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Merry Christmas. It Can't Hurt
Where's the harm in celebrating peace and good will?
Worth a day: joy and love
Every Christmas for now a very long time our "higher purpose persons," in the late Denny Boyd's marvellous phrase, busy themselves taking all indicia of Christianity out of the otherwise jolly picture.
Nativity scenes or Christmas carols in schools are swept up in a craze of misguided do-gooders who, though they claim to be speaking for minority groups, never seem to be part of them.
"Canada is not a Christian country!" they cry -- which is true but irrelevant.
The question is the celebration of Jesus's birth, an event not much noticed by Christians in earlier years. While Christianity is not our national religion any more than Bahia is, it has become a national day of considerable importance to all Canadians of every conceivable background.
It has become many things to many people. Some Christians, though not all by any means, celebrate December 25 as a holy day. Most people, including I daresay most Christians, at least the nominal once-or-twice-a-year variety, celebrate it as a season of goodwill.
Too good to pass up
For most Canadians, Christmas is a wonderful, joyous time of year, a time for youngsters, a moment just for a short time dedicated to friends and family not seen very often; a time, then, for loved ones to get together to renew love.
People of all faiths say "Merry Christmas" to each other and to utter strangers.
In our house, it was presents right after breakfast. Then it would be off to church for what for my father was his only visit of the year. (He would be some pissed off if, for some reason, what he regarded as the family pew -- second from the front on the right side --was occupied by others). My mother used to make it on Easter too. Christmas Day was for our family as it was for most people who professed some even wispy connection to Christianity.
It isn't always that way, of course. Sometimes, in the immortal words of Yogi Yorgenson, "someone slugs Uncle Ben" and all hell breaks loose. Sometimes it's a struggle between whose folks will have the big dinner this year, a problem exacerbated if one "folks" can't stand the guts of the other.
Expanding holiday
But here's what our self-proclaimed champions of neutralizing Christmas simply do not understand. To the chagrin of many Christians, Christmas has broadened its appeal to almost everyone. Legends old and new have blended into a sort of super festival. Old Saint Nicholas now finds himself led by Rudolph, so say millions of kids, and who will tell them they're wrong?
The Nativity scene is not some sort of fundamentalist Christian form of proselytizing the faith, but a moment of great religious significance to some and just beauty and peace to others. To some it means nothing at all and that doesn't matter. "O Come All Ye Faithful," which only reaches its true majesty when sung in Latin, "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World" have been joined by "White Christmas," "Jingle Bells" and "Frosty the Snowman."
Does it matter that these songs widen the scope of celebrating a message of peace?
There are lots of downsides to Christmas, which has become, for many, a 10-day period of drinking too much and spending too much. It's become far too commercialized though just what the right amount is, is never clear.
Make it your own
But surely these bad things just demonstrate that Christmas is what you want to make of it.
Many Christians would like to redeem Christmas -- seize it from the infidels and get it back inside the church. Good luck! The English language will reclaim the word "gay" in its true meaning before that happens. Christians, in accordance with Jesus's constant plea for peace and understanding must make the best of it and stop complaining that others are ruining their holy day. It remains for them to celebrate or not as they see fit.
Non-Christians should not fear to be reminded about the origins of the great feast.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Best of the Season and may we all be around this time next year to continue the never ending debate.
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11
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Bailey
5 years ago
Comments on "Merry Christmas. It Can't Hurt"
And a Happy holiday to you, and everybody you love.
Keep talking, Rafe Mair. You say good things
DJT
5 years ago
MERRY CHRISTMAS!View blog reactions
thomas49
5 years ago
Christmas is just a time for GENTILES to make money off the populace of those addicted to religion and their silly rituals.
Of course we all have silly rituals,just some make better money than others through the gullibility of those that practice.
Small wonder so many jump on the bandwagon when they see the money to be made!
MERRY CHRISTMAS !
speedo
5 years ago
I've said it before and I'll say it again: no one agonizes about the lost meaning of Labour Day or the cultural relevance of Queen Victoria, so why not just take the opportunity that a holiday in December affords you to hang out with friends and family? It beats work.
Right to Bear
5 years ago
Merry Christmas Rafe and all you love...!!
Keep talking friend, and I will keep supporting. Thanks for your insight in 2006. Looking forward to more of it this coming year. And hey, let's get a handle on this fish-farm catastophe once and for all in 2007...!!
Cheers, peace and love brother,
Bear
Grumpy
5 years ago
Keep poking Rafe, the 'higher purpose persons' hate it!
Oh by the way, when is your site completed its tune up?
I think 2007 will be full of interesting news that the Asper Empire and CORUS (including Bill Boring) will not report on.
Skool
Just me
5 years ago
Merry Christmas, Rafe, and many thanks.
Christians who feel their holiday is being stolen from them don't know their own history. Every religion has celebrated the winter solstice (as Hanukka, Yule, Saturnalia, just to cite some western examples). It was centuries after Christ that the church officially annointed December 25 as his birthday. Wonder what the pagans felt about having the Christian Johnny Come Latelies appropriating their holiday. In many epochs Christians have refused to celebrate Christmas because, as for instance the early American Puritans saw it, people were having too much fun.
The word holiday, by which we now mean fun time, family time and most particularly time off work is simply a contraction of "holy day." I think it's great that we consider work avoidance "holy" (if only more people stopped to consider what our language actually means).
To the Christians who see Christmas being taken over by paganism, the pagans aren't taking it over, they're taking it back. But no matter, because really we are all just celebrating the fact that the world is turning, the days now are growing longer, brighter and warmer. The idea that "for unto you a child is born" is the embodiment of hope. No Christian should deny this to anyone of any other faith or no faith at all. There is enough Christmas spirit for everyone.
gordon
5 years ago
Your absolutely correct Rafe.
The message is to sing out the good news.
That all should be built up and none torn down.
BC Mary
5 years ago
Today ... 31 December 2006 ... to everybody writing on the web-site of The Tyee:
A very Happy New Year 2007.
aorangi
5 years ago
Kia-Ora Rafe,
And a very merry Whatever-You-Like to you and yours. As you say, it can't hurt. I'm happy that you enjoyed your annual church visit and were able to pray for a better world, not that it would make any difference if the whole world prayed.
The number of believers is decreasing commensurately with the uptick in education, which means that organized religion is doomed. Also, the children of educated apostates know the reasons for thunder and lightning and so have rejected theories of creation and adopted humanistic values, those same values that were co-opted by Christians as their own in 400AD. Prayer to an indefinable being they feel is useless and they'll have to stand on their own feet and be the stronger for it. Instead of praying for a better world they know they'll have to do something about it instead, as you yourself Rafe have done with your exemplary fish-farm efforts for which I thank you.
The latest figure for non-believers in the UK is 61% and the 2001 figure (StatsCan)for BC is 36% and growing every year. Religion more than territory is creating conflict and violence across the world at the same time that every sect claims it stands for peace and tolerance. It scares the heck out of me and I believe the only hope is in general education.
We all have a responsibility to be active for peace in our own backyards even if it's praying which won't do any harm, but intellectual effort is better and educating ourselves is better still, and Rafe, your efforts are among the best.
Haere Mai and all that.
Aorangi.
electric_bicyclist
5 years ago
Nicely said, Rafe. We also tried to make merry, and with a twist of Sustainability, as well. Here are links to photos..
http://human-carillon.blogspot.com/
http://musical-pipes.blogspot.com/
Cheers, Rob Matthies