So what's up with all this "Christmas stealing" malarky. I don't know...
1. I am annoyed by people who twist themselves into a knot calling the Christmas holiday anything but and who seem to think that some people will be offended by other people celebrating a holiday that for some is religious and for some other is secular with only the vaguest religious connection.
2. I am annoyed by people who twist themselves into a knot over what other people call Christmas -who cares? There's not a thing in the world wrong with saying Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings. Back when I used to do Christmas cards, I always got an assortment of ones with religious motifs, secular Christmas motifs, and winter "Season's Greetings" type motifs. I tried to match the cards with the perceived world view of the recipient.
I'm not the least bit churchy, but to me this season is Christmas. My celebration of Christmas no longer has any religious significance. I don't believe that Jesus Christ was born on 25 December, but I don't know when he was born. Maybe it was around that time. I enjoy the Christian elements of Christmas (the religious carols, occasional Christmas services). I enjoy the pagan elements of Christmas, the Christmas tree, the holly and the ivy. I enjoy my own family traditions, oyster casserole, the big dinner, cornbread dressing, etc. I enjoy other people's cultural traditions, the Christmas crackers (ewwww to the Christmas pudding though!). I enjoy the commercial aspects of Christmas - the gifts, the decorations, etc. I like the lights and the glitter and egg nog and the office Christmas party, etc.
The term Christmas is still in widespread use in the UK, and I'm glad of it. My council, Wandsworth Borough Council hands out posters to local merchants that say "Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year" and another one that says "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" (the latter sounds dangerously Americanised!). The funny thing is, many of the merchants on my road aren't Christian, they're mostly Tamils who follow a Tamil form of Islam. If they are offended by the poster they throw them out, otherwise they can put them up. Almost every Muslim owned business by me has the Christmas poster in their window! Only silly Lambeth Council decided to change the name of the Christmas lights to Winter lights, and then changed them back again. (Pragmatic Wandsworth uses the same lights for all things, switching them on and changing the name as the seasons progress, look now they're Diwali lights, hey presto, now they're Christmas lights.)
The UK is nominally a Christian nation. We have an established church here, despite the fact that I think England's pretty godless. I believe in the separation of church and state, but I also believe in holiday fun. I don't think it's appropriate to have a creche or manger scene on the courthouse lawn (I grew up thinking it was both idolatrous and a violation of the establishment clause.) But I can't see anything wrong with calling a decorated tree a Christmas tree if it's seasonally appropriate.
Sadly, the Vol-in-Law has been watching too much FoxNews and is a little exercised by the "War on Christmas". Perhaps he will explain his reasoning. If he goes on with this, I will be changing the name of our Christmas tree to Yuletide faux pine ornament prop, just to lather him up.
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4 comments:
I don't mind "Yule", which is a good traditional pagan word.
One thing that makes me a little sad is that this year neither side seems to have remembered the "peace and goodwill" part of Christmas - indeed I had forgotten it myself until I heard a 1970s pop singer on the radio just now, talking about his Christmas song which goes something like "They said there'd be snow at Christmas, they said there'd be peace on Earth...". I think we could do with a bit more of that.
Merry Christmas to all our readers!
I was thinking when the whole "holiday" mess started that I am grateful to be living in Greece. All Christmas, all the time. No political correctness. Just the straight up.
Of course, they don't have separation of church and state here either, but at Christmas, I don't mind as much.
Yesterday it was the last class of the year, I brought chocolates and wished all my students merry Christmas - Greek, Turkish, Swiss, Columbian & Pakistani. Nobody seemed to mind.
(None of my postgrad students are British-born, they all come to London to do a degree).
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