Once again, the Silly Season earns its nickname as right-wing Christian groups start the annual assault on all things non-CHRISTmas.
Bill O’Reilly has spewed his regular vitriol about “Happy Holidays” versus “Merry Christmas,” seeming to conveniently forget the fact that there are other holidays in December and that the entire world does not celebrate Christmas.
The winner for me was reading about a holiday decor company that has apparently begun marketing the “CHRIST-mas tree,” a bushy fake tree with a giant cross for a trunk. Oh yeah, and Focus on the Family’s annual list of retailers to boycott based on their Christmas-denying tactics and practices.
Oddly, the complaints seem to be not about consummerism, but about lack of professed Christianity from store clerks and businesses.
OK, to their credit, there is a group, The Advent Consipiracy, who have actually taken the approach of advocating spending less on baubles and geegaws and turning that money into charitable giving. Hmmm… now that I can understand!
Seriously, the whole concept of “Jesus is the reason for the season” is a bit irksome. Really? You’re sure about that?
I guess the fact that Jesus’ actual birthday is nearly impossible to pin down with any degree of accuracy, but it most certainly wasn’t smack dab at the onset of winter, doesn’t mean a thing, now does it? Let’s not forget that early celebrations of Christ’s birth were on totally different days, and that the reasons for switching to December 25th were more about allowing the populace to continue having their celebrations by giving a Christian bent to the pagan rites. (blasphemy!)
And what about that Christmas tree?
A variety of pagan practices invove decorating the home with evergreen boughs, that would include some ancient Roman tradition. The most widely accepted basis of the tree is Germanic. However, the use of a Christmas tree was not a weidely accepted Christian practice until fairly recently, and not truly accepted in the US until Victorian times. In the 1880s, the New York Times editorialized against Christmas trees. When teddy Roosevelt became president, he was against cutting down trees for Christmas – c’mon, he was a conservationist, that would go against his nature.
No matter what side of the coin you are on, it’s easy to find “facts” to support your case. I’ve read all about the supposedly Christian origins of the candy cane. And the symbolism of the traditional Christmas colors (red for blood, green for everlasting life, gold for diety, etc).
The fact is, people need to feel connected, they need to feel the weight of tradition – look at Kwanzaa. The problem comes not from those traditions, but from those people who want to force others to follow and honor their traditions.
Thus the quest is born. The quest to homogenize all holiday celebrations into one, Christ-focused event where all things revolve around Jesus, where every tradition, every element of celebration has its true origin lost, transformed into a Christian theme.
As for me, I’ll celebrate my holiday in my way – a strange combination of traditions, indeed! And I will happily encourage you to celebrate in your way.
Happy Holidays!
Seasons Greetings!
Happy Kwanzaa!
Happy Hanukkah!
And may your New Year be bright!
