Christmas is such a widely celebrated holiday within the United States that people become accustomed to seeing houses and buildings adorned in Christmas lights and decorations. Thus, those who do not celebrate Christmas tend to be forgotten and are therefore subjected to seeing everyone else in the Christmas spirit. This has provoked a number of incidents across the United States such as a Florida diner being asked to stop playing Christmas music and the banning of Christmas celebrations in some Maryland schools; however, Christmas is not intended to be insulting. 

Christmas decorations, such as wreaths, trees, and red and green adornments, get hung up around neighborhoods, stores, restaurants, and other public properties. In addition, activities correlated with Christmas, such as light shows and gift exchanges, are commonplace throughout the holiday season, therefore making it almost impossible to escape the Christmas spirit.

“[Christmas activities are] not offensive because Christmas is about giving to people you care for or to make another person feel special,” said sophomore Elizabeth Maalouf.

Some of those who don’t celebrate Christmas because they follow a different religion may find it offensive to see all the decorations and activities during the entire month of December. However, one does not necessarily have to be Christian to celebrate Christmas.

To this day, billions around the world celebrate Christmas whether or not they affiliate with Christian beliefs. Studies show that about 81 percent of non-Christians choose to celebrate the holiday. Although they do not celebrate the religious aspect of the day, they commemorate by opening gifts and doing festive activities such as watching movies and listening to music associated with Christmas.

“I do not celebrate Christmas as much as everyone else, but for my cousins I get them presents and we put up lights,” said freshman Varsha Anumala. “I do not think that [the] Christmas spirit is offensive because it’s just something that other people celebrate and it doesn’t really affect me that much.”

Furthermore, some believe that Christmas actually has a Pagan origin, meaning that it was a non-Christian festivity. It is presumed that during the Roman Empire, the Pagans celebrated a holiday called Saturnalia on Dec. 25. The Christians, who had no intentions of commemorating a day that was not related to them, decided to adjust the day to fit their beliefs and made Dec. 25 Jesus Christ’s birthday, also known as Christmas Day.

Since then, Christmas has been deemed a religious holiday related to the beliefs of Christianity, which may be the reason why it would be disrespectful to some.

“Some people would get offended by Christmas because it celebrates the birth of Jesus,” said junior Paula Le. “They also may find it offensive because none of their religious holidays are as big as Christmas.”

Christmas should not be taken as an offensive holiday as it is a day for people to gift presents and spend time with their loved ones, regardless of religion.