There is always a lot of discussion this time of year about restoring the “true meaning of Christmas”. This usually means treating it as a Christian holiday, celebrating the birth of Christ.
But of course, the true original meaning of the holiday is the celebration of the winter solstice. Almost all the year-end holidays have their roots in this important day, in particular Christmas and New Year’s Day. As primitive calendars slowly shifted, the dates moved off a little from the solstice, but there is little doubt of the source. The early Christians co-opted the holiday so that recent and potential converts could continue to have a celebration at the time of the winter solstice, but call it a Christian holiday. For example, putting an “evergreen” tree in the house was originally to symbolize that green life and summer will return. Some Christians try to change the symbolism, with a reference to Christ not dying, but the attempt is clumsy and rarely invoked.
In fact, Christmas is only nominally a religious holiday anymore, and only to some people. Consider Christmas trees, Santa Claus, gifts, tinsel, and lights. You see many more Rudolphs than mangers, more Santa Clauses than Marys.
“But” you may say, “the very name of the holiday includes the name of Christ”. OK, so for a similar example “goodbye” contains a distortion of the word “God” (as in “God be with you”), but not many people actually clamor to restore the original meaning of the word. It’s just a thing to say when we separate, and has evolved away from any original meaning. If you believe that words have magical powers then you might consider this still significant, but I think it is clear that the words don’t make the thing.
The main thing about Christmas is tradition and family, a time when we get together to reminisce, to shower gifts on our children and have a feast in celebration of another year successfully lived through. If you want to dedicate the holiday to your god, by all means do so. But don’t force your interpretation on others, including the atheist who can enjoy the holiday as a purely secular event without being a hypocrite.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Don // Dec 14, 2005 at 12:44 pm
Welcome to the blog world.
2 Heather // Dec 14, 2005 at 12:49 pm
You have chosen an interesting topic for your first entry. I am not in agreement with you on this issue, but everyone has the right to their own opinion.
Welcome to the blogging world!
3 Don Bates // Dec 14, 2005 at 1:21 pm
Your detailed examination of Christmas makes me wonder why you care so darned much. Have you cooked up a new religion to take over the right wing Christian people group? Do you not believe in God or do you believe in not god?
Put the X back in Xmas.
4 Daryl // Dec 15, 2005 at 11:35 am
Heather, Which parts do you disagree with?
1) That the Christmas celebration was a modification of pagan winter solstice holidays;
2) That Christmas is not primarily a religious holiday anymore;
3) The main thing about Christmas is tradition and family..?
or something else?
Daryl
5 Donna // Dec 15, 2005 at 7:10 pm
I agree with you on much of your missive. I agree that Christmas has its roots in the winter solstice, and many of the current traditions started in that secular setting. Any Christian worth his salt knows Jesus was probably not born in December. I also agree that many of the words we use are from Christian terms, but do not signify anything religious anymore. By the way, you missed one – the term “holiday”. It comes from “holy day”, but has also taken on a secular meaning. I do not agree however with your paragraphs 3 and 5.
You say Christmas is only nominally a religious holiday and only to some people. If you are talking about the whole world, okay, although I would argue that most people worldwide don’t celebrate Christmas at all (Hindu’s Muslims, Buddhists, etc.). But if you are talking about the U.S, then MOST people DO acknowledge Christmas as a religious holiday. Polls show that 79% of Americans call themselves Christian, and if you were in the same circles that I am and seeing the same crowds that I do, you would have to admit most people tie it to Christ’s birth. Pews overflow at the abundant number of Chrismas services. and who knows how many people worship privately? Yes, we do add secular elements to the holiday, but that does not negate our religious observances (nor do our religious elements negate our secular celebrations). I would never put up a “Mary”, but would decorate with a “Santa”. That doesn’t mean I’m an atheist.
In paragraph 5, you blame Christians for trying to force their religious observances on athiests. I suggest it is the other way around. Christians are not forcing atheists to be religious. Rather atheists are trying to prevent us from enjoying an important part of our holiday by making it incorrect (or even illegal) to say Merry Christmas in public and business places. Now if they want to be allowed to celebrate it as a secular holiday, why can’t I wish them a merry time doing it? I am always happy to have Gisele wish me a happy Chinese New Year, even though I am not Chinese nor do I observe the Chinese calendar.
And yes, Christmas is about family, tradition and reflecting on the year. And spiritual connections with my Christian family members, gratitude to God for the blessings of the year, and religious observances are part of those traditions.
6 Daryl // Dec 15, 2005 at 10:22 pm
Donna,
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. A couple of followups:
I think it’s an exaggeration to suggest that it is illegal to say Merry Christmas. I know there has been a lot of discussion lately about how some businesses have dropped it from their vocabulary, but that was really just a business decision trying not to offend anyone. I’ve never heard anyone actually offended by being wished a Merry Christmas (though it probably has happened). In fact, from my perspective with Christmas being mainly a secular holiday, it seems fine under almost any circumstances. I do it myself!
I just got back from Derek’s high school “Holiday Concert”. About half the songs were Christian-based, climaxing in a rousing rendition of Handel’s Messiah and the Hallelujah Chorus. What a beautiful piece of music, and the tradition of playing it at this time of year is well ingrained.
If they had only played Christian songs, with no “Frosty” or “Rudolph” or “Chestnuts”, etc., I might have been uncomfortable, but it seems very appropriate to acknowledge that the holiday has some religious history.
I still think that most people, even in the US, don’t think of the religious side of Christmas outside of church very much, beyond carols and the occasional manger scene. This is probably not true in your close circle of friends, but we generally choose friends who think like we do. On the other hand, we can’t choose our relatives! 😉 Lacking statistical data, we might just have to agree to disagree on this one.