why ham !?!

[OmegaTheta]

so it just occured to me after 23 ish years of eating turkey and ham at Christmas that it makes NO sense at all to eat ham...or for ham to be at all related to the holiday at all! i mean...is that REALLY the way we should be celebrating a JEWISH mans birth? by eating copious ammounts of ham....which might i add is not kosher... anyways HAPPY BOXING DAY you crazy crazy citizens of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Greenland, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Jamaica,and everyone else in the Commonwealth of Nations!<< i did my research!

[Seraphroy]

We eat it too, not that I'm complaining, I prefer ham to turkey anyhow.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Christianity is full of hypocrisy, why not?

[Nevrmore]

More appropriate question: Why did you think it was a good idea to make this topic?

[Theremin]

And sir, I am a reformed grammar and spelling nazi, but your title just irks me so...

[OmegaTheta]

More appropriate question: Why did you think it was a good idea to make this topic?

the short answer is boredom the long answer is BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOREDOM! also i blame Square Enix

[AmazingPjotrMan]

Probably that we ate the ham LONG before our traditions were tarnished with new names and our pagan rituals cast out in the honor of some new "Son of God"

[Metcarfre]

Ham was probably the first big hunk of meat early settlers to North America could reasonably eat at their celebrations (pigs are best for first livestock as they grow quickly and breed fast as well).

As discussed in the New Testament, in the Christian tradition, Jesus' death made it such that we didn't have to follow the myriad rules and regulations of the Jewish religion. Part of those were, of course, the dietary restrictions, which means we now get to enjoy our bacon and lobster. Mmmm.

And were I to have a complaint about your post it would be this; ellipses are not to be abused in such a fashion.

[tamaness]

Turkey makes abolutely no sense in a religious context, too.

Hams and turkeys are feast foods. That's why people eat them on feasting occasions.

[theDreamer]

Quick poll: how many jews here (surely there are some) keep kosher? Like actually.

The implied sentiment is that we really really don't.

However, my dad's fiancee does not allow pork products in the house except for chinese food (we still eat shrimp a lot though...I don't get it).

[Master Gunner]

The primary tradition that I've heard is to have a bird on Christmas (in North America, often turkey due to the size). Although I suppose we've had ham on occasion for Christmas. Like madAlric said, it's good feasting food. Religion dictates that we celebrate, not how. Besides, in addition to what metcarfre said, my understanding is that the prohibition against pork started due to the prevalence of disease, and couching it in religious terms simply helped keep people alive (also, microbiology wasn't exactly an evolved field back then). Since that isn't much of a concern anymore, eat away.

[OmegaTheta]

i want ot point out that im not complaining...i like ham and ate copious amounts of it... i just find it bewildering and delightfully amusing that we celebrate the birth of a person who was for his entire life (all two or 3 of them depending on which religion you subscribe to) was Jewish inn the most honest and pure sense of the word... anyways...i am going to go devour more ham sense this insane snow shows no signs of letting up long enough for me to go spend my Christmas cash on small arms and baked beans for the ever approaching apocalypse of 2012 and i will keep in mind the image of buddy Jesus... going "EHHHHH" with both thumbs held skyward as if telling me i am aighht and should carary on with my ham devouring... peace on earth and stuff btw

[NachoManLance]

I ate leftover pizza for Christmas. That's just how I roll.

[Alja-Markir]

so it just occured to me after 23 ish years of eating turkey and ham at Christmas that it makes NO sense at all to eat ham...or for ham to be at all related to the holiday at all! i mean...is that REALLY the way we should be celebrating a JEWISH mans birth? by eating copious ammounts of ham....which might i add is not kosher...

Early Christianity existed as a Reform movement of Judaism. Members of the early church believed that Jewish Law was being used as a crutch - that people were observing the letter of the law, but not the spirit.

The argument was that whether you follow the Jewish Law or not doesn't matter, so long as you are in a right relationship with Yahweh. You don't necessarily have to follow Jewish Law to be a good person, you just need to be a good person. You can follow the Law if it helps you to be a better person, but simply observing the law itself is useless if you are still immoral and out of touch with Yahweh.

Of course, there were and are differences of opinion. Paul, for example, really emphasized the notion of right relationship over adherance to law, in large part because he was ministering to Greek Gentiles for whom Jewish custom would be foreign and burdening to observe. Meanwhile, the early church in Jerusalem, under Peter, seemed to lean more toward the safe side of things and stressed observance of Jewish Law in addition to right relationship with Yahweh.

So eatting ham to celebrate Jesus? Arguably it can go either way.

~Alja~

[epocalypse]

italians traditionally eat things involving everything from lobster meat sauces and prosciutto dishes to pizzagaina which has ham egg and cheese baked together, are all traditional christmas (and often easter) dishes. so...

[TomBrend]

Ham radio provides a vital public service during emergencies, both as a backup for local communications such as police / EMA public service radios and as a primary emergency service for long distance communications in the event of the phone system going down, which is actually not nearly as unlikely as it sounds. Ham radio was used heavily in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina to get messages from disaster relief teams to the headquarters of the organizations.

Oh... wrong kind of ham. Oops.

[korri]

We had two 20 lbs hams for our Christmas party last week. We just made another 20 lbs ham today. I have eaten pretty much just ham for the last week. I am so freaking tired of ham.

It is however still my favorite meat. Slather it in dark brown sugar, ginger ale and Manishevitz (spelled that completely wrong) and I will still eat it up, just like I did today despite the fact that I have eaten a metric fuck ton of it already this week.

[BritchesStitches]

I had some turkey, though most people here (in Puerto Rico) eat pork.

[Metcarfre]

Slather it in dark brown sugar, ginger ale and Manishevitz

OK, that's just sacrilegious.

[theDreamer]

Best. Use. Of. Maneschewitz. Wine. EVER.

That stuff is so freaking sweet. Literally. I swear it's 90% sugar, 9% grape, 1% alcohol.

[Arius]

Ham radio provides a vital public service during emergencies, both as a backup for local communications such as police / EMA public service radios and as a primary emergency service for long distance communications in the event of the phone system going down, which is actually not nearly as unlikely as it sounds. Ham radio was used heavily in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina to get messages from disaster relief teams to the headquarters of the organizations.

Oh... wrong kind of ham. Oops.

But why "HAM" there?

Does it stand for homemade AM?

[Master Gunner]

Not quite (or at all):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_ham_radio

In any case, Ham Radio is used in that context because of the nature of the setup, not the operators or use. That is, a small-scale setup that can often be readily disassembled (depending on the complexity) and transferred, lacks a dedicated large transmitter like commercial radio stations, and is often used for two-(or more)-way communication.

[NachoManLance]

Not quite (or at all):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_ham_radio

In any case, Ham Radio is used in that context because of the nature of the setup, not the operators or use. That is, a small-scale setup that can often be readily disassembled (depending on the complexity) and transferred, lacks a dedicated large transmitter like commercial radio stations, and is often used for two-(or more)-way communication.

Mmmm.... it's getting hot in here. >:3

[TomBrend]

Not quite (or at all):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_ham_radio

In any case, Ham Radio is used in that context because of the nature of the setup, not the operators or use. That is, a small-scale setup that can often be readily disassembled (depending on the complexity) and transferred, lacks a dedicated large transmitter like commercial radio stations, and is often used for two-(or more)-way communication.

Actually, it's the service we operate in. Ham radio setups range from QRPPP rigs putting out less than a quarter of a watt to 1.5 kW transmitters connected to towers like this:

Ham radio is ham radio because it's used to communicate within the worldwide set of hams. Though the hobby of shortwave listening does sometimes result in unlicensed parties listening in on ham QSOs, the service exists as a two-way service strictly between licensed ham operatiors.

[Genghis Ares]

Hmmm... we had a pork roast with panko and blue cheese.