Re: Holiday Celebrations | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com) | |
Date: Sat, 7 Dec 2002 11:59:01 -0700 (MST) |
On 12/6/02 10:09 AM, "Michael Arnott" <mikearnott [at] juno.com> wrote: > We would like to find out from other co-ho's how you handle the issue of > holidays celebrations and decorations in common areas. Holiday > celebrations like a seder that are time specific in which one can choose > to participate or not participate, and decorations like lights on a tree > in the Common House during December, that are always present. Seders as one time events have not been a problem. Actual religious services have been excluded. Christmas was a bit of a problem last year but negotiations were done. The tree stood for almost two weeks but the decorations did not include angels or a nativity scene. Basically no Jesus stuff. The bind is having holidays that are so whitewashed they satisfy no one or "real" holidays that offend someone. What the whole debate has taught me is that what one person sees as secular another sees as religious. One observant Jewish member told me the Friday night "gatherings" were not services, just some singing and dancing. A Quaker could not understand why a Quaker meeting would be excluded as a religious service -- it was just people sitting around. And I heard myself say, but Christmas isn't a religious holiday! What is important to most of us is the happy memories of family celebrations that the religious symbols trigger, not the imposition of our religions on others. But without the happy memories, those same symbols become foreign objects that make us feel excluded in our own commonhouse. The more our commonhouse becomes a commonhome, the stronger this seems to get. It takes so long to create new traditions and new memories that have substance. Sharon -- Sharon Villines Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC http://www.takomavillage.org _______________________________________________ Cohousing-L mailing list Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org Unsubscribe and other info: http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l
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Holiday Celebrations Michael Arnott, December 6 2002
- Re: Holiday Celebrations Elizabeth Stevenson, December 6 2002
- RE: Holiday Celebrations Rob Sandelin, December 6 2002
- Re: Holiday Celebrations Sharon Villines, December 7 2002
- Re: holiday celebrations Berrins, December 7 2002
- Re: Re: holiday celebrations PattyMara Gourley, December 8 2002
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