What's in a Name?
Positive Liberty has a rather nice article discussing the so-called "War on Christmas." One of the links mentions that some groups automatically assume that they will be persecuted and wage war on their own traditions whether or not anyone has complained. Sorry, but that goes beyond even self-fulfilling prophecy. Yes, things get carried away at times. However, the real war on the Spirit of Christmas has nothing to do with "Merry Christmas" or "Christmas Break" or any other labels. The greetings given at a retail store are of no interest when the retail store's own policies indicate that Christmas is about material goods and nothing else. Guess what, guys. If saying "Merry Christmas" brings in more people, they'll say it. If saying "Gruben Malifructonium Trilbonite" brings in more people, they'll say that, too.
Incidentally, if these retail stores are waging war on Christmas, why is it that Christmas decorations now show up in most stores in JULY?!??!
8 comments:
What I don't get is how anyone can think that saying "Happy Hollidays" will avoid offending people who don't like the word "Christmas" when the main holiday being referred to is obviously Christmas.
*shrugs* There's kwanza (sp?), solstice, hannukah... Also, New Year's is open to everyone. The more PC things get, the more I'm tempted to send out pagan solstice cards. :-D Why? Because it will irritate all the right people.
If any of them knows what Solstice is. I was forced (passive agressive mom) into listening to a Christian speaker who claimed that Christmas was uniquely Christian because pagans had nothing to celebrate in the middle of winter.
Well, a lot more people celebrate Christmas than Hannakah or whatever that African holiday no one knows how to spell. Speaking of which, I've read that the way they celebrate it now has no connection to it's origins (which is the case with a lot of holidays) -- but the way the modern celebration is described, it sounds exactly like Christmas, only with no religious aspect. Which begs the question, why rework an old holiday to make it exactly like an existing one you've already got? I could see it if it was in July, but...
I always figured that they put Christmas on the Solstice (before calendar corrections, the 25th was the Solstice) because of the symbolism. The longest, darkest night comes right before, and then, suddenly, the sun changes direction and we're heading back to the light. i.e. the rebirth of light into the world. This was a major holiday in the pagan cultures I've looked at, for exactly that reason.
So, I'll ask you the same question: Why rework an existing holiday to make it like an existing holiday you've already got? Probably because converts would celebrate it anyway, so they figured they'd better come up with a Christian mythos for it.
Well, I did a little bit of research on this...it looks like the American spelling is Kwanzaa, to distinguish it from the African celebration spelled Kwanza. The holiday was started in the 60's, and it's not very much like Christmas; not sure why anyone thought it was, but the descriptions I can find now online don't look like the one I read before. It appears to be a celebration of African-American culture. The only resemblence to other holidays are an emphasis on family togetherness, and the use of a candelabra which looks like a menorah. (Of course, this one and the menorah have seven candles, while the one used for Hannuka has nine.)
As I understand it, Christmas was put on the Solstice in order to ease pagans into converting. "Look, you can keep your celebration, we just want to change WHY you are celebrting."
Also, a lot of (some?) Christian holiday traditions (i.e. decorating trees)are based on pagan rituals
"A merry Ramahanakwanzmas to all, and to all, a good night!"
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