Church for xmas eve
Dec. 18th, 2002 04:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aroraborealisI think I've been to an organized religious ceremony *thinks* fewer than 10 times in my life. I'm adding to that by going to church with Aileen on xmas eve, which is amusing me. Her friend Zann is being the minister that night, so I suspect it'll be interesting, and it's UU, so it probably won't annoy me, so I'm actually kinda looking forward to it.
I've been thinking a lot about my holiday observances (pretty much all cultural) recently, since I'm usually home for xmas, and I'm not this year. I'm really glad to have been raised with "All of the above" for a whole slew of reasons, but it makes for an interesting straddle sometimes.
Part of what's funny is that I'm not religious at all, but somehow this religious-cultural identity, the celebration of holidays, is important to me, and I'm not sure why. I guess it comes down to the importance of ritual, even if you're not putting any big SuperBeing behind it. To me, all the holidays I celebrate are about family and friends, food, warmth, music, lights, companionship...
I've sometimes felt like a "bad jew" in a way that I've never felt like a "bad xian", and I've never identified as "xian" although I do identify as somehow "jewish", which is funny, given my total lack of religion. Why is that important? It's a funny thing. I've decided, though, that of COURSE I'm a bad Jew, and the whole xian thing is right out, so I'm looking forward to celebrating everything in as offensive and irreverent way as possible :)
I've been thinking a lot about my holiday observances (pretty much all cultural) recently, since I'm usually home for xmas, and I'm not this year. I'm really glad to have been raised with "All of the above" for a whole slew of reasons, but it makes for an interesting straddle sometimes.
Part of what's funny is that I'm not religious at all, but somehow this religious-cultural identity, the celebration of holidays, is important to me, and I'm not sure why. I guess it comes down to the importance of ritual, even if you're not putting any big SuperBeing behind it. To me, all the holidays I celebrate are about family and friends, food, warmth, music, lights, companionship...
I've sometimes felt like a "bad jew" in a way that I've never felt like a "bad xian", and I've never identified as "xian" although I do identify as somehow "jewish", which is funny, given my total lack of religion. Why is that important? It's a funny thing. I've decided, though, that of COURSE I'm a bad Jew, and the whole xian thing is right out, so I'm looking forward to celebrating everything in as offensive and irreverent way as possible :)
