Buy Nothing Christmas Options

http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/

This Christmas we'll be swamped with offers, ads and invitations to buy more stuff. But now there's a way to say enough and join a movement dedicated to reviving the original meaning of Christmas giving.

Buy Nothing Christmas is a national initiative started by Canadian Mennonites but open to everyone with a thirst for change and a desire for action.

Buy Nothing Christmas is a stress-reliever, and more people need to hear about it. You can change your world by simply putting up one of the posters (or make your own) in your church, place of worship, home or work. Be sneaky about it if you have to. The point is to get people thinking. It's an idea whose time has come, so get out there and make a difference!

http://www.adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/bnd_xmas/

(IMG:http://www.adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/bnd_xmas/images/zentabanner.jpg)

I had already decided not to go through the usual round and giving and getting stuff I really don't need this year, and then stumbled upon these excellent sites. Good old Adbusters (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Taking 'Buy Nothing Day' to the next level.

Since our family is a mix of occultists and non-practising Christians; Christmas had just become something we got through and this year, we have decided not to do it at all - I am usually with friends over that time and since they are not doing it this year either, I am Christmas free (IMG:style_emoticons/default/yahoo.gif)

The only difficulty will be letting people that normally buy us gifts not to do it since we will not be doing cards or gifts; however, I will be sending New Year emails out to people I have known all of my life as I find that to be a special time.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/starspin.gif)

You could always embrace the idea of Christmas as what it is, the amalgam of many traditions of birth and death, the turning of the earth in its orbit so it dosent fly off into space (how'd they know about that!), the witche's yule, that the Christian church absorbed into its corpulent worship, just with new names. There was a thingy on the news the other day...

I wrote this for something else but it explains a lot about the current state of the Christian Tradition.

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Intelligence found at WalMart!

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Catholic League Calls Off Wal-Mart Boycott

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051111/ap_on_...l_mart_holidays

"LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A Roman Catholic civil rights group called off a boycott of Wal-Mart on Friday after the world's largest retailer apologized for an employee's e-mail that called Christmas a mix of world religions.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Thursday that a customer-service employee named Kirby had written an inappropriate e-mail to a woman who complained that the retailer had replaced a "Merry Christmas" greeting with "Happy Holidays." It also said Kirby no longer worked for Wal-Mart.

Kirby wrote that Christmas resulted from traditions ranging from Siberian shamanism to Visigoth calendars.
"Santa is also borrowed from the Caucuses (sic), mistletoe from the Celts, yule log from the Goths, the time from the Visigoth and the tree from the worship of Baal. It is a wide wide world," Kirby wrote.

Fogleman said employees will continue to wish people "Happy Holidays" because the greeting is more inclusive.

Donohue said the practice, though "dumb," was never part of his group's complaint.

"We only trigger boycotts when we've been grossly offended," he said."

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The one intelligent guy left at WalMart and they got him fired. Hmpf!

Esoteric Christians all know that Jesus was born in October (Feast of the Trumpets) and that the 'sheep were in the fields by night' and the Chrismas Tradition is an amalgam of all sorts of Pagan practices that were assimilated by the Church.

From the mushroom presents under the tree to the misteltoe it was all assimilated in order to bring the Pagans under the domination of the Church.

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don't get your underwear in a wad, have fun with it instead

give mushrooms as presents and then speak the truth and dispell the fear.

Esoterica
Graal '05 (the Cauldron/Horn Of Plenty/Thanksgiving)

My only concern with avoiding Christmas is that some retail outlets depend on this season so that they can continue serving us throughout the year.

My only concern with avoiding Christmas is that some retail outlets depend on this season so that they can continue serving us throughout the year.

If they sold stuff people actually really needed all year round they would not have to rely on a once yearly bout of consumer madness to keep them going. It is time to consume less, slow down the world economy that exists to supply stuff we don't need, and even the spread of wealth amongsy stt the people of the world. If I can do my small part to achieve that by not buying stuff this christmas then all the better (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

My only concern with avoiding Christmas is that some retail outlets depend on this season so that they can continue serving us throughout the year.

If they sold stuff people actually really needed all year round they would not have to rely on a once yearly bout of consumer madness to keep them going. It is time to consume less, slow down the world economy that exists to supply stuff we don't need, and even the spread of wealth amongsy stt the people of the world. If I can do my small part to achieve that by not buying stuff this christmas then all the better (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Yeah 80% of most stores profits are made in Nov/Dec. Would be interesting to see what happened if enough folks contributed to buy nothing day. The only catch though is that the folks who actually do the buy nothing day things, are the ones that don't over buy/spend anyways. They are the ones that don't have houses full of crap they don't need, they are already conscious. Well lets hope maybe some others will cut down a little.

I quite enjoy yule each year. I don't have any familly anymore, so I don't celebrate christmas, but I do enjoy yule, feasting, gifts etc. I just make gifts for my friends. Of course I am still buying the ingredients to make those gifts, ah well.

As the owner of an occult site, I do have to say I hope that folks at least buy ingreds to make supplies for their friends <g> so that I can get make my sons decent gifts LOL.

Btw, I do have to tease you, I noticed that there are some commercial products on the buy nothing website <g>

And while I am rambling, I just have to add, I found a way to truly enjoy christmas, just simply invite all of your occult friends over that don't have familly and feed them and give them gifts (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Well of course punk rock xmas carols help as well (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Athena

[quote=Athena,Nov 18 2005, 10:29 PM] [QUOTE=mediocracy,Nov 18 2005, 09:24 PM]
Well of course punk rock xmas carols help as well (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Athena [/quote]
oh no! - not 'jiggle b_lls"!

too agro!

have fun (cause that all there is)

For those that still want to buy something but want that something to be more meaningful than a pair of comedy socks...

Oxfam Unwrapped

How we spend your money

All the items in this catalogue have been identified as essential by the communities where Oxfam works.

However, to allow us to respond flexibly to varying needs around the world as they occur, in some cases what we have shown is an example of what may be provided. This approach means that the communities Oxfam works with can decide for themselves what will make the biggest difference to them, so that they can work themselves out of poverty.

Buy a Goat, Calf, Donkey or Camel, and your gift could also be used to fund the livestock most appropriate to the individual community, depending on their circumstances and local environment.

Buy the gift of Basic Medicines for a Village, 2 Mosquito Nets or First Aid Kit, and your gift may also be used to fund other basic health supplies.

Money raised from Beekeeping gifts, Start a business, Train a farmer or Greenhouse may also be used to support similar livelihoods programmes designed to offer a sustainable income to those that need it most.

Buy Plant 50 Trees, Plant an Allotment, Farmer’s Kit, or Mango Plantation and you could also be helping to provide other seeds and crops, as well as the tools needed to cultivate them.

Buying Essential Hygiene Kit, 10 Oxfam buckets, or Build a toilet, could mean funding other essential sanitation programmes.

Buy the Home-Based Care Kit or Train and Support a Voluntary Carer, and your gift may also be used to fund other essential work supporting people infected with, or affected by HIV and AIDS.

Buy School Desk and Chair, Student’s kit, Learning Games, Teacher’s kit, or Build a Classroom, your gift may also be used to fund other essential items needed to equip community schools where Oxfam works.

In the same way your gift of School Dinners could feed other vulnerable people, training for Healthworkers or Midwives could train other health staff, Changemaker Kit could pay for other campaigning and Teacher Training or 1 Months Teaching could be used to support other educational initiatives.

Poverty can and must be overcome.

Good idea in Oxfam about buying trees; I used to belong to the Woodland Trust and when you joined, you were assigned a tree, not named though as I had hoped - I went to find mine and travelled out of London to where it was planted and found thousands of other baby trees there with no clues as to which one was 'mine' (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Following on from that, local zoos and the like often run 'adopt-a-monkey' or whatever schemes.

Excellent idea!