Essay on Social Event: The Christmas Celebration

There are various groups of people or social events with interesting social organizations and one of the events that elicits an interesting form of social organization is the Christmas celebration. It is evident during the Christmas holidays that Christians are tuned into the mood celebrating the birth of Jesus and engaging in various forms of celebrations and interacting with one another (Rohrer-Mirtschink et al. 71). It is during such times that people visit one another and relatives meet after a long and tiresome year; it is also during the Christmas celebrations when people decorate their homes in different to show the right pomp and color to show uniformity during the Christmas day celebrations.

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The importance the Christians attach to the importance of Christmas day relate to the importance of Jesus and his role in saving humanity by dying for them on the cross. According to Christian teachings, it is through the death of Jesu Christ that humankind got to be redeemed and saved from eternal death (Castro and Ilanil 261). Moreover, Christians believe that it is through Jesus Christ that the original sinful nature of mankind was cut off and a way for humanity to remain pure provided to restore initial connection between man and God as was during the times of creation and the origin of man.

Research Question

In addressing the event of Christmas celebrations and the importance of the same in the society, there is a need to examine Christmas celebrations in a holistic manner and help in enlightening the population on the same. Although all Christians believe that it is through the death of Jesus that the humanity was saved, there are some factions within the Christian fraternity that posit that the day of the death of Jesus Christ is not known and that Christmas day is null and void (McCorristine and Jane 564). Additionally, there are also come factions within the Christianity fraternity that believe in the scriptural teachings that God cannot begotten and that Jesus, who is God, being born is misleading the Cristian faiths. Such begs answers to the explanation of the proof of the birth of Jesus Christ and the credibility of Christmas day.

Hypothesis

In the discussion of the research topic, there are various hypotheses that need to be developed then tested to help in addressing the question in the right manner and gain an understanding of the topical issue. The following are research hypotheses that would help in addressing such issues in a holistic manner:

H0: Engaging in Christmas day celebrations helps in uplifting faith of Christians.

H1: Merry-making during Christmas period have biblical relevance.

H2: Christmas day has a positive effect on the lives of the poor and minority in the society.

H3: Celebrations during Christmas periods have negative effects on finances.

The collected data from the research hypotheses will be analyzed to help in improving the understanding of the population to enlighten the population on the role and effect of Christmas celebrations. Various factors play out distinctly affect Christians in various ways. There is therefore the need for the society to acknowledge impacts of the same in uplifting belief of Christians and authority of the gospel.

Ethnographic Techniques

In the process of examination of topical issues, there are various ethnographic techniques that would help in the examination of issues at play. In addressing the research question, one of the techniques that would be used to address the research question is participant observation. Participant observation is where ethnographer becomes involved and immersed in thin the culture that they are investigating and assumes the role of an active player (Ladwein and Eric 233). In the process of being part of the culture, the ethnographer participates in the culture and records extensive notes from the field. In this manner, this form of research proves to be limitless with regards to the observations made and no real ending point of the research.

The second technique of ethnography that would be used in the examination of topical issue is the use of questionnaire. The questionnaire that is used in this study is designed for Christians that appreciate the importance of Christmas celebrations. The questionnaire will be distributed via "survey monkey" website making it easier for the relevant parties to access and respond to questions asked. Most of the questions will be closed-ended questions in a multiple-choice format. The questionnaire will consist of three sections; the first section will collect background information about the respondents. The second section will seek to identify advantages and disadvantages of Christmas celebrations (Hammersley 69). The last section would contain questions focused on identifying necessity of Christmas day celebrations and impact of the same in the lives of the Christians.

The final technique that would be used in the process of examining the topical issue is in-depth interviews and it is through interviews that there would make it easy to solicit views of religious leaders to enlighten the population on the necessity of Christmas celebrations. Through the interviews with Christian religious leaders, there would be the ease of appreciating the role of Christmas day and on the lives of Christians and why it is advisable to engage in merry-making (Lull 125).

Data Analysis

In the examination of the role of Christmas celebrations, there are various topical issues at play and which help in explaining debates that have been held towards the same. One debate that has been cropping among Christians is the role of Christmas as there are factions with the Christianity fraternity that feel that the meaning of Christmas has been lost (Garner and Gregory 197). In this regard, the use of questionnaire would help to address the question by soliciting views of different respondents on whether the meaning of Christmas has been lost. Observation would also give the ethnographer an opportunity to make an observation of the celebrations to make a conclusion on the same.

The other debate that has been coming up for years among Christian fraternity is that there is no exact date of the birth of Jesus and the same would be addressed in the questions that would be distributed in the questionnaire to solicit views of different sects in Christian fraternity (Castro and Ilanil 264). Interviews with religious leaders would also help to shed light on the feelings of religious leaders towards the same.

The final debate that would be addressed in the research is whether celebration done during Christmas celebrations is necessary; this is because Christmas day celebrations are thought to have religious significance and as such Christians need to prepare themselves spiritually to receive Christ (McCorristine and Jane 567). There is, therefore, the suggestion to scrap off all celebrations held during Christmas to engage majorly in spiritual cleansing. Addressing the debate on the need to scrap off celebrations would be done through the use interviews where religious leaders would give out their views regarding the same.

Works Cited

Castro, Alisson Sousa, and Ilanil Coelho. "Routes of christmas Characters from Europe to America: between familiarity and strangeness." METIS-HISTORIA E CULTURA 14.27 (2015): 253-276.

Garner, Roberta, and Gregory M. Scott. Doing qualitative research: designs, methods, and techniques. Pearson Education, 2013.

Hammersley, Martyn. Reading ethnographic research. Routledge, 2016.

Ladwein, Richard, and Eric Remy. "Holy Christmas!." Revue du MAUSS 2 (2014): 229-249.

Lull, James. Inside Family Viewing (Routledge Revivals): Ethnographic Research on Television's Audiences. Routledge, 2014.

McCorristine, Shane, and Jane SP Mocellin. "Christmas at the Poles: emotions, food, and festivities on polar expeditions, 18181912." Polar Record 52.5 (2016): 562-577.

Rohrer-Mirtschink, S., et al. "Major burn injuries associated with Christmas celebrations: a 41-year experience from Switzerland." Annals of burns and fire disasters 28.1 (2015): 71.