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Celebration Of Smithmas

Daniel Peterson

By Daniel Peterson
in General Discussions

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Kenngo1969 Grand Master

Kenngo1969

Posted
Posted

I do believe WS meant that as a joke/pun. :)

Personally, I spit Coke Root Beer at my screen when I read it.

volgadon Grand Master

volgadon

Posted
Posted

It's sometimes (often?) alleged by critics of the Church -- predominantly if not solely, in my experience, by disaffected former believers -- that "Smithmas" or, at any rate, the celebration of Joseph Smith's 23 December birthday is a really big deal for Mormons.

The only celebration that I can recall was in 2005, the 200th anniversary of JS' birth. I was in the MTC at the time. My home branch didn't celebrate it, nor did, as far as I know, any of the branches in Russia that I served in.

LeSellers Veteran

LeSellers

Posted
Posted
I do believe WS meant that as a joke/pun.

That may be true (and I knew that), but, as they say at the handkerchief factory: "T'snot funny!"

Some things ought not be the subject of jokes. My son's and daughter-in-law's morality is among them.

Lehi

Craig Paxton Proficient

Craig Paxton

Posted
Posted

It's sometimes (often?) alleged by critics of the Church -- predominantly if not solely, in my experience, by disaffected former believers -- that "Smithmas" or, at any rate, the celebration of Joseph Smith's 23 December birthday is a really big deal for Mormons.

I'm writing to get responses on the matter from those, believers or not, who grew up or have been Latter-day Saints.

In my household, we actually do celebrate Joseph Smith's birthday on 23 December.

Ahhhhh...So you're admitting that church critics are sometimes right???? Wow thats a first.... I think I'll start celebrating December 22...Singing songs and eating pot luck meals to celebrate the day Dr. Peterson finally admitted that church critics are sometimes right....

I can die a happy man...

sethpayne Mentor

sethpayne

Posted
Posted

For him, it was no sacrifice at all. But we are discussing celebrations. Such a celebration I cannot imagine greater.

Lehi

Hi Lehi,

I'm a little slow. You are celebrating the murder of Joseph Smith?

I get the celebrating marriage. Getting married on the day/time of his murder is an interesting choice, I must say!

Seth

LeSellers Veteran

LeSellers

Posted
Posted
I'm a little slow. You are celebrating the murder of Joseph Smith?

I get the celebrating marriage. Getting married on the day/time of his murder is an interesting choice, I must say

It's an overstatement that we "celebrate" his martyrdom. The date and time were really "what was open and convenient", but the fact remains that, accidentally or by design, the date now is indelibly etched in our memories for both reasons.

Lehi

Hamba Tuhan Grand Master

Hamba Tuhan

Posted
Posted (edited)

Seriously though, I don't think critics mean to imply a lot of members celebrate Smithmas privately, as just recognize the not-insignificant attention paid to Smith's birthday by the official church which....

I'm confused. The 'official church' makes a big deal of the Prophet's birthday? I must have been missing this.

Of course, I've also never once attended a ward/branch where one could experience an entire sacrament meeting without a single reference to the Saviour, so clearly I'm on the outermost fringes of supposedly authentic Mormon experience....

Edited by Hamba Tuhan
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rpn Grand Master

rpn

Posted
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Sometimes my parents would mention that it was his birthday that day. Sometimes (generally because I'd read a church mag blurb about it), I would mention the date's significance to my children at the dinner table. But having been raised in the church in 5 states, I've never celebrate or known anyone else to celebrate either his bday or his martyrdom. ( think over 50 years I have heard a talk in a December sacrament meeting on JS maybe 30 times.)

sethpayne Mentor

sethpayne

Posted
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It's an overstatement that we "celebrate" his martyrdom. The date and time were really "what was open and convenient", but the fact remains that, accidentally or by design, the date now is indelibly etched in our memories for both reasons.

Lehi

Gotcha. Thanks, Lehi

Seth

KevinG Grand Master

KevinG

Posted
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My oldest daughter is already cheesed she has to share her 12/29 birthday with Christmas and New Years. I'm not sure adding another observation at that time of year would be conducive to family peace. :help:

LeSellers Veteran

LeSellers

Posted
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My oldest daughter is already cheesed she has to share her 12/29 birthday with Christmas and New Years.

And with one of our sons, although she probably will never be bothered by that.

Lehi

cinepro Grand Master

cinepro

Posted
Posted (edited)

My oldest daughter is already cheesed she has to share her 12/29 birthday with Christmas and New Years. I'm not sure adding another observation at that time of year would be conducive to family peace. :help:

That was my thought as well. Joseph Smith, if anything, seems to suffer the curse of all people born near December 25: their birthdays are usually less celebrated. I suspect if Joseph Smith had been born in March or August, there would be much more "celebration" in the Church.

As for the celebration of Christmas itself, I propose that we all honor our Bishops with a Nauvoo-style Christmas visit this year:

“This morning, about one o’clock, I [Joseph Smith] was aroused by an English sister, Lettice Rushton, widow of Richard Rushton, Senior, (who, ten years ago, lost her sight) accompanied by three of her sons, with their wives, and her two daughters, with their husbands, and several of her neighbors, singing, ‘Mortals, awake! with angels join,’ &c., which caused a thrill of pleasure to run through my soul. All of my family and boarders arose to hear the serenade, and I felt to thank my Heavenly Father for their visit, and blessed them in the name of the Lord.”

December 25, 1843 (History of the Church, 6:134)

Edited by cinepro
Hamba Tuhan Grand Master

Hamba Tuhan

Posted
Posted

As for the celebration of Christmas itself, I propose that we all honor our Bishops with a Nauvoo-style Christmas visit this year:

Awesome! Thanks for sharing that.

Stargazer Grand Master

Stargazer

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I've been a member of the church for 45 years, and lived in four different countries, and three different parts of the USA, and I don't think I could count more than 5 times that any mention of it has been made of it during the Christmas season in any Sacrament meeting I have attended in any ward. And it has only been mentioned in those few occasions.

Sevenbak Mentor

Sevenbak

Posted
Posted (edited)

The usual suspects on FreeRepublic are doing several "Smithmas" stories per day this month. This guy is really obsessed with the notion, apparently.

Edited by Sevenbak
Stargazer Grand Master

Stargazer

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Joseph Smith creche? What on earth would that look like?

krose Contributor

krose

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At least Smith was actually born that week, unlike the other subject of celebration. It is a bit odd to celebrate a birth on a day that we all are pretty sure it didn't happen.

Anyway, Smith's birthday was always mentioned in my family, but that may be because it was also my sister's. (They seriously considered naming her Mary Christie, poor kid. Josephine was also in the running.)

1
Storm Rider Grand Master

Storm Rider

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I'm just curious about the experiences of others. Was celebrating the birthday of Joseph Smith a big deal in your experience as a Latter-day Saint? It certainly has never been in mine, excepting this little party that we ourselves have invented and sponsored. Nor had I ever heard of anything to that effect from anybody else. (I won't even ask about the ridiculous and transparently false claim made by some disingenuous critics that, in Mormonism, "Smithmas" -- a derisive term that I've only ever heard hostile people -- is a bigger holiday than Christmas.)

It is interesting the types of accusations or complaints that can be heard about LDS beliefs, culture, and practices. Of course I am aware of when Jopseh Smith was born, but there is nothing beyond knowing that fact. We have never acknowledged it in any way. I have heard it mentioned in talks about Joseph Smith a few times, but nothing more.

I have met individuals who seemed to have a strong affinity for Joseph Smith just as I have met those who have had similar feelings for other prophets/apostles: David O. McKay, Peter, BY, Moses, etc. I have never questioned these types of feelings and always have felt they were appropriate.

As an aside, I would feel a degree of discomfort celebrating any deceased person during the week of Christmas. That is a time when our family's focus is on the birth of the Savior. At the same time, it takes all kinds to make the world go round.

cinepro Grand Master

cinepro

Posted
Posted

It is interesting the types of accusations or complaints that can be heard about LDS beliefs, culture, and practices. Of course I am aware of when Jopseh Smith was born, but there is nothing beyond knowing that fact. We have never acknowledged it in any way. I have heard it mentioned in talks about Joseph Smith a few times, but nothing more.

Where were you in 2005?

Sevenbak Mentor

Sevenbak

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Where were you in 2005?

Personally, I was in Sharon Vermont with President Hinckley doing stories...

But it wasn't a Christmas event, or similar celebration by any means.

BCSpace Grand Master

BCSpace

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JS always enjoyed a good tussle in his younger days and never shied away from a chance to wrestle, so on 12/23, we do the Feats of Strength.......

:pirate:

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