Editing Jehovah's Witnesses practices (section)

==Celebrations==
Weddings, anniversaries, and funerals are observed, though they avoid incorporating certain traditions they see to have pagan origins.<ref>''The Watchtower'' 1/15/69 p. 58 Christian Weddings Should Reflect Reasonableness "Of course, some customs are unscriptural and so they are objectionable to Christians. ... Other customs are plainly acts of false worship. So one planning a wedding does well to examine practices common in his area and analyze how people view them locally."</ref><ref>''The Watchtower'' 7/15/98 p. 24 A Christian View of Funeral Customs "Funeral customs do not always conflict with Bible principles. When they do, Christians are determined to act in harmony with the Scriptures."</ref> ''The Watchtower'' has stated that the use of wedding rings by Witnesses is acceptable, even though wedding rings may have first been used by pagans, based on its conclusion that there is no definite evidence wedding rings were used "as part of false ''religious'' practices" (emphasis from original).<ref>''The Watchtower'' 1/15/72 p. 63 "It is thus seen that the precise origin of the wedding ring is uncertain. Even if it were a fact that pagans first used wedding rings, would that rule such out for Christians? Not necessarily."</ref> Witnesses typically observe wedding anniversaries, with the Watch Tower Society noting that wedding anniversaries apparently do not stem from pagan origins.<ref>''The Watchtower'', December 1, 1971, p. 735.</ref>

Other common celebrations and religious or national holidays such as [[birthday]]s, [[Halloween]], [[Easter]] and [[Christmas]]<ref>"Christmas Customs—Are They Christian", ''The Watchtower'', December 15, 2000, page 3-7.</ref> are not celebrated because they believe that these continue to involve "false religious beliefs or activities."<ref>''Awake!'' 7/8/04 p. 30 "Christians refrain from any celebrations or customs that continue to involve false religious beliefs or activities that violate Bible principles. For example, the Bible definitely puts birthday celebrations in a bad light"</ref><ref>Questions From Readers, ''The Watchtower'', October 15, 1998, p. 30.</ref> Watch Tower Society publications rule out the celebration of [[Mother's Day]] because of a claimed link with pagan gods<ref>''Jehovah’s Witnesses&mdash;Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom'', page 199, "Jehovah’s Witnesses have good times with their families and friends. But they do not participate in holidays and celebrations that are linked with pagan gods (as is true of such holidays as Easter, New Year’s Day, May Day, and Mother’s Day)."</ref> and concerns that giving "special honor and worship" to mothers is a form of "[[creature worship]]" that could turn people away from God.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/vindication1/vindication1_2.html |title=''Vindication'', J. F. Rutherford, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1931, pages 158–159. |access-date=2010-08-13 |archive-date=2021-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303121132/http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/vindication1/vindication1_2.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Society also directs Witnesses to shun [[May Day]], [[New Year's Day]] and [[Valentine's Day]] celebrations because of their pagan origins.<ref>"What Is the Bible’s View? Are They Harmless Observances?", ''Awake!'', February 8, 1974, Page 27.</ref>

Their opposition to birthdays is said to be based on how the Bible presents them. Watch Tower Society publications note that the only birthday celebrations explicitly mentioned in the Bible are those of an unnamed [[Pharaoh]] and [[Herod Antipas]], and that both were associated with executions, and neither celebrant was a servant of God.<ref>Questions From Readers, ''The Watchtower'', October 15, 1998. pp. 30–31.</ref> Though some churches interpret Job 1:4 to indicate birthday feasts of Job's sons, Jehovah's Witnesses interpret them as a circuit of feasts from one house to the next.<ref>Job 1:4 reads "And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them." (King James version)</ref> The Bible does not show Jesus or his apostles celebrating birthdays and ''The Watchtower'' claims the absence of any record of the date of the birth of Jesus or his apostles indicates that "God does not want us to celebrate any of these birthdays".<ref>''The Watchtower'', November 15, 1960, p. 704.</ref>