I know that many do generally because they always have and don’t want to change. Some even say that it should be replaced by a more inclusive, general holiday. Part of me feels that all such holidays should be ignored by atheists altogether.  A more humane holiday should be global and universal, equally relevant to all humans, regardless of their cultural heritage or where they live.

The idea that xmas is a purely christian holiday is actually a myth perpetuated by the majority that happen to actually be christians. (link to post on this here) Many atheists don’t believe that Jesus existed, and those who do don’t regard him as having been anyone special. No atheists are christians, so why bother participating in such a holiday? It’s arguable that participating makes christianity seem more popular than it really is, not to mention giving christians an unjustified ego boost.

                I feel that atheists celebrating xmas can often cause more harm than good by arming conservative evangelical christians with the perceived argument that America is essentially a christian nation. The more popular and important christian holidays are in America, the easier it is to claim that there is something about christianity which is fundamental to America’s culture. It’s not a very good argument and this isn’t very good support for it, but why offer them even this bit of help?

Long ago I lost the struggle being an atheist parent who celebrates xmas, weather or not to perpetuate the Santa Claus myth. This required me to lie to my kids. Yes, it is a lie. There’s not a nicer way of describing what one does when telling small children that Santa Claus visits every house on the planet delivering presents to children via a flying sleigh pulled by “magic” ruminants.  If I had it to do it over I would have left this out of my children’s lives Aside from the joy of engrossing oneself in pure fantasy I find no value in it. In fact in many ways I feel it may even be a mild form of indoctrination.  There are always very strong incentives to do what other parents are doing. Not celebrating xmas and not telling kids about Santa could have caused my children to be ostracized from others above and beyond what simply being an atheist tends to do already.  At the same time, though, the numbers of religious minorities who also don’t participate are increasing, thus increasing the numbers of kids who are “different.” Being different isn’t easy, but who wants to be a hypocrite just to fit in?

One possible reason for atheists to celebrate xmas is that it has become increasingly secularized over time and there is little sign of the process stopping soon. Arguments against xmas remain, but atheist participation in xmas actually helps serve the cause of removing it from its various christian and pagan roots. There are good reasons why many christians are upset over the current state of christmas, and those may be good reasons for atheists to keep the changes in motion.

Some folks will read this and think it is an attack on a cherished holiday. Others may take away that I am a hard-line non- conformist that wants to openly besmirch christianity in general.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  I enjoy all the pagan, secular aspects of the holiday.  I just don’t like the feeling of being under fire that comes along with its observance.

Related posts:

1. It’s the Most Ignorant Time of the year
2. Valen-SHMUCKS-Day
3. Santa’s Arch Enemy?

http://www.coopernundrums.com/2009/10/something-druid-this-way-comes/

Traditionally fall in general is a time of year when I post more than usual.  This is probably because it’s the time of year when I find myself the least busy. Today I wanted to start of this months posts with something I think you will find interesting related to witches.

Your basic haunted house witch is actually a creation of the commercial machine.  Real “witches” laugh at these images because of their inaccuracy and sheer ridiculousness.  Like all things commercial, these images do have some basis in fact and history.

Some scholars say is it possible that the witch’s hat is an exaggeration of the tall conical “Dunces Hat”, popular in the royal courts during the 15th century.  These pointed hats were a fashion icon seen all around the city of London when it was seen as the fashion capital of Europe. You have probably seen these hast in pastel pinks and blues usually with a flowing sheer cloth hanging from the point.  Since it took much longer for news to issue back in these times, it took a long time for fashion to trickle into the country. Usually by the time these fashion trends landed in the outlying villages they had already become out of fashion in the city.  City folk called Country folk “pagani” which means country dweller. This is a slang term that would be much the same as calling someone a “hick”, today.

As fate would have it, pointed hats soon became considered something only the pagani would wear. These folks were often herbalists or farmers wives who lived in the country and understood the land.  Since they were wise to the ways of nature and could grow and harvest herbs, the pointed hat became associated with the “Wise Woman” or “Witch”.  By Victorian times, the tall black conical hat worn by an old crone became readily identifiable as symbols of wickedness in illustrations of children’s stories and fairy tales.

During this same period the Christian church chipped-in and associated pointed hats with the horns of the Devil, by which time they frowned upon their use.  This served to further demonize this hat style.

Today most contemporary witches go bareheaded or wear ritual headgear such as headbands with a crescent moon or other religious symbols on it.  Normally the symbol is positioned on the forehead.  During rituals in which the Goddess and Horned God are represented, the high priestess may wear a headband or a crown, while the high priest may wear a helmet with horns or antlers.

Related posts:

1. Frankenstein’s Real Father
2. Something Druid This Way Comes…
3. Black and White horror films to DIE FOR

I will be the first to admit that I was never an upwardly mobile career oriented guy. I was, and am still pretty laid back in terms of my job and the whole career path thing. I was pretty content back then getting up each day and working my job without much care for the road my life would take. That’s not to say I did not have some plans for the future. My mind often wandered towards thinking about where I might be in 5 or ten years. I guess I was odd in the fact that I didn’t really party or hang out with the so-called fun crowd. I was also a late bloomer in that I wasn’t really interested in relationships with women. That’s not to say I didn’t have natural thoughts and desires but I just never actively pursued them. That’s why it was such a magical surprise that while doing my job I crossed paths with someone who piqued my interest at a very deep level.

When Laura and I met it was not love at first sight. On the contrary, it was more like a “do what I say and we will get along just fine” type of meeting. You see, we both worked at opposite ends of the daily schedule and as anyone that has worked in a restaurant environment can tell you, that amounts to almost two totally different jobs. They were similar, but altogether VERY different as well. I was making the transition from my time zone, nights, to her time zone, early mornings. This meant I was sort of invading her space. She was comfortable and commanded quite a bit of respect because of her knowledge of the job and skills at doing it. I was the new egg. That’s why I did my best to defer to her as I worked to get used to my new duties.

She was pleasant and fun to work with but she was older than I was and I was not much of a dating guy so it was a real surprise when she asked me if I wanted to go have dinner. She was wickedly smart and funny and I wanted to get to know her better so I accepted. Once again in a non-fairy-tale way, I can’t say we had everything in common. In fact, we were on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of movies we liked, activities we enjoyed, politics, and money matters and so on. We did have a lot in common in terms of our beliefs about religion, life and family and what it means to come from distressed homes. We both had similar uneasy childhoods so we shared that. Most importantly she has a huge heart and is a

 wonderful mother. She brought a sparkle into my life that it is tough to describe. Her son Adam was a joy and being with them made me feel whole in a way I had not felt before. I fell for her and as the cliché’ goes, the rest is history.

All relationships suffer from high and low points. We have had our share. We are still together today 18 years later. She has given me support, nurturing, love attention and three beautiful children and not the least of which 18 years of her life that I can never thank her enough for. I am not the man I was 18 years ago. I am who I am today largely in part to her patience, understanding, love and guidance. I have never met anyone like her before and I am very happy to say, never since. She is my world, my universe, my rock and my love all rolled into one. She is everything to me.

Honey, when you read this know that I look forward to spending another 18 and more years with you. I have always tried to be a good man, father and husband. I could not do it without you. I love you more than words can express and am forever glad and grateful that you came into my life 18 years ago today. Happy anniversary darling.

No related posts.

    Normally I enjoy spring and fall the most as far as the seasons go.  This year my two sons are as close to being grown as I could hope.  I don’t dress them.  I don’t bath them.  They pretty much get themselves up and out the door for school.  You get the idea.  They always still take up a great deal of my daily thoughts.  I wonder what we might have done right and what we might have done wrong.  I also wonder what we can still do to help them with their burgeoning lives.  I watch them and sometimes catch a glimmer of some thought in their eyes.  Usually it’s when they are seeing something old again in a new light.  Easter is one of those things I hope I got right.

I really feel that folks who celebrate Easter are, consciously or otherwise fostering the myth of christianity in some measure.  I also never felt the necessity to cram my children full of chocolate, or perpetuate some lore about a magical rodent that farts shiny colored eggs filled with happiness.  I do feel it is a good idea to not restrict holiday fun for kids who have to go to school and listen to how everyone else had lots of fun on this “special” day. Doing this, like many other things in religion, breeds resentment.   I still feel, with this in mind, that I need not support or endorse such silliness.  That’s the way we raised our boys.

  I hope my kids will feel the same way I do because critical thinking and logical debate is good for the mind.  Remember, the lack of verifiable proof that something exists is not in and of itself evidence of any kind that supports its existence.

   So, this Easter please ignore the dizzyingly unbelievable messages from your religious teachers and take this, my Easter message to you as an atheist: Morality is not something a god gives us. It is something that is inside us all as human beings.  Love one another and share what you have with those less fortunate. Feed the hungry, care for the sick and above all else this Easter do as you please not as your told because you only live once.

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    The name Richard is very old. Old English had Richeard, from Ric (ruler) and heard (hard); French had Richart, and Old German had Ricohard.

    When the Normans invaded England in 1066 they transformed politics, religion, society and language.  They brought their large stock of French-Germanic names to mix with the Old English. The native Anglo-Saxons (now the lower classes) faced with an unfamiliar language with strange pronunciations. Often, they were uncomfortable with the Norman “R” found in names like Richard, Roger, and Robert, and Henry/Harry.   In those days, manuscripts, letters, and more were written by hand; it was therefore common and easier to use agreed-upon abbreviations. “Rich” was used for “Richer” and “Ric.” for “Richard” or “Ricard.”

  Psychologists suggest that most nick names originate from children addressing one another. Think about the sounds that many English-speaking children, to this day, have trouble pronouncing. The letter “R” as well as other sounds are often switched for an L or a D or dropped altogether. Robert gave up the nicknames Rob, but also Dob, Hob, Nob, and later, Bob. And Richard gave up the nicknames Rick, but also Dick and Hick, while Roger clocks in with Rodge, Dodge and Hodge

    The name Dick (like the name Jack) was used colloquially to mean a man or everyman. The expression “every Tom, Dick, or Harry” attests to this as a long-established usage.  The Oxford English Dictionary cites a dick as meaning a type of hard cheese in 1847, which lead to the usage of “spotted dick” The term “dick” was also used to mean a riding whip, an apron, the mound around a ditch, and an abbreviation for “dictionary” around 1860. Dick has also been used to mean a declaration, in which sense the OED cites someone writing in 1878 “I’d take my dying dick” to mean “I’d swear a dying declaration.” The term “dick” more popularly came to mean policeman around 1908, and then detective.

    And we finally get to where you started. The use of “dick” as coarse slang for penis first arises around 1890. Tracking the history of uncouth words is not easy, since such expressions were not generally written down. How “dick” came to be associated with penis is not known, although the riding whip may have pointed the way.

  Now you can truly say you know a lot about Dick. Aren’t you proud?

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Related posts:

1. Names We Should Really Stop Using

    In fact, traditional Christianity celebrates the DEATH of its holy people, not their birth.  In 274 CE, though, pagan emperor Aurelian proclaimed December 25th Natalis Solis Invicti, the festival of the birth of the invincible sun. Saturnalia already occurred around this time along with many other celebrations.  Christians usurped this and other Roman festivals to forward their own beliefs.  Xmas is actually a large number of ancient pagan practices, a few pieces of Christian traditions, and a large number of modern creations which are almost ENTIRELY secular in nature, no matter where they got their inspiration from. I see little room and little need for any “Christ” in all of this – but more importantly, I see little place where a “Christ” could be put back into the mix.    

    As a person without supernatural beliefs, the holidays have no nominal connection to what is “up there” for me. Rather, they are about what is “down here.” We don’t live in utopia, but for this small period of the year we put aside our concerns, worries and grievances, and celebrate all that there is to celebrate. The more religiously diverse a society is, the harder it is for a holiday of just one religion to maintain a status of dominance. My hope is that one day xmas will be changed to the point where it’s no longer recognizably Christian.

    So when you find someone talking about putting Christ back into Christmas, you can ask them what part Christ really played in Christmas to begin with. Although you may not be interested in celebrating holidays with any religious trappings whatsoever, Christianity’s hold on Christmas, from a religious perspective, is rather tenuous. If you’re an atheist who would like to enjoy the holiday, you should be able to do so without giving Christianity a second thought.

Related posts:

1. Gloriously Hedonistic Annual Jaunt
2. The great “Christmas” Caper
3. 12 Days of Christmas Technical Support Style