"Holiday" thoughts

I must admit to experiencing a great deal of mirth when reading an article the other day (`Merry Holiday' to all and to some a Christmas fight). This article discussed how some conservative Christian groups were considering suing cities and organizations that had "holiday trees" instead of "Christmas trees".

Now I have to be certain you understand the source of that mirth. It is not that someone is using lawyers to sue over what they perceive to be a religious issue, although that is pretty funny to my way of thinking.

It is not that I want to see Christmas increasingly secularized (I don't) and find it funny to watch a futile effort by a bunch of religious fanatics to stop it. (BTW, I don't know these people so I don't know if they're fanatics, die hard believers, people of faith, or whatever.)

I find it funny that conservative Christian groups are considering spending a lot of time, effort, and money to save a great pagan symbol.

If that statement surprises you, don't be surprised. Especially if you're from North America or Europe. The cultures in these areas don't really encourage people to look to deeply into their religious thoughts. Look to deep and you might question. Search for answers to those questions and you might discover that most of the existing religious institutions pretty actively resist change. Bureaucracy and change is a bad mix. Change potentially undermines the foundation of the authority of the bureaucracy.

But it's the nature of life to change. The only things in life that don't change are dead or inanimate. Growth is change, and growth often leads to newer better understanding.

So let's ask a few questions about Christmas.

Why December the 25th?

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jesus was born on the xth day of the month of ______.

In fact, only 2 of the gospels, Matthew and Luke, contain birth stories. I use the plural because they are in fact 2 different stories. Maybe it's a simple case of which facts the authors chose to include, or maybe it's a case of the storytellers having different points to make. Still the stories are different. Go ahead and read them again if you doubt me. But first, forget everything you've been taught about the story so you can read them as if for the very first time.

If you take the Bible literally (I do not), you run into a problem with the December 25th date. There are simply images generated in there that are not consistent with a December time frame in Bethlehem. Add in the traditional pictures of baby animals running around and it gets even worse, although I'm more than willing to write off those pictures as detail added by later storytellers.

So where did the date come from?

Most of us today are so far removed from our agrarian roots that we have no concept of just how important the sun is to farmers. To grow crops you need good soil, you need rain (just the right amount), and you need sun. When your whole economy is based on food production, the whole society pays attention. Look at the pantheons of the old agrarian societies and you will find a powerful sun god, a powerful storm god, and a powerful earth goddess. You want to know what's important to a society, look carefully at their gods.

What does this have to do with December 25th?

In the northern hemisphere the shortest day of the year occurs on December 20th or 21st. December 25th is the day when people can first start to perceive that the days are actually getting longer. If the Sun is important to you, this is an important day, and important days are great excuses for parties.

Our forefathers in the Christian tradition (Sorry, but by this time the patriarchy had definitely take over) were not stupid people. It can be hard to attract and keep new members when there's a great party going on across the street. Also, at least until the time of Constantine, Christian's never knew if they'd be greeted warmly or persecuted. It didn't hurt to blend in. In their great wisdom they decided December 25th would be a great time to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

So what does this have to do with the Christmas tree?

Our forefathers certainly didn't get stupid over time. Even after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, it still had to work hard to overcome centuries of tradition when assimilating a new group into the Christian world. Many of the variations in how Christmas is celebrated around the world are in fact the result of various customs and symbols that were incorporated from the old ways to ease people into Christianity.

The decoration of trees is one of those customs.

It's that simple. The decoration of trees comes from a pagan background and was incorporated into Christmas as a conversion methodology.

If knowing these stories harms your enjoyment of Christmas, I apologize. Personally, I find knowing the story and details behind the symbols and traditions of my life makes me appreciate them more.

You may see these stories as examples of survival methodology or bureaucratic desire for growth, but let me present a different angle. These stories also present a picture of Christianity's ability to embrace the other and welcome anyone in.

Have a Merry Christmas,
a Happy Hanukkah,
a Happy Kwanzaa,
a Joy Filled Eid,
and a Merry secular mercantile holiday.

- Havatar
- One does not build tolerance by hiding differences. You build tolerance by celebrating them.