Every time I encounter these proclamations of the "evils of a secular Christmas" a small vein bursts in my head...and I'm running out of brain mass...
While I support Christian's rights to celebrate the holiday however they see fit, I do not support their indoctrination. Unfortunately, Christian's have quite the history of adopting pagan and other religious traditions, condemning those communities, and passing off the traditions as their own...ignorance of history breeds hypocrisy. And hypocrisy fueled the Holocaust.
What is the problem with the secularization of Christmas? The holiday's history is a complicated mosaic of different traditions and beliefs, thus attributing the inspiration or ‘The First Christmas’ to the birth of Jesus is creating a bastardization of the holiday. So lets take a look back into the history of Christmas:
If it is true that Jesus were a real historical figure, it is the consensus of most historians and theologians based on available evidence that December 25th was not the actual date of his birth. (Most accounts place it in the spring.) December 25th was originally a Roman winter solstice festival known as Sol Invictus, which celebrated the “rebirth” of the Sun; several Sun gods were worshiped, including Sol and Mithras. Because it was already such a popular pagan holiday, it was claimed as the birthday of Jesus. Even so, celebrating the birth of Jesus was condemned and looked down upon by Christians for most of history, and Christians didn’t start celebrating Christmas as we know it until the 1800s. Later, Christians took over German mid-winter festival celebrations which used evergreen trees and holly as symbols of eternal life. Yule logs, mistletoe, ornamenting the tree...virtually every aspect of Christmas iconography originated from non-Christian traditions.
Even the gift-giving tradition does not derive from the three wise men in the bible, as many believe. In fact, gift exchange derived from Saturnalia, a popular Roman holiday dating to 217 BCE that celebrated the god Saturn. Saturnalia involved sacrifices, a school holiday, and, yes, the exchange of gifts.
Traditions, like religions, are in a constant state of flux. As cultures evolve so do their memes and traditions. They are malleable. We celebrate Halloween: kids dress up in costumes and beg for candy door to door; adults dress up in costumes and parade and/or party. We do not celebrate the Celtic festival Samhain, from which Halloween is derived, warding off evil spirits by disguising ourselves as them, or slaughtering livestock and casting their bones into bonfires.
Even the "Christmas tree" has a colorful history: The Prophet Jeremiah condemned as Pagan the ancient Middle Eastern practice of cutting down trees, bringing them into the home and decorating them. Of course, these were not really Christmas trees, because Jesus was not born until centuries later, and the use of Christmas trees was not introduced for many centuries after his birth. Apparently, in Jeremiah's time the "heathen" would cut down trees, carve or decorate them in the form of a god or goddess, and overlay it with precious metals. Some Christians feel that this Pagan practice was similar enough to our present use of Christmas trees that this passage from Jeremiah can be used to condemn both:
Jeremiah 10:2-4: "Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not." (KJV).
Arguing that secular culture is ruining the holiday and calling for some sort of "return" to the "true meaning" of Christmas creates an irony fit for a Shakespearean play. What is most mistaken, and even offensive, about the slogan “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” is that Christians are attempting to claim ownership of and priority over the entire holiday season, not just Christmas. They want you to believe that there is an anti-Christian conspiracy afoot that wants to destroy Christianity one holiday at a time. What’s next, a secular War on Lent? The people who are complaining seem to be assuming that Christmas belongs exclusively to them - and anyone who wants to "join in" must submit to Christian symbols, Christian traditions, and Christian practices. This push for religious superiority is abhorrent and there is only one thing that pushes my buttons more:
CONSUMERISM
Yes, that dreaded word...the post-WWII phenomenon that has redefined Americana. It's not just the commodification of Christmas, but the commodification of our entire culture and economy. It makes me physically ill...
Heavy commercialization of Christmas took off in WWII when people had to buy early to get gifts to troops, but the early shopping season didn’t end with the war. This was when campaigns to “put Christ back into Christmas” started, and look at how successful they’ve been: the buying season is not only longer, but more central both to Christmas and the economy.
The gift-giving tradition has transformed (very intentionally actually) into a gift-buying economy, where people flock like lemmings to the store to find "the latest" everything. WHO THE FUCK CARES!!? Our culture has embedded identity with commodity so acutely that no one seemed to notice the irony. You are what you buy...
Or as Barbara Kruger so elegantly stated:
"I shop, therefore, I am"
No comments:
Post a Comment