Originally posted by popcornbird
Off topic, but since we're on the subject...I have always wondered why Christians celebrate Christmas the way they do. I mean...where do you get the holiday from? The Bible? Did Jesus celebrate it (or did his followers celebrate it)? I don't think he/they did.

Our holidays all come from religion.....like Ramadan (the month in which we fast from dawn to sunset everyday) is the month in which we believe God sent down the Quran to Prophet Muhammad. We get that holiday from religion. We get Eid-ul-Fitr (the day after the completion of Ramadan), from religion too. Prophet Muhammad always celebrated it. Its supposed to be a day of thanks and a reward to those who fasted the entire month on God's command. Our third holiday (Eid-ul-Udha) is based on the story of Abraham.......when God commanded him to sacrifice his son to test his faith, and stopped him before did so, and sent him a ram from heaven to sacrifice instead. These are the only three holidays we have and they're all based on religion, and based on the lunar calendar, on the exact dates on which they occured. Where do Christian holidays/traditions come from though? I only ask this out of curiosity.......I had always wondered what Santa, christmas trees, etc. had to do with Jesus.
We celebrate christmas as Christ's birthday. I don't really know how all the santa and tree jazz got into the celebration of Jesus' birth. I think families participate in it for the holiday fun... of the spirit of giving.. and do it with all the extras. My family always reads the story of Jesus' birth from the bible before we open our presents.