The First Holidays With Chorus • Page 3

Genuinely curious - how does the wreath point to a religious holiday symbol? I ask because, to me, it's one of the few holiday/winter decorations or symbols that isn't tied in with a specific religion. Again, that's just me and my experiences. Just was curious how the wreath has those connotations to you?

 

wreaths are definitely associated with christmas as a whole, rather than the winter season. a quick google search leads to a lot of articles about how they're typically used as christmas decorations. now, wreaths aren't only used in those situations, but especially during the winter holiday season they are very strongly associated with christmas. and as i said, i do not know any other jewish family that have ever put up a wreath at all.

that's just my sort of personal experience with it, so i'm actually asking around to see what other people think. it's interesting, especially because most people that have responded have a christian background rather than other ones

i think this is discussion worthy rather than just a simple throwaway though

 

Interesting. Yeah, I grew up in a conservative Christian house, and while eventually things rapidly changed for the better, I can remember early Christmas' where we didn't hang a wreath or have snowmen stuff, because those were "secular". We had a tree, though,which just... doesn't make sense. But anyway.

I can see where you're coming from. I never considered wreaths or snowmen as strictly Christmas, moreso as general holiday/winter stuff. But again, that's just been my experience. Curious what you'd consider an alternative to be in this context, in replacement of the wreath?

 

the snowflake/snowman is cool and adorable, symbolizes winter.
from talking to more people a lot of people are saying it's less "christian" and more associated with christmas and the pagan origination of it, but i still feel like that excludes those who don't celebrate christmas (such as myself) and celebrate hannukah or kwanzaa or something else instead
but that's just how i was personally raised, hence why i'm trying to be open ended here, haha.

 

I was raised completely devoid of religion so my input probably isn't even remotely helpful - but from where I'm sitting, having always celebrated a "secular Christmas" of sorts, wreaths have never felt religious to me.

Again, I lived in an agnostic household though so that could just be privilege talking. I have no idea if wreaths ever get used in the wintertime outside of Christmas connotations.

 

I see what you're saying. While the wreath isn't directly associated with Christianity, it does seem to have a correlation with the general theme of Christmas and tends to be used more often than not for Christmas purposes versus just a winter decoration. I don't think using it in the logo is necessarily an excluding thing (as said, given the origin)...but I absolutely see what you mean and think you're right.

 

yeah, that's pretty much my point here after discussion with others. it's not "excluding" but i don't feel like it's necessarily including.

 

Also that snowflake idea looks awesome but yeah I get it

 

at the very least this is making a very interesting discussion of something i never thought of before this even came up, so, yeah. that's what these forums are for, having actual productive discussion about issues such inclusivity

 

From trying to find answers via Google, it seems like Christians (like myself) and atheists/agnostics are usually fine with wreaths, but more devout followers of other faiths tend to see the wreath as a Christian symbol. (At least that's the trend I saw, again, via quick Google research; it's far from comprehensive.)

Does Chorus have any regular users of other faiths (Muslims, etc.) who can chime in?

If the wreath feels uncomfortable to people of other faiths, maybe looking into a simple snowflake motif would be a good idea? (That plus some light blue would be pleasantly reminiscent of the AP.net winter theme, lol. Though, I'm not tech-minded and have no idea how practical that'd be.)

I'm fine with it, and it seems like no one is actually mad about it. But, I'm also a white Christian and totally in support of anything to promote inclusion.

 

I don't really care about wreaths but it certainly is not a part of Jewish tradition. It isnt, like, specifically excluded, it's just not a thing.

And let's not act like pagan rituals matter at all lol. Literally ancient symbolism doesn't supercede modern reinterpretations that are much more widespread just by virtue of being older.

 

i grew up jewish, and while i spent a few years not associating myself with the religion and don't continue practicing, i still consider myself jewish. we had wreaths in our house, but avoided the typical red decorations that go along with them in favor of blue. i never associated the actual wreath itself with christmas - that mainly came from the decorations adorning it than the wreath itself.

that being said, it does seem like there is a bias towards one holiday more than others here. it was decided in the covers comp. forum that december's theme would be christmas songs, despite it being brought up that it would alienate whoever wishes to contribute that does not celebrate that holiday/subscribe to that faith.

i'm not trying to blame anyone or be accusatory in any way. there are just several issues on this site that many people have been understanding of and have allowed for concerns and discussions to be voiced in nuanced ways without being shut down immediately. i hope this doesn't break that trend.

 

Looks nice!

Maybe do something with these boxes?

 

I never even realised wreaths were anything other than winter ornaments. They seemed fairly agnostic to me. But I suppose that's borne of ignorance on my part as I'm from a mostly catholic country. It's interesting to know. I wouldn't have even copped it until the original post on the matter.

 

I just want there to be a Christmas/Holiday music thread like there was on AP, it was such a great tradition!

 

Premature Christmas Music Thread

 

Thanks!!!

 

To counter Jason's argument with the wreath being a pegan tradition a lot of traditions such as the wreath or the fact that Christmas is celebrated on 25 December where copted by the church to make pagans feel more at ease when converted. So to say it's not a Christian tradition is a little misleading. I do associate it with Christmas mostly because if it wasn't for Christmas no one would decorate their house differently.

That being said who fucking cares. Just bring back the old AP Christmas theme for nostalgia.