The War on Christmas
December 21st, 2005 | by jg3 |Today in Slate Andrew Santella writes about The War on Christmas, the Prequel - When the holiday was banned. And he manages to weave a very wide array of references into one article. Most of the article is about how the American public handles celebration of this holiday and how that has changed over time. For example:
Observance of Christmas, or the lack thereof, was one way to differentiate among the Christian sects of Colonial and 19th-century America. Anglicans, Moravians, Dutch Reformed, and Lutherans, to name just a few, did; Quakers, Puritans, Separatists, Baptists, and some Presbyterians did not. An 1855 New York Times report on Christmas services in the city noted that Baptist and Methodist churches were closed because they “do not accept the day as a holy one,” while Episcopal and Catholic churches were open and “decked with evergreens.”
I find that especially intresting as I was raised in a Christian family who celebrated Christmas to the hilt. When I was a child, when this “War on Christmas” was simmering a bit and it was socially acceptable (at least in a small city in the South) to wish someone a “very merry Christmas,” I never thought much of it. Or to be more precise, I thought it was great. Of course I did! I was getting bikes and erector sets and video games and all manner of toys for “being good” (which was probably not the case anyway).
Later in life, when I started balancing my own checkbook I learned was Christmas was really about: debt. After a few years spending all winter and spring paying down credit card bills accumulated over the holidays I got fed up with the whole tradition and turned sharply against Christmas. This happened at about the same time as this war started to heat back up and everybody but the merchants were mad about the commercialization of Christmas. So, for a few years I asked for no gifts, gave very few and most of those were charitable donations in the name of my family. During that time I searched history and my heart for a way to reconcile the commercial holiday to the joy of being with my family for a winter celebration — a gathering which is certain to include the giving of gifts. I finally settled on what I found to be the most natural celebration of this season: the Solstice. The beginning of winter, the longest night, the returning of the sun, the start of the long journey back to the warm, lush summer prosperity. I found that I could adhere to cultural norms sending out cards, giving gifts, and making donations just like Christmas only a few days earlier!
The Solstice is also a far more inclusive holiday as we, humans, are all residents of Earth and reliant upon the Sun. For the most part only Jews celebrate Haunakuh, only Hindus celebrate Diwali, only Muslims celebrate Shawwal, and you may think I’m Pagan (I’m not), but everyone can join into a celebration of the tilting Earth.
Bonus: here’s a link to an interesting Earth Calendar
Filed under: Musings
2 Responses to “The War on Christmas”
By mijoy on Dec 21, 2005 | Reply
Now Gill, there you go leaving out the martians. Marvin is cursing you right now, I’m sure.
By the way… thanks for the card. It was awesome.
By earlax on Dec 21, 2005 | Reply
Yeah, you’re right … As if 55.7 million miles isn’t ostricization enough for the little green dudes there I go proselytizing for an Earth-centric holiday.
And on the way home today I heard the story What America is Buying, Spending for Christmas whose main thought is this: every year we start out (the week after Thanksgiving) saying we’re going to spend $x and by the week before Christmas we’re saying we’re going to wind up spending $x+n where n is a positive number (equal to about 20% of x by my guesstimate).