Why is Christmas So Special?

As I am not a christian, I don't celebrate christmas in the "traditional" celebration of Jesus. I was raised in a Christian home, so I do still celebrate Christmas with a tree and presents on the 25th as well as a time to spend time with my family.

I will be comparing Christian holidays to mainly Norse holidays, as I am an Odinist and do not know much about other religion's holidays.

However, Christmas is a big thing all over the united states. Santa Clause's outside of stores collecting money, Huge Christmas trees are put up in cities, Depictions of Jesus are spread across the land and people get out of school and work for a few days.

But why?

Why are other holiday's not celebrated in the same way? I am an Odinist so my "Christmas" technically lasts for 12 days. It is called "Jul" and starts on December 20th and goes until December 31st. It is actually a celebration of the new year, not the birth of a savior. Because my "holiday time" celebration is 12 days long instead of 1 day, why don't I get 12 days off of work/school instead of 3?

And the same for other religion's holidays. Not just the winter holidays, but also the other holidays. Religions related to Jesus are the only Holidays that people get off of work/school. Of course I'm not including government specific holidays like veterans day, labor day, Martin Luther King day, etc.

People get a "vacation" for Easter. But not my holiday of Ostara (A celebration to the spring Goddess taking place on March 20th & 21st).

I could understand things being this way between the 50s and 80s as 90%+ of america were christians/catholics/etc but now I believe the majority of Americans are atheists due to many discoveries in science and this depletes the idea of an entire nation celebrating one holiday, as the holiday is a celebration of a birth that many do not even believe happened.

And I do not find it "offensive" so I'm not one of those guys that act like a prick if you wish me a merry christmas instead of happy holidays, infact I wish people a merry christmas even though I am not christian, due to being raised in a christian household and celebrating christmas my entire life. But I do believe it is not right for an entire nation to bow down to a holiday of a religion, but not all religions.

So my questions is. Why is Christmas so special? Why doesnt the nation celebrate Hanukkah, or both? Why not celebrate Jul? or fuck it, during the winter months why doesnt the nation just celebrate ALL of the world's religions winter holidays?

 

I just typed this up in another topic, so I'll repost it here:

Christmas isn't an original Christian celebration. It BECAME Christian.

 

Well it's special because it's the one day of a year where we get loads of free stuff lol but it's a nice enviorment to be in with your friends and families at one place celebrating the birth of jesus. Oh and not forgetting the FOOD!

 

Swan, that is an excellent reply, and educated me nicely.

 

For me, I just enjoy the atmosphere, family coming over, the presents are great but the wintry cosiness is what does it for me

I don't celebrate the religious aspect of it, it is more of a tradition in my family.

 

Honestly, if it didn't help our economy as much as it's doing right now, it wouldn't be such a big deal.

 

It's supposed to be celebrating Jesus's birthday, but it's quite funny because he wasn't born in december at all, not even in this season..

http://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/ARTB/k/568/When-Was-Jesus-Born.htm

 

Its not Jesus's birthday that it originated from though..

 

See my post - I happened to go to the effort of detailing the more Pagan origins of Christmas.