
2.1. Judaism (Hanukkah):
Jewish community celebrates Hanukkah at the same time as Christmas, it is a festival of lights and celebrated for the last eight days. The Hanukka festival is full of light, amusement, bliss, and happiness, Jewish families add light into their lives and homes, and invite people to remove the dark side from their lives and bring light and joy Hanukkah is celebrated with candles, and food, family, and friends.
Hanukkah is the festival to light candles daily, donate to charities, serve food, and embark on a new journey. During this festival jews, people visit the temple in Jerusalem and seek blessings for the entire community.
One of the important facts that you don’t know about the Hanukkah festival is it is celebrated worldwide, over nine countries celebrate Hanukkah differently.
Australia celebrates Hanukkah in the month of Summer to eliminate the darkness, whereas Morocco celebrates Hanukkah in a unique style, children go to every home and collect leftover candles and then make a bonfire, dancing, singing, and jumping around it, they believe that jumping over a fire may bring good luck, to getting married single women to jump over the fires and married women jump in the hopes to conceive early and blessed with an infant.
Syria celebrates Hanukkah to bring peace and happiness to their homes. South France opened the new wine bottle on the day of Hanukkah and celebrates it, they travel to other areas and savor the different wines create a community, and enjoy the festival with family and friends.
The classic latkes which is a traditional food served during the festive of Hanukkah, are cooked in an oil paired with sweet donuts, it is their ritual that food is cooked in an oil for eight days. Apart from food, and traditions, sending or giving gifts, playing fun activities, and singing and dancing are also important things to do during the Hanukkah.
2.2. Muslims:
Muslim minorities do not celebrate Christmas, as it is not a part of their regions. Their main festivals are Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha and every Friday they seek blessings and dua. If they celebrate any other festivals it is believed as a haram in their religions. Some unbelievers celebrate Christmas as a tradition, not worship by exchanging gifts, distributing foods, and sweets, and participating in Christmas ceremonies.
In many Muslim countries where Christmas is not recognized as a festival or a holiday there may be some Christian communities with Muslim majorities observe the occasion and celebrate it with Muslim communities by offering parties, church services festival decorations, and giving gifts.
In the United Kingdom Muslim people celebrate Christmas by offering dinner parties, and presents in their decorated houses on the day of Christmas. They prepare Christmas food, decorate houses with balloons and flowers, and play fun activities where one person among them acts as Santa Claus and brings gifts. But some of them believe it is haram and not halal, so they do not participate but simply take a day off on Christmas day.
Overall Muslims can not celebrate Christmas because it is haram in their religions if they join or decorate houses on the day of Christmas it is directly they support unbelievers and celebrate their festivals. They are not allowed to celebrate rather they simply take off or it is just an ordinary day for them.
In India, Muslims live in multicultural communities where every type of religion from Hindu, Punjabi, and Sikh to Christian and Islam, Muslims may participate in Christmas celebrations, attend parties, share food, and send gifts.
2.3. Hinduism
In India, Christmas is the most widely celebrated festival by Christian communities, and every year it is marked as a national holiday. Many schools have ten days of Christmas holiday and celebrate Christmas Day wonderfully, teaching children about the importance of Christmas festivals. The Hindu communities join this festival by attending Christmas ceremonies at church, giving gifts to Christians and friends, organizing dinner parties, and celebrating Christmas festives with joy and spirit.
In India, Christmas is marked as a big day for Christians, and the Hindu community and other religions respect their festivals, The Hindu community visits church, decorates their houses with X-mas trees and colorful lights invites family and Christian friends, goes to Christian neighbors greets them spread goodwill and make a unity among them.
Diwali is the biggest festival of the Hindu community and it occurs between October and November they celebrate Christmas alongside Diwali, and Pongal maintaining cultural diversity and respect for other religions.
Hindu people light candles wear Santa Clause caps and offer prayers on the evening of Christmas at any chrush, each city or state has its style of celebrating Christmas, India is a country where everyone lives in unity and appreciates each other’s festivals, cultures, and traditions.
Hindu markets are packed with X-mas trees, Christmas decorations, lights, and costumes, Christmas concerts are held in Hindu schools, clubs organize special events, and restaurants offer special menus and discounts. Hindu communities or distinct religions celebrate Christmas in different corners of India and build a strong community.
2.4. Buddhism:
Buddhists do not believe in God’s worship, and Christmas celebrates Jesus’s birth. However some Buddhists celebrate Christmas because they believe Jesus’s teaching is a compliment to them, he has passion, goodwill, and love for others and stands out in the crowd to help others, these are the reasons most Buddhists celebrate Christmas they think Jesus is a blessing to them, the only difference is Christian recognize Jesus as a god and Buddhist as a good man and teacher, not a god.
Buddhists also have their festivals from December eighth, this day is marked as Bodhi day, this festive celebrates Bodhi’s enlightenment achievements under a bodhi tree by savoring cookies which are heart-shaped matched with the tree’s leaf with cooked rice paired with tasty milk tree decorated with colorful lights. In Asia, instead of decorating lush trees because the climate is harsh the tree due to they could not survive for longer periods so they decorated trees with bright lights, showcasing diverse ways to obtain enlightenment.
The similarities between Bodhi Day and Christmas are they celebrate Bodhi Day with a Christmas tree, distribute foods, sweets, and gifts with kindness, and spread love to all. The teachings of Jesus and Buddha teach Buddhists and Christians to celebrate Christmas without causing any religion’s faith.
On the bodhi day, they give small gifts to their loved ones like small trees or the joy of happiness, buddhist communities do not allow them to give violent gifts such as guns as it promotes violence between the communities.
Some Buddhist countries like Japan and South Korea celebrate Christmas differently, In japan they celebrate Christmas as a romantic date night with candlelight dinner romantic music, and a peaceful setting while on the other hand, South Korea celebrates Christmas as family gatherings and eating special meals like fried chicken, seafood, meat, sweet desserts, and cake.
Overall Christmas is not marked as an important festive for Buddhists, they do it for joy, kindness, togetherness, celebrations, and spreading happiness to all without troubling any religions.
2.5. Sikhism
Sikhism is a religion that shares love, happiness, and sympathy makes a bond with diverse religions, and celebrates their festivals beautifully. Christmas and Sikhism both differ but their values match, Sikhism helps needy people and encourages the Sikhism community to participate in kindness and spread love, in Sikhism it is called selfless service(Seva)while on the other hand, Christians send gifts, participating in charitable activities on the day of Christmas, both the religions share the spirit of giving.
On the day of Christmas, they spend time in Gurudwara the place of worship for Sikhs, some Years, Guru Gobind Day occurs on the same day of Christmas, marking the birth of a child that builds faith in the Sikh community.
On the day of Christmas, they pass love, compassion, goodwill, and peace and teach the community to be kind to others and treat others with empathy. They gather in Gurudwara to seek blessings and prayers, distribute meals to a larger amount of people which is called a langer, and organize social events to spread awareness among the community about the distinct festivals.
In other countries, the Sikh community celebrates Christmas with Christian people, inviting them for dinners, participating in their prayers, joining the community in church, wearing Santa clause costumes giving gifts to everyone, and celebrating Christmas beautifully, some do the bhangra decorate their house with colorful lights and X-mas trees. Similarly, they invite the Christian community to their festive and build harmony between distinct religions.
They spend time with family and enjoy the Christmas day by savoring Christmas dishes, cakes, cookies, wines, and much more. Attending or celebrating Christmas ceremonies Sikhs encourage their community and others to respect all religions and invite individuals to meet people with different faiths and understand their culture, traditions, why they celebrate, what are the importance of Christmas, and the spirit of this holy festival.
On the 25th of December, both religions come together to create a joyful atmosphere and celebrate the importance of love, kindness, and compassion for society.
3. Final Words:
So, these are the religions that celebrate Christmas with their unique style every year. Christmas is the joy of happiness. Christmas holy season invites the community to pass kindness, and sympathy, lighting candles, eating delectables, and exchanging gifts, changing the cultural differences and barriers between religions.
With its traditions, faith, teachings, and people, Christmas is celebrated worldwide and marked as a national holiday by connecting different religions and backgrounds. People from distinct religions celebrate Christmas, attend church services, distribute food, invite Christians for dinners, and respect their festivals.
From the Jewish community who celebrate Hanukkah along with Christmas, the Muslim minority observes the occasion and participates in it to the Buddhists who follow Jesus’ teachings and Sikhism encourages selfless services among the community.
Last Updated on by aashruti013
