Reflections on the Holidays

Let me begin with the foundation that while I have contempt for the coercive enforcement of what is called "Politically Correct", I do believe that respect and goodwill are values without which society does not function very well. Sure, history is full of functioning societies that were rank with fear and injustice; that Castro is still living, Chavez rules in Caracas, the junta in Burma, and various other villians continue to control billions of people on the planet (heck, Putin was Time magazine's "Man of the Year" for 2007) indicates that this approach is not yet part of the graveyard of failures, where one prays National Socialism will forever rot.

(Wow, got off the tangent there).

So, this is December 2007, a few days before Christmas. Christmas is nominally the Feast of the Nativity of Jesus, but was originally the Feast of the Unconquered Sun.

SIDEBAR:
If you read recent newspapers in the United Kingdom, you'd think that this was some revelation from the present Archbishop of Canterbury. NEWSFLASH: Any book on Christmas written for children of at least 10 years of age, published say no less than the past two decades ago (that is, when I first started reading such things), could have told you that. DUH! The New Testament makes no mention as to the time of year when Jesus was born. "Oh, and it wasn't in a stable either!" Really? This is news to you? Did you ever look at a Nativity icon in an Orthodox or Eastern Rite Catholic Church? I'll bet not, because if you had, you would have noticed that their depictions of the Birth of Jesus show the Glorious Event to have occurred in a cave in a mountain. WHOA! Here I am, some scion of Mid-Western right-wingers, and I seem to know more about this stuff than "cultured and educated" journalists. Man, you people suck!
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So anyway, Christmas is the Feast that was scheduled to observe the Birth of Jesus. However, it is also a legal holiday in the pluralistic and secular United States of America. This curious mandate dates back to in the 1800's, when it was made into the law by votes from both Houses of Congress (that is, the House of Representatives and the Senate) and signed by the President (in this case, Ulysses S. Grant). It may have been councils of bishops that determined that the feast of the Birth of Jesus would coincide with the feast of a pagan sun god, but it was the secular authority of the government of the United States that made it a legal holiday in this country whose federal incarnation, unlike England, Scotland, Norway, Denmark and other countries (most of them, very democratic and modern nation-states), can never have an Established or National church.

This holiday often curiously coincides with Hanukkah, the Jewish Feast of Lights. Other than the symbolic importance of light (stars, candles, lamps, etc.), Christmas and Hanukkah have little in common, and the latter is not even considered a major feast in Judaism, certainly nowhere near the importance of Christmas to most churches (yes, I know some churches regard the pagan origins of Christmas with suspicion...but I don't care what they have to say right now...or ever, for that matter). Hanukkah is not Christmas, but has understandably been popularized by Jewish people who do not like to feel left out. If anything, Hanukkah, which celebrates the liberation of the Jews from the yoke of their Greek overlords from Syria, has more in common with the American Independence Day than Christmas (compare the revolt of the Maccabees to that of the American colonists against the British).

However, since Christmas is nominally about the birth of Jesus, who might be considered a minor prophet by modern Jews (if at all), observant Jews have little cause to celebrate this holiday (hence the popularity of Hanukkah by some modern Jews). Given the two thousand years of hostility between Jews and Christians, this is understandable: the Crusades, expulsion from Spain and most other European realms, the Blood Libel--these are not good memories shared. Some Jewish people have taken to celebrating Christmas as a pagan holiday (notice that the very Jewish Barbra Streisand made a Christmas album: this probably has little to with money so much as art--Christmas has a lot of good music!), which, given the evolution of Christmas from the Unconquered Sun, to the Son of God, to the drunkenness that led to the feast's ban by the joyless Puritans, to a legal federal holiday in the United States, to the present incarnation (pun intended) of "the Season of Giving", this makes sense. (There is that delightful American Jewish Christmas meal tradition...of Chinese takeout! I love that!)

Of course, you get the Cromwell Bastards who hate Christmas and want to eradicate its symbols from the public arena. "But it's a Christian holiday!" they scream as they cry for lawyers to remove Nativity scenes, Christmas trees, and Santa Claus. May Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo smear them with feces forever! (see SIDEBAR some paragraphs below.) They are killjoys and are beneath contempt

At the same time, you get others who wail how Christmas is now so commercialized. Well, idiots, yes, it is commercialized. Now, consider that the holiday shopping season represents almost 30%-40% of the annual business of many retail outlets. This isn't about corporations like Target, Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, but about their employees, who earn wages (however meager) and sometimes get bonuses (alas, less and less so, but still, some do): this money goes towards their livelihoods and allows them to tangibly show love to their families. Yeah, you go ahead and smirk with your quasi-leftist sense of superiority and self-righteousness that would make an Dominican from the Spanish Inquisition blush, but if you value the story of Jesus, or at least as this time of the calendar has been so invested by the church, then you remember that life in the physical world matters: otherwise, there would have been no Nativity, whether in a stable or in a cave.

What is so fascinating is how Christmas has been absorbed by societies where Christianity is not the dominant religion. I read an article in a major newspaper in India, discussing how people in this modern democracy (one that is officially secular but with a Hindu majority) have embraced Christmas. "Oh really? Celebrating Jesus as an avatar of Vishnu?" Perhaps, but more likely, they see the good in celebrating Christmas, the lights, the music, the cheer and mirth shared when presents are exchanged among family and friends. This is the magic of Christmas, the birth of Divine Love on earth: even if you reject a belief in the divinity of Jesus, or even in God Himself, surely you can witness the goodwill that is shared, even among those rejected by Jesus's more xenophobic followers who condemn Hindus as "heathens". It proves that to celebrate Christmas need not entail conversion to Christianity, merely an investment in humanity. The joy of Christmas is a natural phenomenon, but so powerful that even the Puritans' ban on it was overturned like Aslan's breaking the White Witch's spell over Narnia.

SIDEBAR:
In 1997, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of "South Park", invented a Christmas character that goes beyond Santa and Rudolph: Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo. These two geniuses from Colorado proved that the goodness that we invest in Christmas is so absurd but so powerful that we can even rally around an animated piece of festive feces. No other holiday in the American culture has such powers.

Also, ever hear the phrase, "As gay as Christmas"? That's because of the over-the-top decorations, the color, the drama, the music, of all that is Christmas. It doesn't take much to turn Christmas into camp, and that is gay.
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Although I do not have many Jewish friends, I like Hanukkah. The heroic glow of the Menorah should be honored and respected, not only as a triumph of light over dark, of heritage surviving, of culture thriving despite external cruelties and wanton destruction. Everyone of goodwill, especially Christians, should be grateful for the survival of the Jewish nation, a people whose contributions to the humanities, the sciences (especially medicine), and the law, far exceed their numbers (Jews make up less than 1% of the world's population): it is also from the Jewish nation that Jesus was born. If there was no Hanukkah, or at least the cause for its celebration (the revolt of the Maccabees), then there would be no Jesus with a Nativity to celebrate, much less celebrate in lieu of the Unconquered Sun. Contrarily, if no one celebrated Christmas, it is doubtful that many would notice observation of Hanukkah.

As for the commercialization of Christmas: again, in and of itself, it is not a bad thing. However, shopping malls in America should refrain from Christmas decorations until the last Friday of November (a.k.a., Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving). There should be a similar withholding of Christmas music from the airwaves. Sure, I welcome the opportunity to hear the sweet voice of Karen Carpenter, oh so rich in sadness, anytime of the year, and Christmas is just about the only time we can hear her sing again ("Merry Christmas Darling"): having said that, I beg you, please refrain from Christmas music until the middle of December, say, Saint Lucia's Day (if you are Scandinavian or Italian, you'll know what I mean).

SIDEBAR:
While Christmas music is superior in the manipulation of the heartstrings (Judy Garland singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is devastatingly heartbreaking and beautiful; Whitney Houston's rendition of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" is both joyful and triumphant), some Christmas music just plain sucks. If I ever hear "Jingle Bells", "Jingle Bell Rock", or "Winter Wonderland" (not to be confused with its most excellent parody by Bob Rivers, "Walking 'Round In Women's Underwear", which is always welcome to my ears), it will be too soon. And who the hell told Stevie Nicks to sing "Silent Night"?: the Welsh Witch should stand back, and if anyone falls down a landslide into a silver spring, it's her own damn fault! Furthermore, hearing Jewel sing Christmas songs in December reminds me why I never bought any of her albums during any month of the year.
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So...as long-winded as I can be, I wish you all a Merry Christmas (and to those in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, Happy Christmas)!! To those who celebrated the Feast of Lights in the United States, Israel, and all over the world, a belated Happy Hanukkah!!

Salutations to our troops, our allies, and in honor of the example of Jesus, to those who wish us harm, may the angels sing Peace on Earth in your hearts and souls.

To the Cromwell Bastards out there: hey, even Harry Potter celebrates Christmas!!

And God bless us...everyone!