Believe it or not, it's still a day for families to get together

JONATHAN CARSON

Atheist

Alison Campbell and family do not associate Christmas with religion, but that does not stop them from eating good food and exchanging gifts.

"It means I don't personally ascribe any religious connection to it," she said.

"I see it as a time to get together with family and catch up with people we don't see a lot – get the good vibes that way."

They don't sing Christmas carols, as many of them have a religious message, but they do have a Christmas tree.

"The tree is a thing that goes a long way back pre-Christianity. It's been a pagan thing for a long time before it became associated with Christmas."

Her son, 23, and daughter, 20, grew up with a "faith" in Santa like most children but were never taught about the birth of Jesus.

But the family, who are all athiests, will celebrate a fairly normal Christmas.

"I like seeing people happy and how they get happy is not really any of my business. I'm not a grinch."

Buddhist

Upali Sarathchandra feels like he "fits in" with the Christmas tradition after moving to New Zealand from Sri Lanka nearly 40 years ago.

"When we are in our own country, we have the Buddhist celebrations and holidays but, in New Zealand, Christmas is a big thing. It's got a religious significance for Christians."

His children were raised in New Zealand and, so they didn't miss out on what all their friends were doing, the family embraced Christmas. They enjoy the break and tomorrow will continue the 30-year tradition of sharing good food, good company and gifts with their "adopted" European family.

Vesak, or Buddha's birthday celebration, is the Buddhist Christmas equivalent and is held on the day of the first full-moon in May. The family commemorate this in New Zealand but, in some ways, Christmas has become like a "replacement holiday".

Christian

For Philip Woolerton and family, Christmas is a birthday celebration – it commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ.

"Jesus is central to everything, to the salvation of humanity, really," he said. "It's just a great celebration."

The family also observe the period of advent – the month leading up to Christmas – during which they reflect on the Christian Christmas story.

They attend midnight mass at St Andrew's Anglican Church on Christmas eve and, tomorrow, Jesus is still in their thoughts. Mr Woolerton will spend half the day with his side of the family, the other half with his wife's family. They share gifts and food, and enjoy the festive spirit.

His two sons – Sam, 8, and Heath, 5 – especially enjoy the day. Heath still thanks Santa for his presents under the tree, but Sam has grown out of it.

"I think for some families it's a bit overboard on the Santa side and I try to encourage the Christian side.

"But, at the same time, I think it's OK to have a bit of fun with Santa."

Hindu

A game of backyard cricket is on the cards for Tarun Kumar's family and friends this Christmas. He moved to New Zealand from Fiji 25 years ago and now celebrates Christmas in practically the same way as most Kiwis.

"The idea is basically being together, kids mingling together, playing soccer and cricket and later on in the evening everybody sitting together and having a big dinner," he said.

The Hamilton Hindu family have a Christmas tree up in the lounge and tomorrow will exchange gifts and have lunch together before a group of up to 60 friends and family come around for an afternoon of games and pot-luck dinner.

Mr Kumar said the number of Indian children being raised in New Zealand was the main reason Christmas had been adopted.

"You'd be surprised with the new generation of kids you will find that they know all the Christmas stories, they know most of the Christmas songs, they know the story about Santa Claus and, of course, Jesus Christ."

The ancient Hindu festival Diwali, which symbolises the triumph of light over darkness and the renewal of life, is the Hindu equivalent to Christmas.

Muslim

Anjum Rahman and her two daughters do not celebrate Christmas. The date is not circled on the Muslim calendar. For them, it's just another day.

"We just enjoy the holiday. We're going to the beach so we'll just do holiday-type things, so we enjoy that," she said.

"We don't put up trees and we don't give presents. We give presents at the time of our own Muslim celebration."

Eid al-Fitr is the biggest celebration of the Muslim year. It marks the end of Ramadan, which is the ninth and holiest month on the Islamic calendar.

During the festival of Eid al-Fitr, Muslims dress in their finest clothes, decorate their homes, share gifts and spend time with friends and family.

"That's the time when we do a lot of our religious type celebration and gift giving," Ms Rahman said.

"We wouldn't feel comfortable taking part in other people's rituals and possibly they may not feel comfortable taking part in our rituals. But we're just happy to share the joy or the good wishes."

Muslims do, however, reflect on the life of Jesus who is one of their prophets.

- © Fairfax NZ News