Does it annoy you if you start seeing holiday-related stuff months beforehand?

[AGXStarseed]

For those of you wondering what I'm talking about, it's not quite the end of September yet, with Halloween coming up at the end of October.
Despite that, I've been seeing Christmas stuff getting advertised as far back as August, there's been mince pies in Christmas-themed packaging appearing in my local supermarkets and their smaller branches and - now today - one of the Sony Movie channels has now changed to start broadcasting Christmas movies.

Put simply, does it bother you if you start seeing stuff for holidays months in advance?

 

[Suzanne]

For me, it all disgusts me, because for of all, it all goes against my Creator and can't wait when it all ends.

 

[Fino]

Consumerism is rampant and vile all year, I don't think it particularly affects me when that becomes more obvious.

 

[Streetwise]

For those of you wondering what I'm talking about, it's not quite the end of September yet, with Halloween coming up at the end of October.
Despite that, I've been seeing Christmas stuff getting advertised as far back as August, there's been mince pies in Christmas-themed packaging appearing in my local supermarkets and their smaller branches and - now today - one of the Sony Movie channels has now changed to start broadcasting Christmas movies.

Put simply, does it bother you if you start seeing stuff for holidays months in advance?

I'm not a pagan believer ,it's really a pagan holiday, saturnalia, the birth of Jesus would be September -October , so I'm still discovering celebrating that instead, also I'm more concerned that it's a lot of plastic, if you think about it as an atheist, it's got nothing to do with what you believe-which I know a lot of members of this forum are, I'm learning about Hanukkah instead, I avoid Halloween it's got nothing to do with Christianity.

 

[lateundiagnosed]

im pretty much a minimalist now days the less the better. you can do so much with very little if you have no choice. i wish i learned that when i was younger.

 

[Bolletje]

It doesn’t bother me. I like poking fun at it though.

 

[Nervous Rex]

Yes, yes, and also, yes.

 

[Hylian]

It doesn't bother me really. In stores it's irritating because of the consumerism aspect, but just seeing people put decorations up early doesn't bother me. It's actually nice and helps get me hyped for the holiday they're decorating for.

 

[Au Naturel]

What saddens me is the celebration of materialism. There is no other tradition I know of where the winter solstice celebration is supposed to mire the celebrants in debt the rest of the year,

 

[Gracey]

It used to irritate me

Now though,
I eagerly await the 'Donkey advert'

I know it must be nearly Christmas time, ie, mid September, when sponsoring a donkey is important.

Important enough for the organisation to spend money on advertising,
rather than feeding and getting a farrier out to the beasts.

Some wait for the classic advert and jaunty jingle of the caffeine addicted, rotund, rosey cheeked bearded fellow, driving his brightly lit, 18 wheeler, to know the 'holidays are coming'
(and diabetes)

Me? I look forward to the donkey advert as my cue dependent reminder to immediately book a future summer holiday because I might forget in the midst of preparation for Halloween, Bonfire Night, Christmas, St Valentines Day, Easter and any other commercial 'holiday' I may have forgotten.
(not really )

 

[GrownupGirl]

Halloween stuff I don't mind. I like it. Christmas and every other holiday, no thanks. And now they have the Christmas stuff right next to the Halloween stuff.

Poor Thanksgiving, nobody cares about it at all. We have it in October in Canada, and I don't really care about it, either. As if there's much to be thankful for this year, anyway.

 

[Greatshield17]

For those of you wondering what I'm talking about, it's not quite the end of September yet, with Halloween coming up at the end of October.
Despite that, I've been seeing Christmas stuff getting advertised as far back as August, there's been mince pies in Christmas-themed packaging appearing in my local supermarkets and their smaller branches and - now today - one of the Sony Movie channels has now changed to start broadcasting Christmas movies.

Put simply, does it bother you if you start seeing stuff for holidays months in advance?

It's ridiculous but most of this doesn't bother me that much; I talked with my girlfriend about this several weeks ago, and she pointed out that because most people don't believe in Purgatory, the Birth of Christ &c. thus for them, all there is this materialism and reveling and the like, and we really should pity these people since this all they can get out of these events.

That being said, for All-Hallows Eve stuff to come out early is especially ridiculous because, well, it's All-Hallows Eve! It's the introduction to something namely, All Saints Day and the entire month of November which is dedicated to prayers for the Souls in Purgatory. So to put out decorations early to a celebration that's actually an introduction to something is really stretching things to the absurd!

There is one Christmas song I would like to hear in October, Soul Cake, why? because it's actually not a Christmas song, it's an All-Hallows Eve song; Soul Cakes were the original treats of trick-or-treating, yet the song ended up being a Christmas song for some reason.

 

[Mia]

Have begun seeing halloween candy and pumpkins in the stores. Pumpkins I like, their orangeness makes me smile and recall childhood running about at top speed in a witch or gypsy costume. Carting a pillowcase straight to the houses that doled out homemade candy and popcorn balls and toffee apples. Back then I had a mental map of all the most generous homes. No lollipops or st. catherines for me.

Now I rarely eat candy of any sort, but I do recall how excited I was. Do prefer the 'All Hallows Eve or Samhain' celebrations, that mark the end of the harvest season. As for the store's blatant displays, it's suprisingly early for them.

 

[Greatshield17]

I'm not a pagan believer ,it's really a pagan holiday, saturnalia, the birth of Jesus would be September -October , so I'm still discovering celebrating that instead, also I'm more concerned that it's a lot of plastic, if you think about it as an atheist, it's got nothing to do with what you believe-which I know a lot of members of this forum are, I'm learning about Hanukkah instead, I avoid Halloween it's got nothing to do with Christianity.

Um no, if anything it's actually an anti-pagan holiday. It started when the Pantheon, the temple dedicated to all the gods of Rome was taken over by the Church and converted into a Basilica dedicated to all the Martyrs, thus the Feast of All-Martyrs was created. This feast was celebrated in May, and the Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox still celebrate the Feast in May; I'm not sure if the Eastern Christians celebrated an Eve of All-Martyrs day or not, but in the Latin Rite, the feast became All-Saints Day, the Eve day called All-Hallows Eve or Halloween was added and the date was switched from May to November 1st. The closest this Feast comes to being Pagan, is that it's believed that reason the feast was moved from May to November, is to appeal to the Germanic people that have taken over much of the west at that time.

As for Christmas, you can prove from the Bible itself that Our Lord was born on December 25th, just read the first chapter of St. Luke's Gospel pay attention to the fact that Zecheriah is in the priestly division of Abia or Abijah, and the amount of months that take place between the events happening in that chapter.

 

[Greatshield17]

What saddens me is the celebration of materialism. There is no other tradition I know of where the winter solstice celebration is supposed to mire the celebrants in debt the rest of the year,

I've reclaimed the tradition of Advent, fasting for four weeks until Christmas; after that of course it's the traditional 12 Days of Christmas, the fasting makes the feasting and celebration much more enjoyable.

 

[Streetwise]

Um no, if anything it's actually an anti-pagan holiday. It started when the Pantheon, the temple dedicated to all the gods of Rome was taken over by the Church and converted into a Basilica dedicated to all the Martyrs, thus the Feast of All-Martyrs was created. This feast was celebrated in May, and the Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox still celebrate the Feast in May; I'm not sure if the Eastern Christians celebrated an Eve of All-Martyrs day or not, but in the Latin Rite, the feast became All-Saints Day, the Eve day called All-Hallows Eve or Halloween was added and the date was switched from May to November 1st. The closest this Feast comes to being Pagan, is that it's believed that reason the feast was moved from May to November, is to appeal to the Germanic people that have taken over much of the west at that time.

As for Christmas, you can prove from the Bible itself that Our Lord was born on December 25th, just read the first chapter of St. Luke's Gospel pay attention to the fact that Zecheriah is in the priestly division of Abia or Abijah, and the amount of months that take place between the events happening in that chapter.

Dont agree the Jews know the most about the time of year and they say September /October so I'll respect their view ,Halloweens roots were a pagan Celtic festival transliterated as Samhain (pronounced sow in)Celtic new year Nov 1 .

 

[UberScout]

Not annoyed for me, just more or less confused. And flabergasted...

 

[Stardust Parade]

I don’t like it.

 

[Creep]

On a scale of things that annoy me, it rates very low.

 

[Greatshield17]

Dont agree the Jews know the most about the time of year and they say September /October so I'll respect their view ,Halloweens roots were a pagan Celtic festival transliterated as Samhain (pronounced sow in)Celtic new year Nov 1 .

All Saints Day was moved from May to November 1st in the Latin Rite to replace Samhain; All the practices of All-Hallows Eve were either Christian, (such as trick-or-treating, which comes from the Catholic practice of souling.) medieval fables, (such as the jack-o-lantern.) or secular cultural practices. Obviously there may be some modern practices added to All-Hallows Eve that we may find objectionable, but the celebration itself has been traditionally Christian.

As for the Jewish claim that Our Lord was born in September/October, keep in mind that the Jews use a lunar calendar not a Solar calendar, so it may be the case that things aren't lining-up. For example, both the First and Second Temples were destroyed on the 9th of Av, yet when you look up when the two temples were destroyed they take place on quite different months. Likewise, it used to be the case that when the Muslims celebrated Ramadan, that month would take place in radically different times of the year, sometimes taking place in the summer, other times in the winter; it was only recently that they did some kind of reform or something to make sure it would happen at relatively the same time every year. It could easily be the case that the same thing is happening with the Jewish claim that Our Lord was born during September/October.