Jehovah's Witnesses and babies

[Lil' Hannah]

Jehovah's Witnesses do not have "celebrations" -- at least not in the sense that most people would understand that word.

Celebrations with even tenuous connections with pagan holidays are considered tainted, even if the tainted portions are removed.

For example, a Witness would never have a Christmas tree, because such "Tanenbaums" were once used by the Druids. The Witnesses can not see it as "just a tree". Christmas is also tied to the wild Roman celebration of Saturnalia according to the following logic: early Christians instituted Christmas around the same time of year to give Christians something more wholesome to do. (The Witnesses do not believe that Jesus was born on December 25th, and Biblical scholars agree with them on this point.)

Birthdays are condemned because they are never presented in a positive light in the Bible. John the Baptist was beheaded at a birthday -- see Matthew 14:6-11. Witnesses also claim that birthdays glorify a person, when all glory should go to God.

Easter is not celebrated because it is not mentioned in the Bible. However, at that time of year the Witnesses do conduct a ritual known as "The Lord's Evening Meal", which bears a faint resemblance to Catholic Communion. The ritual is also known as "The Memorial" because it is based upon a request by Jesus that his followers partake of wine and unleavened bread in remembrance of him.

The only celebration honored by Witnesses is the wedding anniversary. While the "giving honor to humans" argument applied to birthdays might also be used against anniversaries, Witnesses have not considered it necessary to do so.