How American Hindus Spend Christmas

By Syama Allard& (RNS) — The United States’ Christian population is smaller than it’s been in the past 50 years, with fewer than 65 percent of Americans counting themselves Christian. Still, more than 90 percent of the country observes the day in some combination of attending midnight Mass, putting up a tree, exchanging gifts and getting together with family. For many in the minority who don’t, some alternative has been promoted or even invented to provide a parallel holiday: Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or, for those jaded by the commercialization of Jesus’ birth, Festivus, the secular celebration “Seinfeld” emphatically declared is for “the rest of us!” Hindus, however, have no traditional counterpart to Christmas. Our religion has its own festival of light, Diwali, which celebrates the triumph of good over evil, but it falls no later than November. At the same time, Hinduism is so diverse, pluralistic and tolerant in our beliefs and practices, we can make room for pretty much any outlook — which means we’re open to different ways of coexisting with Christmas.& Ramya Ramakrishnan, who spent the first 22 years of her life in India and now lives in the San Francisco Bay area, never celebrated Christmas while growing...