We often say "Merry Christmas!" around this time, expecting the holiday to be full of celebration, color, and love.
But how is an animal lover, vegan, and animal rights activist supposed to enjoy this season when the festival of hearts breaks theirs into a thousand pieces every time they remember the relentless and ongoing animal abusehappening all over the world?
How can you sit and 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 cream secretions??
Christmas is not loving toward animals
These were the questions running through my mind a year ago when I spent Christmas with my very non-vegan family. I was allowed to make some vegan dishes for myself and my son—which the rest of the family also enjoyed greatly! But the duck was not to be missing at the table.
And that even though I tried to explain that there is little difference between the duck living a short life in captivity and being slaughtered for human pleasure, and the two dogs who bring joy to my family and spoil my parents' children.
None of them grasped the horrible irony of celebrating a festival of love by eating what was once a feeling, sentient being; celebrating togetherness by causing children to be torn unnecessarily from their mothers, all to make rice pudding.
Christmas should be the perfect time of year to talk about veganism, since Christmas is about spreading love, and veganism is about reducing suffering. Yet, sadly, it remains one of the hardest times for many vegans in non-vegan families.
The vegan future makes it easier
But change is coming! Every day, more and more of us choose to live lives that cause as little suffering as possible in the world. More who imagine a better world—a world where all animals are free, where decisions come from compassion. A world where traditions we cherish continue, but are modified to consciously reduce unnecessary suffering.
This year, I’m celebrating a vegan Christmas with the part of my family that truly understands you can have a fully vegan Christmas—full of traditions, games, cozy moments, music, and above all, fantastic food—without exploiting others.
And the only thing I want for Christmas this year is for humanity’s natural empathy and love for other beings to triumph over society’s outdated narrative that Christmas isn’t complete without death and exploitation.
Merry vegan Christmas!
Blog post written by Maya Muñoz
