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Japanese Yes. Mennonites celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus, and customs vary by group. Most modern Mennonite churches plan a Christmas program, and many families decorate and give gifts as their neighbors do. Old Order and other conservative Mennonites keep the day more quietly, without Christmas trees or house decorations, as a day for church and family.
How do Mennonites celebrate Christmas?
Third Way, a Mennonite information website, puts it plainly: “Mennonites celebrate Christmas. We recognize this as the time when Jesus was born and this is the basis for our celebration.” The Gospel of Luke gives the angel’s announcement to the shepherds: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).
Mennonites take their name from Menno Simons, a Dutch Catholic priest who left the priesthood for the Anabaptists in 1536. Today they range from Old Order groups who drive horse and buggy to churches whose members drive cars, wear ordinary clothes and live in cities, and their Christmas customs follow the same range. Third Way says that “The more modern groups use the same decorations and gifts as others,” often with an emphasis on gifts for the needy. Many modern congregations keep the four weeks of Advent, lighting the candles of an Advent wreath in worship, and many Mennonite homes have an Advent wreath or an Advent calendar. Most of these churches plan an evening Christmas program, and their decorations “might include banners, candles, greenery, and a Christmas tree.” Many organize charity work during the season. African American, Hispanic and Asian Mennonites may also keep Christmas traditions from their own cultures.
For every group, Third Way notes, Christmas “is an important family day when large family gatherings are held.”
How do conservative Mennonites keep Christmas?
More simply. According to Third Way, the more traditional and conservative groups “do not have Christmas trees or use decorations around the house,” may attend a church service on Christmas Day, and give family gifts that are usually quite simple. Old Order and more conservative Mennonites generally do not observe Advent. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, some Plain families put candles in their windows to represent the birth of Christ and hang up the Christmas cards they receive, but have no lights or tree, and parents teach their children that Santa Claus is not real.
In 2015 the Baltimore Sun described Christmas at Hampden Mennonite Church, a conservative congregation in Baltimore. Its pastor, Nathan Zook, held no service on Christmas or Christmas Eve but led one in his home on the Sunday before. “Some of us do exchange a few simple presents,” he said. “But rather than focusing on the commercial side of things, we use Christmas as a time to reflect on the deeper meaning of Jesus’ life.” Members told the paper that Mennonites have traditionally been more interested in Good Friday and Easter than in Christmas, and Zook said the book of Romans hints that no one day is more sacred than another. Paul writes there, “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” (Romans 14:5).
What is Second Christmas?
Second Christmas is December 26. Amish and Mennonite families in Lancaster County keep December 25 as a family day with special meals and use December 26 to visit extended family and friends and exchange gifts. Mark Louden, a professor of German linguistics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, traces the custom to Germanic central Europe. Many Midwestern Amish also keep January 6, the feast of Epiphany, as “Old Christmas,” a date that goes back to the older Julian calendar.
How is an Amish Christmas different?
The Amish and Mennonites share an Anabaptist heritage but have been separate groups since 1693, and the Amish keep Christmas more plainly than most Mennonites. “The Amish would see it as disrespectful of the true religious meaning of the day to decorate their houses,” Donald B. Kraybill of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies told the Baltimore Sun in 2003. “For them, Christmas is a quiet and reflective day. There would be no references to Santa Claus.”
The Amish as a rule have no Christmas tree, though poinsettias are a popular decoration. A family may send 100 to 150 Christmas cards and receive as many, and the cards are usually strung up across the main room. A highlight of the year is the school Christmas program, usually on the last day of the fall term, with plays, skits and crafts. Amish Christmas gifts are usually simple toys or useful things such as a tool or clothing, and some of the most conservative Amish groups do little to mark Christmas at all.
What other holidays do Mennonites celebrate?
According to the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, “Christmas and Easter were never lost by any of the Mennonite groups,” and traditionalist Mennonite groups still keep Pentecost, Ascension Day, Easter Monday and Pentecost Monday. Mennonites did not traditionally observe Lent, though more modern churches have begun to. Most churches hold a service on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, often with communion and foot washing on Maundy Thursday, and Easter morning brings sunrise services, singing and large family meals.
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