Do Aliens Celebrate Christmas?
To most this question sounds silly. Of course they do not. Others, devout Christians, are going to have a tough time with that one - is Jesus not universal? Let us break it down.
Note, this essay is not an attempt to prove Jesus is or is not a god - only to explore concepts like perhaps people on other planets have never heard of The Guy and therefore would never celebrate his birthday.
Under that premise, we can start by looking at ourselves. Until Europeans conquered North America, no one in the Western Hemisphere had ever heard the name Jesus Christ. People here in The Americas worshiped other gods. Some worshiped animals and trees. Others worshiped no deity at all. If even here on Earth, where The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost is believed by many to be The Creator of everything, half of the planet never worshiped Jesus until about the past 300-400 years, why would it make sense that people on other planets would worship Jesus? As far as I know The Church is not sending missionaries to Proxima b. So without that advertising, it is hard to believe that aliens have heard of Jesus, let alone worship him. We do not even have any confirmation that they got the Chuck Berry records we sent.
What does The Church think of this heresy? The current Pope believes it is possible that aliens exist - at least he will not rule it out. On this topic, Pope Francis says, “until America was discovered we thought it didn't exist, and instead it existed.” He goes on to say, “in every case I think that we should stick to what the scientists tell us.” Wow! I knew I liked this guy. I doubt I will be getting any calls to appear before The Inquisition. The Pope also reaffirms his belief that God is The Creator, in the same article, but it seems The Church and Science have come a long way since the days of Copernicus and Galileo.
Gift Giving is Universal
Still, the question remains, do aliens celebrate Christmas? In order to answer that question, two additional questions must be answered. First, does Jesus have other forms which he may have taken on other planets? If so, was he born the same year out there as he was here? I will leave those questions to religious theologians to debate. The bigger question I have is, if we leave out the birth of a deity part of the holiday, do aliens have one day of the year where everyone gives and receives gifts?
Again, I have to look at ourselves first. Here on Earth, it is not just Christians who give each other gifts at Christmastime. The most obvious second-fiddle to Christmas gift-giving is the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Instead of one day of presents, Hanukkah has Eight Crazy Nights. The origins of the holiday have nothing to do with the birth of a messiah or anything really religious at all. It was originally about survival in the aftermath of a war (more or less). The modern practice of giving gifts mirrors the evolution of the Christian practice of giving gifts at Christmas. This answer to Christmas envy for Jews really took off after the Holocaust when psychologists and rabbis promoted the idea of giving gifts at Hanukkah as a way for Jewish kids to feel more proud of being Jewish rather than sad about missing out on Christmas.
People of other faiths also may exchange gifts or give to charities during this time of year. It is hard not to participate in some way when you live in a Western, predominantly Christian country. Even in countries with few Christians, like Japan, Christmas has been adopted as a fun way to get together with family and give gifts. Of course, as with all adopted Western concepts, the Japanese have their own spin on Christmas.
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| Gift Giving is Universal |
The Christmas Tree was added to the holiday within the past four hundred years, only gaining acceptance here in the US within the past 150 years - prior to that it was considered a Pagan practice to "worship" a tree.
What pre-dated Saturnalia? What will come after Christmas? The Gift-giving Holidays on Earth evolved over the course of thousands of years. There is no reason to believe that this practice will not live on, in some form, for thousands more. How about millions? If human civilization were a million years old, would we still be celebrating Christmas?
Giving and receiving gifts is fun and fulfilling. It is in our blood. My youngest son used to split his cookies with me when he was one year old. I did not teach him that, at least not intentionally. Why would it not be the same for other species? Cats bring their owners dead mice. No one taught them that.
It stands to reason that aliens may indeed enjoy giving and receiving gifts. Do aliens celebrate Christmas? If they have been around long enough to figure out how to get from there to here they surely have had time to come up with a holiday where everyone can exchange gifts and rejoice in the love of their fellow alien. So in a way, yes Virginia, aliens do celebrate Christmas.
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Thank you for reading and keep an eye on the sky.
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