Jehovah's witnesses do not celebrate national or religious holidays or birthdays. The only day they do memorialize is Jesus Christ's death around the time of Easter and Passover.
Additionally, the Witnesses hold the belief that Jehovah was the creator of all. Furthermore, they do not celebrate birthdays or religious and national holidays. The major Jehovah's Witnesses holiday memorializes the day when Jesus Christ died comes around Passover and Easter moments.
Jehovah's Witness Holidays
They believe that Christmas and Easter worship are the customs of pagans, and true Christians would not celebrate such things. Their major annual holiday is the Memorial of Christ's Death, which is celebrated at the time of the Jewish Passover.
Jehovah's Witnesses reject foods containing blood but have no other special dietary requirements. Some Jehovah's Witnesses may be vegetarian and others may abstain from alcohol, but this is a personal choice. Jehovah's Witnesses do not smoke or use other tobacco products.
Witnesses hold a number of traditional Christian views but also many that are unique to them. They affirm that God—Jehovah—is the most high. Jesus Christ is God's agent, through whom sinful humans can be reconciled to God. The Holy Spirit is the name of God's active force in the world.
Simply put- Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate holidays.
The denomination requires adherence to a strict moral code, which forbids premarital sex, homosexuality, gender transitioning, adultery, smoking, drunkenness and drug abuse, and blood transfusions.
Members are instructed to not even greet shunned individuals. Disfellowshipped individuals can continue attending public meetings held at the Kingdom Hall, but are shunned by the congregation.
Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate birthdays, Christmas, or Easter. Members of the church "believe that such celebrations displease God" and are rooted in pagan traditions.
The Witnesses have nothing against weddings or funerals, but they do have strict religious beliefs that impel them to avoid certain activities and celebrations which, they believe, violate moral principles found in the Bible.
They limit contact with non-Jehovah's Witnesses
Followers are discouraged from having close relationships with those who are not part of the faith. People who are “worldly” are seen as bad influences or “bad associations.”
A Jehovah's Witness funeral service usually takes place either at the funeral home or in Kingdom Hall, their place of worship. The Congregation Elder will conduct the service, which will include Bible readings and prayers. It may or may not be an open-casket service.
The 'anointed'
Based on their understanding of scriptures such as Revelation 14:1-4, Jehovah's Witnesses believe that exactly 144,000 faithful Christians go to heaven to rule with Christ in the kingdom of God.
Beliefs & Teachings about Death
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that when a person dies, their existence completely stops. This is because the Bible makes it clear that human beings do not have an immortal soul that survives when the body dies. Witnesses believe that Hell (as traditionally portrayed) does not exist.
The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT) is a translation of the Bible published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society; it is used and distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses.
Both Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons identify as Christians, although their non-Trinitarian doctrine — both deny that Jesus Christ shares a single fundamental divine essence with God the Father and the Holy Spirit — has often brought them into conflict with mainline Christian tradition.
Jehovah's Witnesses adhere to the Bible's view of marriage and divorce. Monogamy between one man and one woman and sex only within marriage are requirements in the Witness religion. But Witnesses do permit divorce in certain cases, believing that the only valid ground for divorce and remarriage is adultery.
Jehovah's Witnesses accept medial and surgical treatment. They do not adhere to so-called “faith healing” and are not opposed to the practice of medicine.
Because Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays, it is offensive to say “Merry Christmas” to a Jehovah's Witness, as well as “Happy Birthday.” Both are disrespectful greetings. There are no special greetings for the following occasions: Candlemas.
Compared with U.S. Christians overall, Jehovah's Witnesses are especially likely to say they attend religious services at least once a week (85%, compared with 47% of all U.S. Christians), pray daily (90% of Jehovah's Witnesses vs.
The majority of elders are family men and maintain secular employment to support their families. Jehovah's Witnesses do not have a salaried clergy nor any employees.
Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Lent, or Easter. Nor do they celebrate national holidays. In fact, they have only one holy day, the Memorial of the Lord's Supper or, as they call it, the Lord's Evening Meal, which they celebrate on 14 Nisan of the Jewish calendar.
“To us, going door to door is an expression of our God's impartiality,” he said. “We go to everyone and let them choose whether they want to hear us or not.” Even in pre-pandemic times, door-knocking ministry came with anxiety because Witnesses never knew how they would be received at any given home.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that a human must not sustain his life with another creature's blood, and they recognize no distinction "between taking blood into the mouth and taking it into the blood vessels." It is their deep-seated religious conviction that Jehovah will turn his back on anyone who receives blood ...
A baptized Witness who unrepentantly accepts a blood transfusion is deemed to have disassociated himself from the group by abandoning its doctrines and is subsequently subject to organized shunning by other members.