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Forget Mythical Wars on Christmas, Let’s Make the Yule-tide Gay
more from Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Even the White House has the requisite Pagan "Idol" Why all the complaints?
To any Christians who ask why I do not wish them a “Merry Christmas” I can only say this: “Why should I?” It is not my Christ and I am no Christian. Of course, to those I do know to be Christians I do say those words, out of respect. If I am uncertain I say, “Happy Holidays” because “Happy Jól” would be presumptuous and probably make little sense to them. Yule (ON Jól) is my holiday but it is not theirs. But I ask this: how many of you fundamentalists clamoring for a “Merry Christmas” would honor me with a “Happy Jól/Yule”? Precious few, I would imagine.
The fundamentalist will ever want what he is not willing to give.
Then there is the small matter of whose holiday this truly is. It was a holiday for many polytheistic cultures (you can read my long expose on this topic at my blog, A Heathen’s Day here)long before anyone had heard of YHWH, let alone Jesus. These days were already holy and did not need to be sanctified by Jesus. It is as are most Christian holidays, are stolen holiday. It is as much my holiday as anyone else’s. To have members of an upstart religion demand obeisance from the entire world for a day that is already holy to them for other reasons is arrogant, to say the least.
I shared this tidbit here last December 2 and I will offer it again: the testimony of Dionysius Bar-Salibi, twelfth century bishop of Amida, who wrote:
The reason, then, why the fathers of the church moved the January 6th celebration [of Epiphany] to December 25th was this, they say: it was the custom of the pagans to celebrate on this same December 25th the birthday of he Sun, and they lit lights then to exalt the day, and invited and admitted the Christian to these rites. When, therefore, the teachers of the church saw that Christians inclined to this custom, figuring out a strategy, they set the celebration of the true Sunrise on this day, and ordered Epiphany to be celebrated on January 6th; and this usage they maintain to the present day along with the lighting of the lights.[4]
And we don’t have to rely on a 12th century bishop for this fact. We can go back further, to Epiphanius (ca 310-403), who tells us so (Pan. LI.22.3-7 and 29.4-7). And around 428 CE John Cassianus (Collationes X.2) reported that Epiphany in Egypt is ‘by ancient tradition’ believed to be the time for both the baptism and the birth of Jesus.” As it happens, January 6th is still Christmas Day in the Orthodox Church.
Now who does December 25 belong to?
Yet that is the demand that is made, that this day, as Christmas, be not only celebrated but honored by all, even those who are not Christians. Those who choose not to pay heed to Christian trappings are accused of making war on Christmas, said by Bill O’Reilly to be part of some “secular-progressive” conspiracy. I suppose one day we will be treated to the “Protocols of the Elders of Secularism” outlining the conspiracy in depth, as another forged document once condemned Jews to being part of a conspiracy that never existed.
I am one of those accused of making war on Christmas. My answer, of course, is that I cannot make war on my own holiday, nor would I. In fact, my whole holiday extends 12 days, from the 21st (Winter Solstice) to the First of January – the traditional 12 days – which happens to encompass that single day Fundamentalists want to reserve for themselves.
I do not begrudge Christians Christmas. Those alive today are not the ones who stole it, nor was I alive to have it stolen from me. That does not mean I do not retain the right to celebrate these holy days according to my own customs and traditions, or to honor my own gods, and my ancestors. And my doing so is no slight upon Christmas or upon Christians. They are free to celebrate according to their own customs and traditions, and atheists are free to celebrate nothing at all, if they so wish.
My only complaint comes when I am told I must kowtow to Christian tradition. That I will not do. I would not demand a Christian offer sacrifice to my gods and I will certainly offer no sacrifice to theirs. This attitude of mine does not stem from any lack of respect; it simply isn’t my concern how other people worship or whether they do at all. It makes no difference to me. We have (for now, at least) a First Amendment, after all, and Jefferson’s words were wise: it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
It’s really a silly thing to have to bring up every year, but fundamentalist Christians will insist on their yearly dose of martyrdom, when half the world refuses to be impressed by them or their beliefs. They can’t stand being ignored; they can’t stand not being the center of attention, and so like small children they will stomp their feet to get our attention. And again we must revisit the subject that should be no subject, and waste our breath on issues that should not be issues. But people being people, they need reminding, and there might still be some out there who could be influenced by the myth, and so we must make answer.
Media Matters tells us that so far this December O’Reilly has talked about “the imaginary ‘War on Christmas’ more than three times as much as the actual wars in Iraq and Afghanistan” (42 minutes vs. 13 minutes) and as “an example of how much the ‘War on Christmas’ has permeated Fox’s coverage, Fox & Friends spent three consecutive days earlier this month throwing a fit over the fact that Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee called the tree at the Rhode Island statehouse a ‘holiday tree’ and not a ‘Christmas tree.’”
Of course, most people know by now that the tree itself is a Pagan symbol. My Norse ancestors, who like me honored Odin and Thor and Frey and Freyja, decorated trees for the season. So here we have a bunch of fundamentalist Christians outraged that people aren’t calling a Pagan tree a Christmas tree. Holiday tree is far more apt usage, given that people of different religious beliefs use the same symbol. Speaking as a Pagan, but not for Pagans, I can only say I do not begrudge the use of the tree by others, nor do I insist upon them calling it a Jól/Yule tree. Knock yourselves out. I’m not hurt by it. I can be pretty certain my gods aren’t hurt by it and my ancestors would probably get a good chuckle. A good time had by all.
Until somebody tells folks they can’t have Christmas trees in their homes, or go to Church or pray to their God, nobody has made war on anything. They have just made this holiday season, shared by so many, accessible to more of them, rather than letting one religion claim sole ownership of something that wasn’t originally theirs in the first place.
This has been a yearly ritual for me. It is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Far better would be to make like the 1943 wartime Christmas song, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and make the Yule-tide gay because what it comes down to for most of us is this, as the song puts it: “Faithful friends who are dear to us Gather near to us once more.” And we don’t need Jesus – or any god – to celebrate that sentiment. And isn’t that more fun than fighting anyway?
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11 Responses to Forget Mythical Wars on Christmas, Let’s Make the Yule-tide Gay
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Sally
Dec. 23rd, 2011 at 9:05 am
One would think that peace on Earth and love among neighbors would be more fun, but to the far right, they are only having fun when engaged in phony wars that either kill people or divide them into “us” and “them.” They have been getting worse since Bush…remember “you’re wither with us or against us” regarding his phony wars? We were asked to leave the country if we didn’t support his lies, unfunded wars, and the torture of people, against all that is holy in any religion. But on they go, self-righeous and blind to the true teachings of all religions: do unto others and love thy neighbor. How hard is that? How hard is it to live and let live. If we could all do that, I’m betting that there would not be “people out there that hate us.” Think on that, Mr. O’Reilly. When you put yourself above others, you are asking for someone to smack you down.
SinghX
Dec. 23rd, 2011 at 9:19 am
“…but fundamentalist Christians will insist on their yearly dose of martyrdom, when half the world refuses to be impressed by them or their beliefs. They can’t stand being ignored; they can’t stand not being the center of attention, and so like small children they will stomp their feet to get our attention…”
Why oh why, after all this time, haven’t psychologist joined together to create test, measure as a means to quantify the spiritual IQ of humans? We know that most people who adhere to some kind of fundamentalist “purity” dogma have psychological issues with either: 1.addiction to a myth or father figure, 2. multi-generational dysfunctional traditions tied to violence (spare the rod spoil the child), 3.have compulsions to create follies au deux relations in order to “convert” or proselytize.
4. believe they and only they can “talk” to an invisible man either in their head or through glossolalia.
They are, indeed, the “poorest souls” amongst us…
Actually, these poor, socially retar*ded souls need a good does of reality via therapy to deal with their issues instead of society having to tolerate their public temper tantrums that can and have turned into violence against others.
Reynardine
Dec. 23rd, 2011 at 12:05 pm
In fact, Dr. Altenmeyer has written about right-wing authoritarianism, and Dr. Hare about psychopaths in positions of power, John Dean, in “Conservatives Without Conscience”, has written about the “double-high” personality. All these factors really can be tested for; furthermore, laypeople can be taught to recognize them, a matter of the utmost urgency. Spirituality cannot be tested for, exactly because it can be neither quantified nor defined. Its lack, however, manifests itself in profound disrespect for the Other. By their fruits shall ye know them.
SinghX
Dec. 23rd, 2011 at 8:25 pm
Probably a good 80-100 years of literature does exist in terms of political-social psychology as well as within the “abnormal psychology” areas dealing with anti-social personality disorders. My perception of John Dean/his book is that he was attempting to deal with his own “demons”. However, most all his book was done by a ghost research and writing team; he admitted that didn’t really get his hands dirty, so I have never found him as one who really walks the walk and talks the talk…he hasn’t really come to terms with his own part…he just wrote about it and made money…I still think he’s a sociopath!
But that’s not the issue; the issue is that we live in a culture that glamorizes a model of some “purity” principle that allows for absolutes, addiction in religious belief systems, superiority complex (see Alfred Alder) and repression based upon dogmatic text which no one can criticizes or else IT’S WAR; whad’da fat “sacred cow”…Mooooo!
(Spirituality is a actually the wrong term as it applies to maturity by those with peaceful, purposeful lives regardless of belief system.)
Why not measure the “bloated bovine” and test it’s “guts”; after all, the fundamentalist want it both ways by mixing myth with reason and logic as “historical facts” then, why can’t fundamentalist “belief” be questioned, tested, measured in terms of how it “behaves”?
molly malone
Dec. 23rd, 2011 at 10:02 am
Another great post. Hrafnkell.
O’reilly and Fox’s “War on Christmas” Schick is such clearly manufactured nonsense I shake my head is disbelief that anyone–even fundies–would fall for it. “Happy Holidays” greetings prove that non-Christians are now trying to destroy Christmas? Oh, puleeze.
If “Happy Holidays” is bad, what about “Seasons Greetings”? If you’re hell-bent on taking Christ out of Christmas, don’t they both accomplish the same objective?
Wait! I get it now. Happy Holidays is something people say, whereas Season’s greetings is something people usually only see–you know, like on Christmas cards dating back to the 1920′s. But . . . but . . . no, that can’t be right.
Argh! I give up. Trying to make sense of nonsense is just too hard for me.
molly malone
Dec. 23rd, 2011 at 10:05 am
Gah. I wish you had an edit button.
A Walkaway
Dec. 23rd, 2011 at 12:31 pm
The fact is, almost all religions are syncretic in origin, and while each has its own original ideas, most of religious practice and belief is borrowed or shared.
I do have a problem with the word “stolen”. I’ve heard that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, and I think that has a lot of truth in it. As you know, I am very aware of the roots of most of religious practice (at least for Christianity and a few other belief systems), and while Christians today have deliberately stolen cultural practices, the writing you’ve shared (which I greatly appreciate by the way) suggests that it was more imitation rather than theft. Where theft comes in is the denial of the origins of the different practices (yule log, Christmas Tree, caroling, etc.) and the insistence that others only assign Christian meanings to things that transcend Christianity.
I wouldn’t even mind if they (the churches) copied some of our cultural/religious traditions (and some churches in America actually HAVE done so), as long as they don’t try to deny them to us. “Arbor Days” practiced in some churches is one such copy… it comes from the Square Ground. I think we also have some beautiful things that would enhance practice… but at the same time they ARE ours, and claiming them without accepting the source is a problem.
I personally love the modern traditions connected with Christmas (it’s my favorite time of year – partially because it’s cool, and because I love the decorations, lights, music, and so on), and because of my outlook do assign primarily Christian meanings to them, although I know their roots. It’s not in “My idea is better than yours”, but the worldview I have is “Hey, what a beautiful idea!!!” All religions have good things to be found in them (I’d grant that I have serious doubts that would be true in dominionist/fundamentalist versions), and it IS much more fun to share and enjoy each other’s commonalities and differences.
The funny thing is that the dominionists/fundamentalists think that Jesus’ teachings were radical and original (I’d grant that they were radical for their time and place). You’ll find them in many religions. The sad thing is that they claim Jesus, but don’t follow what he taught. In fact, you could say that they stole Jesus!!!
courtland
Dec. 23rd, 2011 at 1:52 pm
Excellent piece, you make a lot of good points. Everything in Christianity came from other religions, nothing new, so it’s a Pagan religion ‘borrowing’ from other Pagan religions. Why can’t everyone just get along? Maybe when we’re invaded by Martians, we’ll figure out how to work together. And have fun together at this time of year, the Winter Solstice. Thanks, Hrafnkell :)
Pjevs
Dec. 24th, 2011 at 11:56 am
Very great post.GOD JUL as we say in Denmark.