A joyful vegan Christmas

We often say "Merry Christmas!" this time of year, expecting the holiday to be full of celebration, color, and love.

But how can animal lovers, vegans, and animal rights activists truly enjoy this season when the festival of hearts shatters yours every time you remember the relentless, ongoing animal crueltyhappening worldwide?

How can you enjoy what should be a cozy evening surrounded by loved ones when you're also surrounded by, among other things, fruit-filled and baked body parts, and whipped animal secretions??

Christmas is not kind to animals

Det var den slags spørgsmål, som kørte gennem mit hoved, da jeg for et år siden holdte jul sammen med min meget ikke-veganske familie. Jeg fik lov til at lave nogle veganske retter til mig selv og min søn - som resten af familien i øvrigt også spiste med stor glæde! Men anden skulle ikke mangle ved bordet.

Even though I tried to explain to them that there’s little difference between the duck forced to live a short life in captivity then slaughtered for human pleasure, and the two dogs that bring joy to my family and are my parents' spoiled kids.

None of them understood the cruel irony of celebrating the festival of love by eating what was once a feeling, sentient being; celebrating togetherness by causing children to be ripped from their mothers unnecessarily, just so we can make rice pudding.

Christmas should be the perfect time of year to discuss veganism, since Christmas is about spreading love, and veganism is about reducing suffering. Yet for many vegans in non-vegan families, it remains one of the hardest times.

The future of vegan makes it easier

But change is coming! Every day, more of us choose to live a life that creates as little suffering as possible. More who imagine a better world: one where all animals are free; where decisions are made from compassion; where cherished traditions remain but are adapted to consciously reduce unnecessary suffering.

This year, I celebrate a vegan Christmas with the part of my family that truly understands you can have a fully vegan Christmas, filled with traditions, games, coziness, music, and above all, wonderful food—without exploiting others.

All I want this Christmas is for humanity’s natural empathy and love for other beings to triumph over society’s dictated rhetoric that Christmas isn’t complete without death and exploitation.

Merry vegan Christmas!

This blog post was written by Maya Muñoz