discussions about whether christmas is secular or what are so weird to me. because people say it's christian but... the name and the tenuous link to the story of baby jesus's birth are all that really strikes me as christian (or religious at all)? part of that is probably that in german even the name, Weihnachten, is not readily linked to christianity (to my knowledge). to be fair there's Heiligabend (holy eve) which does link to the baby jesus story. but Weihnachtsmann, Weihnachtsbaum, gifting, Adventskranz, Adventskalendar, aren't really... meaningful in any sense to christianity? (ok the adventsstuff may also point to baby jesus but eh.)
i don't really celebrate either these apparently secular nor the more obviously christian parts of it but there is that distinction to me. (probably can mention i was raised christian.)
