So a bit of a more timely rant.
I was on one of the many sites I visit off and on during the day, when I saw a piece talking about how to explain Christmas to kids when they aren’t celebrating the holiday for some reason (in the author’s case because she’s Jewish). And I will note that I absolutely love this line of the author’s:
The appeal of Christmas is that every year we try to chase something we can’t get, and to create the family situation we wished we had. Listen up, Jewish children. For Christmas celebrating peoples, Christmas is a chance to get it right, and even though we inevitably fail, we keep trying. –Julia Sonenshein
And we have to admit it’s kind of true: it’s a time we strive for an ideal of perfection and even though it may not always come through (you can read Carolyn Hax’s Holiday Hootenanny for some great examples of the holidays falling apart), we always come back and try again. I think that says a lot about us as humans and our capacity for hope.
But that wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye: once again, the comment section had some nice little statements. In this case, it was a poster who stated how difficult it was being Pagan during this season and seething over seeing sacred traditions from her religion being appropriated into other faiths, others agreeing, and someone bringing up “arrogant Catholics” converting the world by taking over religions and that they and their husband seethe over the phrases “Keep Christ in Christmas” and “Jesus is the reason for the season.”
And, after seeing this, I couldn’t help but think about the oft-mentioned “War on Christmas.” I’d give a link here, but everything reads so wonderfully biased, that I really can’t.
And while I don’t agree that there’s a War on Christmas per se, I do think there is a strange sort of backlash going on. Or maybe it’s not so strange.
See, after I read this article, I had a conversation with my husband. I should note that my husband is awesome, and we have the coolest conversations on the strangest topics, even if we don’t always agree. But he’s great at pointing out the other side to debates, and I’m grateful for that.
But anyway, we had a conversation about what, to me, is the essence of this backlash: that we should feel guilty. Yes, guilty! We stole the holiday some 1600+ years ago! None of the trappings were originally ours! Heck, Jesus, our reason for the season, wasn’t even born during this time of year, and we should all know better by now, so we should back off, I suppose.
Here’s my big thing, though: whether you’re Christian, Jewish, Pagan, or a whatever you want to call yourself, most of us that follow a faith recognize that this holiday season is a celebration of something sacred to us. For the Jewish, it’s a remembrance of the miracle of Chanukah, a remembrance of the holy oil for one day lasting over eight in a symbol of the strength of the Jewish spirit. For Pagans of many stripes (since I am aware that there are many different branches and it’s not a singular religion), it’s a celebration of rebirth, represented by the fact that with the shortest day of the year gone, the Sun begins to return. And, of course, for Christians, we celebrate Christmas, a remembrance of when Jesus was born over two millennium ago.
So, for me, when I put a bumper sticker on my car asking you to keep the Mass in Christmas, I’m not trying to make a demand for you to convert from your faith, although I do understand when it’s coming from all directions it may feel that way. I’m more challenging the idea of the secular, commercial mindset that has taken over the season. Well, really more the commercial. The secular idea of it being a time to simply celebrate friends and family is cool too. But is it too much to ask that we all agree to calm down and focus on the things that make this a holiday season, and maybe ban Black Friday and its madness as a thing?
I guess all we can do is keep trying to improve, as Ms. Sonenshein says.
Life as a Catholic American 