Sunday, December 10, 2006
"christmas"?
It isn't hard to understand why the word "christmas" distresses some people. They're atheist or Muslim or Jewish or Buddhist or something else non-Christian and they don't want to celebrate or have to observe the birth of a religious figure whose organization they don't honor. No problem. But there's a bit of reality that's missing. This holiday began in then-mostly-Christian Europe to celebrate both the winter season and the birth of Jesus. The fact is that western societies began with a mostly Christian ethos. The fact is that shopkeepers take in more than half their annual income during this season. The fact is that many of us buy lots of things and give our friends and family lots of things that we hope they'll enjoy. And the fact is that we receive lots of things that our family and friends hope we will enjoy. The fuss is interesting and useful in terms of understanding that our culture has become significantly multi-cultural, but it also is disingenuous since we all enjoy and benefit from the whole thing. I can hardly wait til Spring - maybe we'll get to go through this all over again at Easter when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ (uh-oh) as well as the world emerging from the winter freeze.
Labels: holidays, reflections
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