I’m wrestling with how to put Christ into Christmas for my sons.
This is three-year-old Ellison’s first Christmas where he “gets” it. But I’m afraid “getting it” means only, “Santa brings me Rocky and Peter Sam!” (*Friends of Thomas)
I’m concerned he’ll be a kid who tears through gifts, ungraciously casting aside Uncle Terry’s educational puzzle, and demands, “Where’s Rocky!?!”
At the risk of sounding FOX-like, I’m waging my own war on Christmas. I won’t allow my kids to take part in our seasonal consuming frenzy without understanding what’s important and why we celebrate.
To me, those are:
Generosity
Jesus
(Disclaimer: I’m of the “spiritual, not religious” camp. I believe there’s a higher power distinguishing between right and wrong and endowing humans with purpose. We’ll debate religion another time. Or not.)
The first goal isn’t hard. Ellison playing Santa. Behind his back he hides a “friend of Thomas” or handful of magnetic letters and shouts “Surprise!” He revels in watching me gush over the gifts.
I’ll continue to drum into him how good it feels to give, not just receive.
But then, there’s Jesus.
Truth is: Christmas exists because a child was born, perceived to be the son of God, and three kings brought him coveted spices and priceless metal.
And some kid banged a drum, pah-rum-pum-pum-pum.
I want Ellison to understand there’s an historic reason for the season. But I wrestle with my own knee-jerk liberalism.
I once bought a used car that had a Christian fish symbol on the bumper. Before driving away, I removed the fish. As I did so, I thought, “It’s so sad that I recoil at this. I think Jesus was a good guy with wonderful teachings.” But I believe the “Christian” label has been hijacked by literal Bible interpretations leaving no room for questioning, loving, and evolving.
And because of my beliefs, I have to fight my anti-religious-establishment in teaching my son “Jesus is the reason for the season.”
So without reciting scripture, I stop at nativity displays in the neighborhood and say, “The baby in the middle, there? That’s Jesus. And we celebrate Christmas because he was born.” And then, (I punt, here, because when are Santa and Jesus ever in the same story?) “And Santa brings gifts in that tradition.”
Then I wonder if Ellison will soon think, “Because I’m the son of God?”
And that makes me…?
Anyway. For now, Ellison is more interested in naming the animals in the display. So be it.
Eventually he will recognize the bottomless love from his family, peace on earth, and giving gifts are an amalgam of the reason for the season; and that it started with a religious movement celebrating Jesus.
Later, after he’s gained a religious education (eventually we will find a church so someone else – besides me – can lecture to him about right and wrong), he can believe what he wants. He might end up Muslim or Pagan. But IF he takes part in Christmas rituals from SantaCon to watching Love Actually, by God, he will understand from whence it all came.
And he will be grateful for the reason and the season, damn it.
So wish me luck instilling that this year.
Next Christmas we can explore the possibility that Santa is based on a Nordic tradition of tripping on red ‘shrooms growing under pine trees, making Arctic people hallucinate that their pet reindeer were flying. Seriously.
What are your thoughts? Other than church attendance, how do you give reason to the season for your kids?
Gavin Lodge is a Broadway performer, father and blogger. This essay was first published on Daddy Coping In Style.
Ottoman
Actually Christmas began as a pagan ritual co-opted by Christians, similar to the way the Day of rest in the bible was moved from Saturday to Sunday to appeal to the Sun god worshippers in the Roman Empire who were already taking Sunday off. Christmas wasn’t turned into the major deal it is now until the Victorians, and corporations, got hold of it. So basically, the reason for the season is that humans know they’re going to die so they make up and cling to stories about mythical afterlives to cope with that reality. Also religion is a good way to keep people in line and justify wars against non believers. merry Christmas!
Ladbrook
I grew up in a “spiritual” household as well, which was a bit of an oddity in the 1970’s south, so I can only tell the writer what my parents told me: Christmas is for personal reflection, giving to others, honoring the bonds we have with family and friends, remembering those who have passed, and celebrating children (who represent our future).
Yes, we had “Santa,” but we also adopted a family with kids for the week and gave them toys and a big Christmas dinner, which was always fun. We took walks in the woods to collect pine cones and other natural materials for the mantel, and we cooked a lot, as I recall. And don’t forget to host the neighbors. We always invited the whole neighborhood over for desserts and hot chocolate. It was a great childhood, and what I most appreciate was that it wasn’t ruined by obsessive materialism.
NiceNCool1
Thank you Ottoman for that bit of reality.
Ogre Magi
@Ottoman: I wonder if that foul fool that wrote the article even knew any of that
Murray
Of course, here comes the the folks saying its really a pagan day, etc., etc. etc. “Christmas” (the word originating from “Christ’s Mass”) is a commemoration of Jesus’ birth and virtually every Christian church in the world acknowledges that it is not Jesus’ actual day of birth. If you are not religious and/or spiritual, then don’t participate in the celebration. Billions of people celebrate Christmas, the religious and/or spiritual as I mentioned above, and the non-Christians as a cultural holiday (celebration of giving, peace, family, friends, end of the year, etc.). To give credence to pagan and other festivals centered on the Winter Solstice, those traditions greatly influenced what we see today as Christmas traditions. So let’s be clear, Christmas is about Jesus’ birth, and it incorporates many old European winter festival/pagan traditions, one being caroling.
rwasirius
Thanks for the thoughtful essay on Christmas and thinking about the conflicts of Santa and Christ. I do not think my parents ever thought about it, other that it was expensive and go to Church, and Catholic school for 12 years. But values are important, and good values are really important. thanks for sharing and hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.
I wonder where kids get values today when church and religion seem to be a smaller part of life in general. That worries me
Zekester
It’s really very simple. Just take them to Wal-Mart on Black Friday and Christmas Eve.
ingyaom
The true meaning of Christmas is that the days are finally getting a little bit longer on the other side of the solstice – the darkest day of the year.
onthemark
@Ottoman: All good points! Plus, Americans of 200 years ago wouldn’t recognize the Christmas of today. The modern Xmas is an amalgam created by:
– Charles Dickens with Scrooge & Tiny Tim, etc.
– Clement Clarke Moore (“A Visit From St. Nicholas”)
– Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband (who introduced the German decorated tree custom to the English-speaking world where it was previously little known)
– Thomas Nast, the cartoonist who made our image of Santa Claus (along with the Republican elephant & Democratic donkey)
– Irving Berlin, a Jewish immigrant who liked Christmas music
– Toy manufacturers!
“It’s all run by a big Eastern syndicate, you know.” – Lucy in “A Charlie Brown Christmas”
enlightenone
As in his case, being a good dad and parenting well, he’s more than halfway there!
Julie Frank
So what’s the secret to getting stories on Queerty? Looking for motivation to tell a parenting story or two!
Julie Frank
So what’s the secret to getting stories on Queerty? Looking for motivation to tell a parenting story or two!
dazzer
@Ottoman: @onthemark: You’re both spot on the money as to the origins of Christmas.
It’s worth pointing out that the whole idea of giving gifts at Christmas has nothing to do with the Three Wise Men delivering presents; instead it comes from the real-life Santa Claus.
Saint Nicholas (Sanctus Nicolaus) was a real-life, provable historical figure (15 March AD270 to 5 December AD343) who was a Greek bishop and in a part of modern-day Turkey. He had a reputation for generosity and kindness. Two legends about him that probably have some basis in fact are: 1) that he persuaded sailors carrying wheat to Emperor Constantine to offload a massive amount of the grain to alleviate a famine in his diocisis; and 2) that when a poor man who had three daughters who were destined for prostitution, Nicholas either threw three purses of gold through an open window or dropped them down the chimney.
In Europe Nicholas has two saints days: 6th December for the Orthodox Christians and 13 December for Roman Catholics. In both religions, it became traditional for kids to put out their shoes or hang up their stockings or fall asleep – and the next morning they’d find money or a treat that had been left for them by Sanctus Nicolaus (Santa Claus).
money718
“Gavin Lodge is a Broadway performer, father and blogger. ”
Why do gay dads think they are special? Just raise your kids in the privacy of your homes. Geez…
onthemark
@dazzer: @dazzer: @dazzer: Right – and I get the impression (without looking it up, yet!) that the Dutch were pretty fond of that story since their gift-giving day is still St. Nicholas Day. The “St. Nicholas” poet Clement Clarke Moore was from New York, a former Dutch colony.
In early America outside of NY, there were Christmas fans in: Virginia (mostly Church of England / Episcopal), Pennsylvania (lots of Germans) and Maryland (founded as a Catholic colony).
On the other hand, Christmas was illegal in New England in the 1600s, and was frowned upon for a couple of centuries after that. Christmas wasn’t even a Federal holiday until 1870. Take that, Bill O’Reilly.
Fun facts to tell the kids! Let’s bring back the good old days and make Christmas illegal?
@money718: To paraphrase the old joke about feminists:
How many gay dads does it take to change a light bulb? One to do it, and ten to blog about it!
demented
Just put on “Charlie Brown Christmas.”
Arconcyyon
Jus is put is next galery schoolll shopp center home ! Haw is the number kids teen child´s byby dear´s pepe ! is new dont´s no ! Happys Christmaas .
SteveDenver
Can you start by teaching values and attitudes, things children can understand? For a 3-year-old, donkeys and angels might be within grasp, but virgin birth, star in the north, not so much.
How about giving, generosity, compassion for those less fortunate, remembering those we love and care for.
My sister would help her kids cull their toys every year before and after gifts were opened. The gifts they no longer wanted were given to friends or donated. My sister would talk to parents first, to make sure they didn’t mind or feel condescended to. Some of the learning toys they gave to their school. Her kids learned not to have tons of toys and possessions they didn’t use or that had no sentimental value. Old coats, hats, gloves and boots went to charity coat drives.
Her kids have learned to pass along what they don’t need that is still in good condition and may be useful to others.
By First Grade her kids were making lists of friends and what they needed or would like to pass along to them. She built into them a spirit of altruism.
Two years ago at Thanksgiving and again this year they cooked for strangers: made stuffing muffins, roasted turkey sandwiches with packets of mayo and mustard on the side, little cups of cranberries and gravy. Then there were desserts: muffin-sized pumpkin pies and pecan pies with a cup of whipped cream. They bagged it all up and gave them to people working in 7-11, bus drivers, policemen, folks working in movie theaters, and people waiting at bus stops. People will gratefully accept food from children without any concern or suspicion. Her kids loved telling everyone about it, and then they went to our aunt’s for their dinner.
Captain Obvious
It’s crazy to me how some get so offended by religion, spirituality, and belief that they have to try to blast atheism in everyone’s faces.
For people who supposedly don’t have a religion atheists sure do waste a lot of time trying to convert everyone else to their belief in nothing.
I’d rather believe in anything than nothing at all. There are things beyond our understanding and any idiot who claims this is all random chance and happened by itself isn’t worth listening to.
Wincing at Jesus but not batting at eyelash at people making clones and harvesting cells is absolutely ridiculous.
ethan_hines
@Ottoman: Ottoman, that’s seems a little unfair to us Buddhists that believe we have lived and will live a life again until we reach enlightenment. I agree with you that Christmas was co-opted by the pagans to coincide with Saturnalia but then what would you expect from a population who had little to no education and blamed illness on “too much blood”. I think at this point it is a lost cause (no pun intended) to try to build a bridge between feeling the necessity of gift giving and the birth of a human (no differently then every other human birth) in my mind they are diametrically opposed.
CATTMAN1
let them know that Santa exists in the hearts of everyone who cares about their fellow man and that he is gay.
nature boy
I remember being terribly disillusioned when I first realized, about age 6, that Santa was not real, and my parents and family had been perpetrating an elaborate hoax on me. I really think I distrusted my parents and older brother forever after that. If they created such an elaborate lie about Santa, what else were they lying to me about?
So my advice is, don’t tell your kids that Santa is real.
Saint Law
@Captain Obvious: But then what isn’t beyond your understanding you radiant teat?
Kieran
Is it really necessary to give Christmas “meaning”? Christmas is what it is. Your sons will learn to understand its meaning as they grow up and personally experience the unique phenomenon of this national holiday. It is undeniably a day like no other on our calendar. It is by far the most popular and universally celebrated holiday in the world. At its heart, it is the celebration of the birth of the Christ child, the founder of Christianity. The same Jesus Christ by which we divide our history, BC (for Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini: In the year of Our Lord). The very name “Christmas” derives from “Christ’s Mass”. Take a look around you. How much more “meaning” does the celebration of one holiday really need?
ridgelineranger
Having worked in retail for some 30+ years, I have a very sorry opinion of most people for all holidays. I live in the state of Mississippi. Every Thanksgiving, all I hear about is how everyone cooked a big meal, and how they had to go to Momma’s house and eat with them. Then they had to go to their inlaws house and eat with them…Hell, no wonder Mississippi is consistently listed an one of the most overweight states in the country. To me, anymore Thanksgiving is a celebration of gluttony. Then there is Christmas….I too am spiritual, but not a regular church goer, mostly because I never feel “at home” in churches where I live….But that is a whole other subject. But Christmas anymore seems to be a celebration of greed. All day long at work I hear customers yacking about how they HAVE to buy for so and so because they bought something for them. Then there are the ones I hear talking about how they just want money so they can buy what they want….And kids, SCREAMING that they BETTER get (whatever) from Santa. They had to learn this from their parents. When it comes to any holiday, and birthdays, I give the same thing that I want most. That is, to be told “I am so glad you are my friend, that my life is richer from our friendship, and that you are loved”. Anyone who isn’t satisfied with that, does not know what a true friend is. This may be a bit off topic from the article, but I think teaching careing for, and loving each other is more important than Santa.
jwtraveler
@nature boy: And what happened when you found out that God isn’t real, or do you still believe that one?
DarkZephyr
@Ottoman: I am not a Christian, I am an Agnostic and there is a part of me that has great animosity these days towards many Christians, BUT when I read this common claim I always bristle at its inaccuracy that is solely motivated by prejudice and a desire to have an “in your face you stupid Christians” superior attitude. Christmas *never* *ever* started as a Pagan holiday. Christmas is the Feast of the Nativity of Jesus Christ. I can promise you that no Pagans celebrate that. The Feast of the Nativity existed before the Catholic Church settled on Dec. 25 on the Gregorian Calender as the date. It is true that the day of Christmas was indeed placed near the general time of Yule and other Winter festivals (which were decided in relation to the Winter Solstice) as a way to supplant these festivals and show a triumph of Christianity over what was considered false faiths, but what it WASN’T was an absurd “let’s replace their Pagan holiday with Folger’s Crystals and see if they notice” kind of thing. It was no attempt to “co-opt” a pagan festival. Certainly over the years because of the proximity of December 25 to the Winter Solstice, certain Winter festival practices were indeed absorbed into Christmas (which is after all yet another Winter festival), but this does not mean that Christmas’ origins are Pagan. This use of certain practices that began with Pagans is a choice made by individual Christians, they are NOT part of the official Christmas liturgy that the Church uses. So you can criticize the ancient Catholic Church for wanting to distract Christians from celebrating a Pagan feast day and for thumbing their noses at the regional religions that Christianity had supplanted, but to say that the Christian feast day IS a single Pagan feast day “made over” is preposterous and frankly annoying. Let’s criticize and scrutinize Christianity for real offenses and not fake ones pulled out of someone’s backside that many of those hostile to Christianity immediately latched onto and gleefully ran with. There are more than enough real ones to use.
Faggot
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What countries don’t celebrate Christmas?
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Quora UserQuora User, Cut down my Quora usage.
China
They’ve cherry picked a couple of Christmas things (e.g. decorations and music in shops) but they don’t celebrate it as a festival. It’s just another day – a workday if it doesn’t fall on the weekend.
Written 24 Apr.
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What is it like to celebrate Christmas in a Muslim country?
Why do some Eastern European and Scandanavian countries celebrate Christmas on the 24th of December?
Mihai BoteaMihai Botea
“Countries in which Christmas is not a formal public holiday include Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Cambodia, China (excepting Hong Kong and Macao), Comoros, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Laos, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Mongolia, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen.”
In some of them Christmas is being celebrated, despite not being a public holiday, but more for marketing and gift-giving than for religious reasons, as these countries do not have a Christian majority – i.e. Japan.
Is there any truth in the true meaning of Christmas, though? Check the veracity of the Christ figure:
“‘Jesus NEVER existed’: Writer finds no mention of Christ in 126 historical texts and says he was a ‘mythical character’
Writer Michael Paulkovich has claimed that there is little evidence for a person known as Jesus existing in history
Jesus is thought to have lived from about 7BC to 33AD in the Roman Empire
However Paulkovich says he found little to no mention of the supposed messiah in 126 texts written in the first to third centuries
Only one mention of Jesus was present, in a book by Roman historian Josephus Flavius, but he says this was added by later editors
He says this is surprising despite the ‘alleged worldwide fame’ of Jesus
And this has led him to believe that Jesus was a ‘mythical character’
By Jonathan O’Callaghan for MailOnline
Volume 1 Jesus Christ: a Pagan Myth
Evidence that Jesus Never Existed
Now Free at archive.org
Jesus Never Lived! Volume 1 Jesus Christ: A Pagan Myth 3rd Revised and Expanded Edition (Over 225 pages have been added to the previous edition).
Jesus Christ: A Pagan Myth explores the pagan origins of Christianity and shows that Jesus Christ never lived.
This book is for doubting Christians, x-believers, atheists, agnostics, and those who are just plain curious about whether a man could walk on water! We have focused on the evidence of the Roman Empire in the first and early second centuries CE.
Part 1 is a 170 page detailed analysis of the Gospel of Mark. It shows that the religious beliefs of Mark were derived from the pagan world. The Gospel is a pagan myth in Jewish dress, as Bruno Bauer pointed out more than 100 years ago.
Our analysis deals with questions like:
Why does Mark share anti-Jewish beliefs like those of the pagan historian, Tacitus?
Why are the last words of Jesus dying on the cross: “Why have you (God) abandoned me?” (Why does Jesus feel he is dying a failure, that he has been abandoned by God?)
Part 2 Who Created Jesus?
Paul was a member of a mystery religion; otherwise, why is there a striking similarity between the religion of Paul and the pagan mystery religions which surrounded him?
The 225 pages of Part 2 provide a detailed analysis which shows that the Paulinists (followers of Paul) created the Jesus of the Gospel of Mark, or at least proto-Mark.
The reader may wonder, if the followers of Paul created the Markan Jesus how do we deal with the following questions?
Why does Paul’s cosmic savior, the triumphant divine Christ, not appear in the Markan Gospel but rather Jesus, a human failure dying in despair on the cross?
Why were Jesus and his disciples spiritually defective (Jesus’s lack of faith of Jesus on the cross; Peter’s three denials of Jesus)?
Why does Paul know nothing about the historical Jesus Christ of Mark’s Gospel? (Paul does not know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, performed miracles, taught people, was tried by Pilate, and died in Jerusalem, etc.)
How was it that Paul’s savior offered salvation to all (at least to non-Jews), whereas the mission of Mark’s historical Jesus was only to Jews?
Why does the human Jesus become semi-divine in the birth scenes in Matthew and Luke and totally divine in John’s Gospel?
Jesus Never Lived! Volume 1 Jesus Christ: A Pagan Myth answers all of the questions listed above and more. The 400+ pages provide much evidence to show that Jesus is a pagan myth in Jewish dress. Jesus never existed.
So, be careful when you’re attempting to explian the true story of somehting that cannot verified in archives or through archeology (something that Romans curate with great care and pride).
winemaker
DEAR DAZZER: I LOVED YOUR POSTING ON SOME CHRISTMAS FACTS; SAINT NICHOLAS, AKA SANTA CLAUSE WAS A BISHOP IN MYRA, WESTERN TURKEY IN THE THIRD OR FOURTH CENTURY AD. AT THE TIME CHRISTIANITY WAS STILL SOMEWHAT PRACTICED IN PRIVATE. CONSTANTINE THE GREAT, OR THE FIRST WAS TO ENGAGE IN A GREAT BATTLE AND WAS DECIDING HIS MILITARY STRATEGY. HIS MOTHER, HELEN, HAD A VISION OF CHRIST. HELEN TOLD CONSTANTINE ABOUT THIS VISION, TO DEDICATE HIS LIFE TO CHRIST. HE WON THE BATTLE AND SOON AFTER DECLARED CHRISTIANITY TO BE THE OFFICIAL RELIGION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. THIS WAS IN THE EARLY 300’S AD. YOUR DATES REGARDING THE FEAST DAYS OF SAINT NICHOLAS ARE INCORRECT. HIS FEAST DAY IS DECEMBER 6TH. THIS IS A BIG DAY IN MANY EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, HOLLAND AND GERMANY IN PARTICULAR. DECEMBER 13TH IS SAINT LUCY’S DAY, A MUCH CELEBRATED HOLIDAY IN THE SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES, THOUGH NOT MUCH HERE. JUST THOUGHT YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW.
I'm Black, and HIV-Positive.
“I’m concerned he’ll be a kid who tears through gifts, ungraciously casting aside Uncle Terry’s educational puzzle”
Really? A kid is supposed to on Christmas? Or maybe you’re just a horrible parent, and you just need to get wind of that fact buddy! How disgusting! You mean you just want your kid to understand what Christmas is by your call. You’re disgusting, disgusting people. Even to other gay people you are disgusting, disgusting people!
“Truth is: Christmas exists because a child was born, perceived to be the son of God, and three kings brought him coveted spices and priceless metal.
And some kid banged a drum, pah-rum-pum-pum-pum.”
Wow! Are you serious? But you’re child will never understand what Christmas really is as long as dad is a two-faced devil worshipper. Or maybe the kid already does understand what it is, and is just waiting for dad to figure it out! And as long as your kid already understands that his dad’s view of Christmas is sarcastic, and narcissistic at best then dad’s idea of teaching Christmas is really just “re-education”?
Make it easy. Just tell your son: “Daddy’s a Nazi!”
I'm Black, and HIV-Positive.
@Saint Law: Shut the fuck up already you radiant asshole! You’re the same guy who referred to all of the gay people here on this site recently in third-person perspective. Think you found a “wayward flock” here to preach your Nazi cult fanaticism to asshole? I swear, your kind is worse than the fucking Recovering Catholics! And I hate them too, because you people are always thinking that just because we’re gay that that’s supposed to mean that we are supposed to be in the least bit privy to hearing your small-minded, anarchist, devil worshipping bullshit!
Worship the devil somewhere else atheist, and on your own time too! Or follow your own advice for a change, and stop cramming your bullshit religion down our throats already you two faced, self-loathing closet faggot!
rickhfx
Religion “magic” is not the cause of morals, kindness, appreciation, gratefulness, being brought up with examples of these and our born with sense of what best for all is best for us, that gets reinforced through life experiences, does.
Forget the fear you are just fine without “magical thinking”, be real and you child will be to.
nature boy
@jwtraveler: as a kid I never could believe in God as commonly depicted to American children of my generation… an old white man on a cloud. Only later in life in my 40’s as I found a welcoming church of smart, educated, loving people did I really start to question “what is this God that you talk about so much?” It was a real stumbling block for me. I came to think of God simply as the unknown. Events in my life have caused me to feel that all may not be random coincidence, and there are sometimes connections and patterns in life that indicate something beyond our knowledge. Interstellar is a recent movie that wrestles with this issue. When I’ve attended Buddhist temples as well they also seem to talk about God but they use the more rational word Universe instead. George Lucas used “the Force.” CS Lewis’s used the lion Aslan.
@ Faggot: you may have found a few links on the internet that say Jesus never existed. I have read many more scholarly books that tell the exact opposite, that it can be clearly shown in many historical references that Jesus was a real person. What becomes debatable is who he really was as opposed to the legend he has become over 2000 years. Try Reza Aslan’s “Zealot, the Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth” or “Beyond Belief” by Elaine Pagels.
@ ridgelineranger : I sympathize, when I worked in retail and didn’t regularly attend church, I came to hate Christmas also. When I found the right church I came back to love the Christmas season. My advice to anyone who wants to understand the true meaning of Christmas would be to find the right church (United Church of Christ, ELCA Lutheran, or Episcopal would be a good place to start) and attend regularly through Advent (leading up to Christmas) and then through the Christmas season (which is actually after Christmas). When not co-opted by ignorant prejudiced dickheads, and taught by someone smart, well-educated, and compassionate, the message of Christmas shines through beautifully in such churches. Basically that from the most humble beginnings, an outcast from society can change the world by preaching that above all things, love each other.
rmthunter
@money718: Because in this day and age, they still are out of the ordinary.
rmthunter
@Ottoman: There’s a few logical leaps in there, and it’s a little more complicated than that. Yes, the early Church was not above lifting a bit here, a bit there (which is why the ancient Irish goddess Brigid shows up as a Catholic saint); the date was deliberately moved to December 25, not only to coincide with the Roman Saturnalia, but because pretty much everyone had a Winter Solstice celebration. (Actually, under the old calendar, the Solstice did fall on or about the 25th). Gradually, other customs — caroling, trees, wreaths, mistletoe, feasting, etc. — were adopted in lay celebrations of the holiday, if not the official religious versions. And the Immaculate Conception and the Nativity fit the general mythic complex of the Hero: born fatherless or soon cast out, birth marked by signs and portents, displays exceptional abilities as a child, wanders in the wilderness, returns to transform society.
None of which has anything to do with what Christmas means — or should mean — now.
A footnote: and, something that is sure to enrage the “War on Christmas” warriors, CTA buses and trains in Chicago display, on the LED signs that normally note the route and destination, “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy Holidays.” Because Chicago is a very diverse city, and lots of people have holidays this time of year that are not Christmas.
Peace.
PS — I found the article to be thoughtful, heartfelt, and very well done.
DarkZephyr
@rmthunter: (which is why the ancient Irish goddess Brigid shows up as a Catholic saint)
St.Brigid was a Nun in Kildare in the 400s and 500s AD. So if the goddess Brigid incarnated and became a human nun, I guess this is correct. But this is more historical spinning rather than fact. NOBODY even thought this til Pamela Berger pulled this goddess association out of her behind in 1985 to sell a book because the names were similar.
This kind of thing bugs the hell out of me.
“(Actually, under the old calendar, the Solstice did fall on or about the 25th).”
The winter solstice is an astronomical phenomenon which marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. It is not ruled by calender dates. It falls when it falls. You could STILL say it “falls about the 25th” if you wanted to, since the 21st is damn close to the 25. Proximity to the Solstice is not being debated. What I take issue with is the notion that the Nativity of Jesus Christ was specifically a Pagan holiday (usually cited to be Yule, sometimes Saturnalia) that was then reinvented to attract more Pagans to Christianity. This is absolutely NOT the case. For 2000 years its been the custom of Apostolic Christianity (that ancient pre-Protestant Liturgical Christianity that traces its roots back to the ancient Sees of the Apostles themselves which includes Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism) to celebrate events in the lives of its most important religious figures. THE most important being Jesus Christ, who they believe to be the very incarnation of their god. OF COURSE they would want to celebrate his birth. There is no motive for this beyond the desire to celebrate the birth of their God and Messiah. Seriously. Now, what CAN be said is that in some areas the desire to SPREAD this particular Feast and make it more popular may have had other, evangelical motives. But the actual existence of the Feast is merely a desire to celebrate their most important figure. This is simply how they have always been. These modern attempts to try to spin it another way are extremely annoying. Its just so unnecessary. If you want to criticize Christianity, pick any of its real offenses. If you want to consider yourself superior to Christians and above them and someone who knows more about reality than they, altering historical reality is a shady and inauthentic means of doing that.
As for what “Christmas does and should mean now” that is a matter of opinion. For Christians, it celebrates the birth of their god figure and the coming hope of salvation and freedom from sin. For others its about gift giving and celebrating general goodness, charity and hope (and this is added to how most Christians see it as well). You may have your personal opinion about what it should mean, and that is fine, but you cannot declare that this is the way it should be for everyone. Christianity is still going strong with about 2 Billion adherents, so I don’t think its quite time to completely dismiss the original intent behind Christmas all together. I think you are a little premature there, buddy.
rmthunter
@DarkZephyr: Given the early church’s propensity for appropriation — not only lifting saints from older pantheons, but also building churches on sacred pagan sites (and should I mention the image of the Devil, which a number of scholars suggest was adopted from the ancient Indo-European Horned God, who shows up from the British Isles to India?), and the equal propensity for the church to create its own stories of how these all came to be, you can stick with the official hagiography if you want to, but let me point out that the processes of myth and folklore are not that clean-cut. It’s pretty well documented that people always borrow from the neighbors, and have throughout history and before — folk tales get altered, words get adopted, gods and heroes show up with new names (the ancient Greek and Roman gods have a lot of epithets and pseudonyms that actually came from local gods who were incorporated — Pagan religions tended to be syncretistic, so that Zeus is Jupiter is Lugh of the Long Hand), stories are told with a new context. This is a basic mechanism of human culture.
The switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar moved everything up five days. The Solstice is more often on the 20th than the 21st, and under the Julian calendar would have been on or about the 25th.
I didn’t suggest that the Nativity was specifically a Pagan holiday. What I’m saying is that the story of the birth of Jesus, and the broad outlines of his life, fit in the with myth of the Hero (and I won’t even get into the parallels between the Crucifixion and Resurrection with the stories of Baldur, Adonis, Siva, Dionysus, etc. etc.) The point is that not only did the church shift the actual date of the Nativity to coincide with a Pagan holy day (appropriation again), but that the whole story of Christ has accreted to itself a basic mythological cycle found in Europe, the Middle East, and into the Subcontinent. You don’t replace myth with history — you need something with a mythic dimension, and the two are not the same: metaphor is not fact.
Also, I note that you’re imputing to me attitudes that I don’t hold and that I don’t think can be found in my comment. I’m not holding my own beliefs up as superior (unlike too many of the most vocal “Christians”) — I’m merely noting some elements of history and myth as they relate to the story of Christmas. There’s no need to get defensive.
Nor am I declaring what Christmas should be for everyone — I don’t put myself in the position of determining the parameters of other people’s lives. If you want that, check with your local evangelical preacher or Catholic bishop. The “should mean” merely points to the general tone of the holiday: it’s a time of hope, kindness and generosity, of the community coming together, whether you’re a Pagan observing the rebirth of the Sun, a Jew commemorating the rededication of the Temple, or a Christian rejoicing in the birth of the Savior. That’s not me determining anything– that’s just what most people do. I’m much more interested in finding our commonalities than in emphasizing our differences.
As for dismissing Christianity and the “original meaning” of Christmas, WTF are you talking about?
patricko
I’m a gay dad too. Every Christmas for a while now I’ve made it a point to listen to (atheist) Tim Minchin’s whit Wine in the Sun to remind myself (a Christian) of the abiding meaning that anyone can take from Christmas — especially those of us with kiddos. Click here for the YouTube video: http://youtu.be/fCNvZqpa-7Q
Jacob23
@Gavin Lodge:
I just wanted to tell you that you have a lovely family and that I very much appreciate your sharing your family life with us. Gay and bi youth need to see more guys like you living their lives. I’m sure you will work out this Christmas issue in the way you feel best. The important thing is that you care so much about your kids. It’s great to see.
@Patricko:
That’s a lovely song by Minchin. I discovered him about 2 years ago. He’s great.