Blinking, bright colorful lights fill the streets and brighten up neighborhoods each night.
Happy, cheerful songs are almost unavoidable because they are played in almost every department store.
Parking spots at the mall fill up so that an empty space is nowhere to be found, and inside, crowds of people rush from store to store trying to find the perfect gift.
Finally, the day comes and loved ones come together to prepare meals and bond with one another.
The holiday season is coming up.
Although there are many people in the world who join their friends and family to celebrate the holidays, there are still plenty of people who choose to not join in on the celebrations when those days arrive.
The followers of a particular religion, known as Jehovah’s Witnesses, are one of the groups of people who don’t believe in the celebration of holidays.
“All holidays, including birthdays, are considered “pagan holidays” and may not be observed by Witnesses,” the ReligionFacts Web site said.
According to the Jehovah’s Witnesses official Web site, they believe that Jesus never commanded Christians to celebrate the day of his birth, Christmas, but instead instructed his followers to only “memorialize or remember” his death.
In addition to that, the official Jehovah’s Witnesses Web site said that Christmas, as well as Easter, both came from “ancient false religions.”
“The early Christians did not celebrate Christmas or Easter, nor do true Christians today,” the Web site said.
Instead of gathering around a Christmas tree to exchange gifts, the Religion News Blog Web site said that Jehovah’s Witnesses go to an annual memorial service in order to commemorate the death of Jesus.
Even though Jehovah’s Witnesses are widely known not to celebrate holidays, even when it’s are around the corner, they are not the only ones.
“My family has never really done anything when holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas come. We’ve never bought a Christmas tree or threw a big family party like a lot of other people,” John Kim, art major, said.
Kim, whose family is Buddhist, said that his parents and his sister just gather together for a home-cooked meal by his mother. Afterwards, they just stay at home and watch TV like they do on a regular night.
“I’ve never found it weird or wished it was different,” Kim said. “I’m used to it because that’s how I grew up. My parents would just give me and my sister money and that was that. No gift-wrapped presents or anything,” he said.
Unlike Jehovah’s Witnesses, Kim said that he and his family do not feel that holidays and birthdays are “pagan holidays.” Instead, the reason his family does not make a big deal out of holiday celebrations because they believe holidays are just like any other days, except with specific names.
“I understand why others out there celebrate Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving and such, but that doesn’t mean me and my family should change our ways to be like everyone else. That’s just how we are, and I don’t think it’s going to change any time soon,” he said.