by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson
No, I’m not starting my 2015
Christmas list early. I’m still hung up on this past Christmas season, except
that we really don’t have a Christmas season any more.
I can hear you gasping. No Christmas
season? The stores fill with merchandise before Halloween, and the commercials
earlier than that. Christmas trees bloom in parking lots before Thanksgiving. Christmas
parties pile on and overlap each other like shingles. It probably won’t be long
before Christmas and Back to School start stepping on each other’s toes.
That’s not what I am talking about.
Merchandising campaigns are not a season. Christmas is supposed to be about
loving and sharing and a celebration of family. (And yes, the religious
celebration which is the reason for the season, but I’m not going to preach
sectarianism or even doctrine.)
So what am I talking about? Now we
have hysterical shopping, multiple parties, frenzied gift wrapping and, the culminating
centerpiece, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Christmas Eve is anticipation;
children determined to go to bed for once (or stay awake and see Santa) and
Christmas Day itself is a tsunami of shredded gift wrap and ritualized
overeating. Then it’s over. Nothing looks sadder than a Christmas tree, denuded
of packages but with its lights still blazing bravely, on the day after
Christmas. Within days the tree and the wreaths and the Santas and the creches disappear, packed away until the following year. When I was a child, many people only took down their Christmas decorations on January 6th.
But shouldn’t Christmas be more?
More than an extended shopping spree, more than a gift-fest, more than even a day
of church services?
To me Christmas transcends its religious
affiliations and sacred symbolism. It is a time of hope and love and family and
peace. We’re losing that to a mountain of merchandizing and parties. Most
religions have some sort of midwinter celebration, a time when the year turns
and the days begin to lengthen, bringing back light and warmth and survival.
The basic idea seems to be one of renewal, of a restart of the life cycle.
In earlier times there was a lengthy
Christmas season. It started with the beginning of Advent around the first part
of December and went on until Twelfth Night (sometimes called the Night of
Three Kings) which by our calendar is January 6th. When I lived in
Mexico, they still kept this schedule. Christmas Day was a time of religious
celebration and the exchanging of gifts was done on the 6th of
January, when traditionally the Three Wise Men brought gifts to the Christ
Child. Incidentally, some of my Mexican friends are now caught between cultures
with their children expecting bounty on both Christmas Day and the Night of
Three Kings! The appeal of marketing wins again.
So what am I dithering about?
Basically it is this : Christmas should be a season of joy, of peace, of
fellowship and goodwill – things people can and should enjoy whatever their
religion. While gifts are important, they and their attendant marketing should
not be the sole focus of the season. I would like to see the Christmas season –
with its joy and peace and all that – be extended from the beginning of Advent
to Twelfth Night. Not more presents, nor more parties, just more good feeling
and fellowship. We can only benefit.
Amen to that! Let's hope we can somehow keep our beliefs and wonderful family traditions alive through the bulldozing effect of mechandizing!
ReplyDeleteA serious post on a serious subject. I used to worry about this and finally decided to relax and let the rest of the world do whatever they do. It only affects me to the degree that I let it. I can choose my own manner of celebration. Not surprisingly, it's close to that described in your closing paragraph.
ReplyDeleteYou have said this so well, Susan. Thank you. The spirit of Christmas is, as Kathye and Sandy have said, a very personal thing and it is up to us individually to keep what is important about the season as the center of our celebrations.
ReplyDelete