No Right Answer: Worst Commercialization of Christmas

[Dollabillyall]

Kind of off topic but:
I don't talk much to my American relatives and they mostly live in Muslim neighborhoods so I want to ask, did any of you see anything about Eid-ul-Adha a few months ago? Or Ramadan?

My muslim neighbors always come bring sweet treats at the end of ramadan, wich is commonly known to occur by most non-muslim Dutch. I give their children small presents during christmas.
The sacrificial feast is also well known to be observed in the muslim community, although it has caused some controversy lately because some animal rights groups feel that animals should be sedated before slaughter.

 

[sageoftruth]

Considering Black Friday is the day I sit back on my couch and laugh at everyone who decided to venture into the shopping storm (Shaden Friday?), I couldn't picture a holiday more bereft of good will than Black Friday.

 

[sageoftruth]

Personally, I think you're all correct. Holidays in general are heavily commercialized and I don't believe that there's one that's any worse than the other. My family is traditional Chinese Buddhist, so we don't care about all that materialistic crap.

Also, Christmas isn't actually the day Christ was born, but I assume everyone knows this by now.

Someone needs to make a list of the ways people have tried to commercialize Buddhism. The irony of that would be explosive.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

You know what always gets my shorts in a knot? Those fucking awful commercials that show some kid freaking out because he didn't get the gift he wanted for Christmas and then it's like "Get the gifts they really want, shop at (X)."

 

[Flunk]

How about all of it sucks? Is it possible that both sides win?

 

[Dudly]

Well coming from the netherlands when i was a child whe only celibrated the 5th of december.
withs is saint nickolas day the giving of gifts is somthing this saint did on his birthday so that made sence to do.
but now 30 years later whe also celbrate christmas in the same way the rest of the world does now the tree was always there becasue well whe where a pagan country before whe became chrstians so the tree is something that belongs here.
but the gift giving part is easy to trace back to the storeowners gooing hey whe made lots of money because of the 5th of decmber so lets see if whe can make some more because of the 25th so got to say christmas is the one thats overcommercialized seeing this changed in about 30 years maybe it was coming before that im speaking of personal expierence here

 

[blackrave]

Commercials aren't something that bothers me since I don't watch TV at all)
What really gets me is xmas music in shops
I could somewhat tolerate it if it was good or/and local
But it seems that whoever runs a shop bought bunch of horrible xmas pop songs from US or UK and simply plays it on loop
There is very strong "we don't really care about Christmas, just go and buy our crap" vibe

P.S. As for me I never had celebrated Christmas, only during New Years eve family gathers for a few hours.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Well? I feel bad for the people who were named "not Jesus" who were born on the 25th. Every commercials and everyone who's against those commercial will remind you that it is not your special day.

 

[GamemasterAnthony]

Por que no los tres? Seriously...all three COMBINED have killed the holidays pretty much.

ESPECIALLY the Black Friday thing. It's no wonder I keep hearing the song "Sunday Bloody Sunday" in my head every time Black Friday weekend comes around.

 

[maswell]

Well thankfully Black Friday doesn't ruin my Canadian Thanksgiving. It's nestled safely in the 2nd week of October which spreads the turkey out nicely throughout the fall.

I'd give it to Chanukah in this case since it adopted everything just to kind of fit in.

 

[RavenTail]

Funny/Horrifying thing about elf on the shelf...

For those that don't know, the basic idea is that the stupid little elf dolls watch you in their doll forms (BAD CHILDREN!) and come to life at night when you are asleep. The parents are supposed to convince their children of this by moving the elves to different locations at night. Apparently, if you touch the elves during the day they don't come to life that night or some shit.

ANYWAY, for some reason, my parents have convinced my 7-year-old brother of this fantasy and it led to tragedy. You see, one of our dogs got to the elf and... tore him to pieces. My brother thought the elf was alive, so naturally, he flipped out on the dog and cried all day. My mom managed to Frankenstein him back together, however, and everything's all good now. My brother still thinks our dog is a legit murderer though :/

Despite how fun it can be to pose the elf in sexual positions on furniture, I have to ask myself if the lie is worth it XD

Judging by the look on that elf's face (which gives me a very serial-killer vibe), your dog's a goddamn hero. But the fact your mom Frankensteined it back together is a movie monster origin story.

Krampus is the best Christmas tradition ever! The parades, oh the parades
It's like they dipped Halloween in my Christmas! What's not to love?

AH, the Krampus. One of the few beings in existence to go toe-to-toe with Brock Samson and live, and the only holiday character who either belongs in Hell or on a Dio album cover. I forget if he comes to naughty childrens' houses and tortures them into behaving or straight up kills them, and that makes me wonder what that says about whoever made him up.
Well, in my opinion, he's still leagues better than Holland's Sinterklaaus' sidekick and, ugh, African slave. God knows what that freak gets up to.

The lore of the Krampus changes a bit over time and region but you're generally correct. Santa (whose appearance was more of a church bishop at the time) was the guy who gave gifts to the good children while the Krampus (a dark furred goat man-thing) would steal the naughty children away in a sack to be punished.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

I'd say Christmas and that's because of ALL the different kind of Christmas tree ornaments you can buy. I work at one of the new Targets in Canada and in our seasonal section you can find ornaments of swiss cheese, pickles, shoes, bunny slippers, that thing that painters use to put their paint on and hold it, Minnie Mouse in a "Nerd" outfit and it's called "nerd Minnie Mouse" but the WORST of all is the "Yoga bag" ornament I found one day, god how fucking horrible my day was after that, I truly believe Christmas is just a commercial now.

 

[drschplatt]

As random as it is, the candy cane was actually made with religious meanings so, yeah, whatever that's worth. I'd have to give it to Black Friday. It overtakes Thanksgiving and Christmas both it's just crazy.

The other stuff you can choose not to be a part of and it's still a great holiday. But man, try driving somewhere on Black Friday and you're going to wish you had a grenade launcher.

 

[drschplatt]

Personally, I think you're all correct. Holidays in general are heavily commercialized and I don't believe that there's one that's any worse than the other. My family is traditional Chinese Buddhist, so we don't care about all that materialistic crap.

I live in Taiwan and it's the Buddhists that are the richest son of a guns who spend millions and millions on their temples, celebrations, and centers. Lol, don't claim that you don't care about materialistic crap because you're Buddhist. You don't care because you were raised right.

 

[Roxor]

Every time I hear Yanks mention "Black Friday" and sales, I find myself wondering "Why would you have sales on the anniversary of a bushfire?"

Yes, I know it's not really about that, but considering how many bad bushfires in Australia's history have the name "Black ", it's hardly surprising.

 

[Doom972]

There's such a thing as a Hannukah Bush? That's just ridiculous. While the traditional Hannukah celebration isn't as "out there" as christmas, I don't see a need to add stuff that don't belong there and don't make sense.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Commercialised Christmas is the only one I care to celebrate. It's a reason to buy people gifts and do nice things and have a holiday, and I wish people would stop clinging to the religious undertones like that's what people should really be celebrating. Do that in your own time. Christmas is for everyone and for no reason.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Personally, I think you're all correct. Holidays in general are heavily commercialized and I don't believe that there's one that's any worse than the other. My family is traditional Chinese Buddhist, so we don't care about all that materialistic crap.

I live in Taiwan and it's the Buddhists that are the richest son of a guns who spend millions and millions on their temples, celebrations, and centers. Lol, don't claim that you don't care about materialistic crap because you're Buddhist. You don't care because you were raised right.

I do take the Buddhist tenant of denouncing ones material desires as it is linked to suffering in life very seriously though. There are hypocrites in every faith and religion, and Buddhism is no exception. Millions of people claim to be Christians, while being the wealthiest people and passing judgement on gays, which is the total opposite of Christ's teachings. I do agree that upbringing has more to do with ones morals than religion does, but it does work as a good template to get started.

P.s. My mother is from Taiwan.

 

[likalaruku]

My family is not capitalist or christian, but we love commercialism, don't care how others celebrate it (as it we don't get all offended if someone erects a baby Jesus thing), or care what they call it. We even call it "cris'mis" instead of Yule.

For my family, Christmas is all about flamboyancy (decorations up the wazoo, flashy light shows) & decadence/economy-boosting (Thanksgiving Part 2, spending all the money saved specifically for this occasion). It's an excuse to primarily buy all the stuff you want for yourself over the course of a year; There are no secrets about who's getting what, & we still wrap them. Must have spent $300 at Pier Once this month on decorations.

We also donate canned goods & clothing.