Formerly wrongly titled post

[bagheera_san]

Argh! It's like Fandom_Wank in our living room - my mother and her boyfriend are arguing about the whether the monks in Tibet serve any purpose (which in my opinion is about as reasonable a reason to have an argument as shipwars and flames.)

He: Communism 4eva!
She: Dalai Lama/Tibet = OTP!

In the blogging-about-stuff-we-don't-usually-blog-about meme, venilia asked me what my favourite/least favourite holiday was.

I'm not a holiday loving person. My birthday and Christmas I usually consider more of a bother/burden/general annoyance because I can't ignore them. Easter is nice (I like the eggs and the flowers and the bunnies, it's all so simple and heathenish and a nice celebration of nature) but I don't acutally celebrate it. Halloween isn't quite a German holiday yet. As a kid I loved Fastnacht (Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras like) because I liked dressing up in costumes and catching sweets (they throw them) at the parades. New Year's Eve is in my opinion mostly an excuse to get drunk and pollute nature with fireworks (but they are admittedly pretty.) The first day of Summer, where children have small parades with flowe arrangement and green branches is also nice.

If I could choose, I would probably celebrate holidays that focus on nature/the seasons rather than religious backgrounds, because I'm not religious and I think my strongest spiritual tie is to nature/the universe in general. I would also love to experience the holidays of some other religions/cultures at least once in my life.

Comments

[satora-chan.livejournal.com]

my mother and her boyfriend are arguing about the whether the monks in Tibet serve any purpose

Wait, do you mean the monks themselves or the protests? Because if it's the former: whut.

My father is a complete Sinophile, but even he's a little D: at what China's been doing the past week.

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

Because if it's the former: whut.
It started as the latter, about the protests, but it devolved into the former, since he's opposed to religion in general and she likes Buddhism. But it's baffling both ways, because even as a communist, you don't need to defend China! They're not even Maoist anymore! *headdesks*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

My favorite holiday is (American) Thanksgiving, partly because it is secular, since I'm non-religious myself. And it celebrates family and food, what's not to love? (Okay, I have a closer relationship with my family than most, but, yes. Don't celebrate it much here, though; it's hard to get turkey at all.)

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

Thanksgiving sounds nice in theory, but I assume that if we had it here, it would be similarly disappointing as Christmas. But secular holidays are FTW. We don't really have any!

[venilia.livejournal.com]

See, now, coming from America, I don't always associate religion with holidays, with the exception of Christmas and Easter -- and then only somewhat. I mean, modern comecialized Santa Clause has what to do with being Christian?

And unfortunately, there aren't any seasonal holidays in America, really. We celebrate really random crap. Cinco de Mayo isn't even a holiday in Mexico, but we all get drunk for it. *shrugs* First day of summer sounds pretty.

Anyway, there's this great comedian, Jim Gaffigan. He does a routine on American holidays here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjJCIbC9sxA&NR=1