Is Christmas still celebrated in the Federation?

[Wadjda]

Them being secular and all that. What would replace it in terms of significance?

 

[Ramicus]

Captain Picard Day.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Kirk/Helen Noel happened at a Christmas party. They also still celebrate Thanksgiving in TOS ("Charlie X")

 

[Timewalker]

Why wouldn't they celebrate Christmas if they wanted to? The only difference I can see is that it wouldn't be a statutory holiday (if they made every Federation member's holidays a stat holiday, there wouldn't be much getting done...).

 

[Count]

IDIC is the principle the Federation is based on, so I see no reason why people who believe in Christianity or similar religious focuses don't celebrate it still, but I doubt it'll be a public holiday-type approach, more like a private observance, cause IDIC works both ways (don't prioritize religion/status/state of a group over another).

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

If I recall my early indoctrination into such matters, Christ died so that human souls would have eternal life in heaven. I was specifically told that animals are not included so I assume aliens are in the same boat unless they also had a saviour. Christmas is probably confined to areas of Earth and human colonies where Christianity survives. With replicators, transporters, and climate control, the commercial drivers for encouraging the celebration of the festive season have likely disappeared.

 

[JarodRussell]

If I recall my early indoctrination into such matters, Christ died so that human souls would have eternal life in heaven. I was specifically told that animals are not included so I assume aliens are in the same boat unless they also had a saviour.

This is the exact reason why religion isn't part of Star Trek's 23rd/24th century society.

 

[Therin of Andor]

There was a Christmas-themed issue (#2) of DC Comics' first TNG mini-series. A alien race resembled The Grinch (who stole Christmas). A Christmas tree is on the front cover.

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Spirit_in_the_Sky

 

[Tosk]

Picard's Nexus fantasy wouldn't make much sense if he hadn't celebrated Christmas at least once in his life. Would he really long for a family so that they could all celebrate some weird old custom he read about?

 

[Greg Cox]

Kirk/Helen Noel happened at a Christmas party. They also still celebrate Thanksgiving in TOS ("Charlie X")

Exactly. A "Christmas party" is mentioned by name in "Dagger of the Mind."

 

[The Old Mixer]

Christmas has really become three holidays rolled into one:

1) The now-secular "home and family" traditions, which derive from pre-Christian pagan Solstice celebrations;
2) The Christian religious aspects, which were imposed upon #1 by the Church centuries after the time of Christ, supported by no biblical evidence of the date of Christ's birth;
3) The modern commercial aspects, which pretend to be part and partial of #1, but are really exploiting it.

In Trek's secular, non-capitalist human society, it's reasonable that #1 may still be observed by some without #2 and #3.

 

[Timewalker]

Some of us use it as an excuse for guilt-free chocolate-eating.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Count Troi as a celebrant, then.

 

[T'Girl]

There was a Christmas-themed issue (#2) of DC Comics' first TNG mini-series. A alien race resembled The Grinch (who stole Christmas). A Christmas tree is on the front cover.

In one of Alan Dean Foster's adaptations of the animated series, he wrote that the Enterprise had a large evergreen tree in stasis, every year it was brought out, members of the crew decorated it, and there was a celebration of Christmas aboard the ship.

This is the exact reason why religion isn't part of Star Trek's 23rd/24th century society.

Except when it is.

If I recall my early indoctrination into such matters, Christ died so that human souls would have eternal life in heaven. I was specifically told that animals are not included so I assume aliens are in the same boat unless they also had a saviour.

Intelligent aliens of course would not be "animals." Were they also saved? That is a deep question, but I would think yes. Personally accepting Christ is the key.

Christmas is probably confined to areas of Earth and human colonies where Christianity survives.

Confined no, but realistically the bulk of the people celebrating Christmas would be in the areas you mentioned. If there is proselytizing by Human interstellar travelers and conversions of individuals within alien species then Christianity (and other faiths too) will spread.

Christmas could be in places where no Human has ever been.

With replicators, transporters, and climate control, the commercial drivers for encouraging the celebration of the festive season have likely disappeared.

But the giving of gifts hopefully won't. Likely most of the people I recently gave presents to could have acquired those items on their own, that's not the point of gift giving. On TNG, we saw that the practice of gift giving continues.

 

[CaptPapa]

Agreed that many today celebrate Christmas, not as a religious holiday, but one of family togetherness and gift-giving (I wish), or . . . general greed and avarice.
I suspect that in the future Christmas celebration as a religious holiday will further decline while family togetherness and gift-giving will increase (I wish); and general greed and avarice will also decline (again . . . I wish).

ME

 

[Greg Cox]

Yeah, I'd hesitate to read too much religious significance into that Christmas party. It's not like Kirk flirted with Helen at a midnight mass!

I'm as secular as they come but I've attended plenty of Christmas parties, put up a tree this year, exchanged gifts with my friends and family, and watched the Grinch, Scrooge, and Charlie Brown on TV.

We also put Jack-o-lanterns on the porch for Halloween, but that doesn't mean we were sincerely trying to ward off baleful spirits!

 

[Dream]

We ALL know that the only reason Christmas exists is so stores can sell all of their inventory, so they came up a good profit report at the end of the year!

 

[iguana_tonante]

Them being secular and all that. What would replace it in terms of significance?

I am an atheist and completely secular, yet I celebrate Christmas even if I don't believe any of that. It's a solstice celebration under another name, and any occasion is good for me to eat smodately and have fun. So I don't see why not. They celebrate all kind of weird crap from all Federation worlds, too. People just like to have fun.

 

[Robert Comsol]

I always thought that the wall painting in the Chapel of the TOS Enterprise was a not too abstract representation of a Christmas tree.

I'm not suggesting it's always there but taking a look at the TOS stardates it could look like Christmas is around the X700.X
marker:

Stardate 1709.2 - Balance of Terror
Stardate 2715.9 - Dagger of the Mind (reference to apparently recent science lab Christmas party)
Stardate 5693.2 - The Tholian Web (Chapel background looks identical to one from BT)

Bob

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Well, people in the 24th century are still aware enough as to what Christmas is to regularly use Christmas metaphors in conversations. This is at least an indication that it is still celebrated even if society has become largely secular.


To quote from Memory Alpha:

When telling Harry Kim about why he finally confessed to the piloting error that killed his shipmates, Tom Paris joked that "the ghosts of those three dead officers came to me in the middle of the night and taught me the true meaning of Christmas. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Non Sequitur")

In 2373, one of the Swarm ships fired a polaron burst at Voyager and illuminated their shield polarity which attracted the attention of thousands of Swarm ships in their space. Chakotay then said "As far as anyone's sensors are concerned, we're lit up like a Christmas tree." (VOY: "The Swarm")

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Christmas

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Christmas_tree