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Two Turtle Doves

Well, yesterday was the Partridge in the Pair Tree, so… I missed it.

Do the Twelve days of Christmas start on the 14th? I did count back, but now I’m confused. Is it a religious thing? Shows you how much I know about religion. I asked my mom (because she is very religious, but she said she didn’t know.

Edit: now that I have Wikipedia‘ed it, I was wrong (such a shock, I know!):

The Twelve Days of Christmas and the associated evenings of those twelve days (Twelve-tide), are the festive days from the evening after Christmas Day (December 25) through Epiphany on (January 6). December 26 (St. Stephen’s Day) is the first day of Christmas,… and so on until January 6…. Christmas Day, December 25, is therefore not one of the twelve days of Christmas.

My fist question is, why is Christmas not day 1?

Anyway, if you are wondering why I care, it’s because I came home from school yesterday, and I had to spend 6 hours on 3 buses, and in the midst of all of that, I got really bored (another shock, I know).

In order to pass the time, I tried to remember all of the words to the song “Twelve Days of Christmas.” (Lyrics are also from the Wikipedia article–btw, I completely messed it up :lol:):

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Twelve Drummers drumming
Eleven Pipers piping
Ten Lords a-leaping
Nine Ladies dancing
Eight maids a-milking
Seven swans a-swimming
Six geese a-laying
Five gold rings
Four collie birds (Commons misconception is “Calling” birds)
Three french hens
Two turtle doves and
A partridge in a pear tree

And, I began to notice the (gaudy) Christmas lights everywhere.

My second question came because of all of the government courses I’ve been taking. How can a city government put up Christmas Decorations? Isn’t that, in a way celebrating a religious thought (Christianity). And, with the many cases in the Supreme Court about a government institution displaying religious tenets (for example, McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky about “government-sponsored displays of the Ten Commandments”), isn’t this against the requirements of “Separation of Church and State”?

And, thus it begins. My private philosophical discussion on the message that is sent when a government or even a private-public institution (an institution–and I’m not talking about college–that is private but deals with the public at large) displays such religious markers which inevitably alienate other religious factions. Now, I never talk about my religious background because I believe that is limiting. It, unfortunately, is a way for people to falsely judge you before they know you. I have a wide range of religious experiences, and my background is filled with contradictions.

However, I do plan on writing a little something for my “About Me” section that will hopefully enlighten you all–because I’m sure you care–about why I no longer believe in organized religion. Although I do believe that religion is very important, what I see is a proliferation of institutions that are exclusive–not inclusive. I believe that a religious institution should accept everyone’s differences; however, in my experience, they can be very judgmental, very hypocritical, very disappointing.

Anyway, I don’t want to judge private institutions because, they are private, and thus they should be able to do (mostly) what they would like. However, if a government wants to celebrate a holiday such as Christmas, should it not also celebrate Hanuka, Kwanzaa, etc.? Although to be honest, I do not believe that they should celebrate publicly at all.

“But what about all the pretty lights?” You say. Well, if you were on the bus with me, I’m sure you would have seen plenty of bright, badly designed, Christmas lights and glowing Christmas figurines.

And, now I question whether America really is–as many say–the most “religious” country in the Western world. Hypocritical country? Yes, but religious…? I think there is a difference between being religious and talking about what is right and holy. We sure do talk a lot, and of course there are those overzealous outliers who take things way too far, but when it comes down to acting in accordance to what we say…. I’m not so sure about that. I mean, we are known for religion and porn, what does that tell you? Although, I don’t think we are the “freakiest” country, most of us believe in sex behind doors, but what goes on in the privacy of our own homes, I’m not sure that even I can imagine, and I cringe to think. (By the way, I am a traditionalist, sex only after marriage–what happened to that?–but I can’t hate someone for their liberation.)

As the hours continue to drone on, I begin to think that I’ve become really cynical. It’s sad, when I was a kid, I would annoy my parents to no end about what I wanted for Christmas, and being the youngest, I felt entitled to everything. Of course I was the first one up on Christmas morning, and I would annoy my brother by showing off all my pretty new things. Because he was a boy, all he got were some new clothes, maybe some new shoes, and the obligatory new video gaming system–every year, so he could have all his friends over to bother me. I got the jewelry, and whatever else I could rope my mom into buying.

Yet, now I just see Christmas as a corporate enterprise. We Americans like to buy, and our corporate entities like to sell. It’s sad that Christmas has become so commercialized. We have Christmas in July, not to celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ, but to buy more stuff that we don’t need, while there are people starving in Africa.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love to shop as much as–arguably more than–the next person, but why call it Christmas? I know that there are plenty who love Christmas because of the religious aspect, but the kids in our society are, in large part, growing up not learning about that, they are growing up learning and associating Christmas with present receiving, as opposed to present giving. This means that their kids will grow up with a more depreciated traditional basis, and so on, until Christmas is no longer Christmas but “Buy this for Me Day.”

My family no longer gets excited about Christmas, except for my brother because he’s “special” (who cares if he’s great at computers, he’s dumb lol–love ya big bro). Proof positive, my mom just asked me if I wanted to set up the tree, and I said not right now. Although, give her a few days, and I’m sure my mom will be bothering me soon about how great it is.

But, I still love Christmas music, like Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You, and, oh yea, I like the traditional Silent Night and all that too.

Edit: You can also read my Colorgenics results.

Also, I don’t hate Christmas, I just don’t believe in what it is representing in todays society. I’ll always love getting presents–hint hint–and giving to others gives you a nice feeling.