Living in a non-muslim country it’s hard to avoid certain holidays, one of which that is very much in your face is Christmas, how do you avoid the secret Santa’s, Christmas parties and all the other things that go with Christmas. How many of us are asked on a daily basis at work, have you done your Christmas shopping yet? Do you be honest and say that no I don’t celebrate Christmas to which a response is complete silence or a few who are a bit more brazen take a sneaky look at your hijab and say oh you’re not allowed to do that are you because it’s against Islam. Or do you just to keep the peace and avoid the uncomfortable silence and say that yes I’m done didn’t have many to buy for this year.
Is it me or is it the sheer ignorance of people who believe that just because it’s a national holiday that everyone must partake in it.
I don’t know about others but for the last couple of years I have not been scared or embarrassed incase i didnt fit in. I just be honest and say that we have just had two big celebrations, one was Eid at the end of Ramadan and the other Eid at the end of Hajj and we have given and received many presents, so I wont be celebrating Christmas. I usually continue with, however I am looking forward to the time off work and I hope to grab a few bargains in the sales and without any hesitation they just happily move on to the sale shopping issue.
If I’m perfectly honest no one gets in to a big conversation about the why not’s because most of my colleagues have no religious interest in the festival they openly admit it has no religious significance to them or to their families, they claim it’s a multi million pound industry and it has become so commercial that they cant escape it even if they wanted too. Its also what has been drummed in to them from a young age so the tradition has continued. Basically it’s something to do and many of them hate the presents they get, but also admit that it’s the only time they have real family get togethers. Oh and I do have the odd few who claim that all it means to them is they can drink as much as they want and not have to go to work the following day.
I don’t want any of my non-Muslim readers to get annoyed with my comments about christmas, I am not at all generalising I’m just talking from my personal experiences.
I think it's a conversation starter. Like how people talk about the weather. I don't see why it's wrong to say you don't celebrate Xmas. You could say something along the lines of... "Well I don't celebrate Xmas because I'm Muslim.. but I haven't had the chance to take advantage of all the sales, which is totally fine in Islam =D " or something like that.
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