Narcissism Day

As I was trying to understand the orthodox holidays coming up in Serbia, a friend and I came up with the idea that I should convert to orthodox so that I can take advantage of these days. The 6th of January is Christmas Eve, and the 7th is the New Year, then the Orthodox also get their Slava, or Patron Saint day (which is another non-work day). So, the thinking was, I could convert to Orthodox today, and then I would get most of this coming week off, plus a Slava at some point. Then next December I could convert to being a catholic and take their Christmas dates off, then in January... you see the pattern.

But then I thought, what days off does an Atheist get? Being one myself (unless you count Daoism as a religion), of course I get all the christian holidays, because everyone in the west gets those. But is that really appropriate? What if I want to work those days? I mean, I should not be forced to participate in a religious festival that I do not believe in. Of course, there is the argument that Christmas is much more commercial now, and has become a tradition somewhat disconnected from its religious origin. Well, I agree that it is much more commercial now, but I think that religion is still very much entwined into it. For example, I know many people who only attend Church on Christmas and Easter; there are all the religious icons on the Christmas tree; in secular Germany, most people still put up a model of the manger in which Christ was born.

So, what is an atheist to do? We conceived that the atheist should get two days (at Christmas and at Easter) for self-worship. Call them Narcissism Days, and fill them with many unhealthy, carnal activities. In this way, much like the Christian/Orthodox holidays, they would still reflect our Pagan heritage; they would achieve the same function of getting us to channel this desire for chaos and sin into a few days each year; they would add to the diversity of human experience... and the spread of disease!

Well, on a more serious note, it does beg the question of how a culture, or religious community respects the alternative or minority religions and faiths. Certainly, no-one minds a day off, so I don't mean to suggest that the office shouldn't close on religious days, but maybe, if it is closing for one, then it should close for all? The alternative is that you allow people to chose whether they want to work or not. This, to some degree, is the practice at my place of employment: most of the Serbs were working over the Western Christmas (24th and 25th), but will off on the 6th and 7th. But my employer is also in an interesting position of being a non-Serbian organization, with a mix of people working for it. But I wonder if orthodox people in Germany can work the 24th and 25th of December and then take the 6th and 7th off (without using personal days)?

I do believe that this is starting to become the practice in a few businesses (I have heard as much from American businesses who employ Muslims), which is a good thing. Anyway, something to ponder I suppose.