The Holiday Season (Part VI)

Very Merry Christmas and Yule Tide

Christmas. Possibly one of the most commercialized and beloved holidays in these United States. Every year like clock work all the stores and television programs adjust themselves to go green and red, as it were, for this holiday. It's the big one, the show.

Not to say that any of the other holidays in the season are less than. They have somehow managed to retain their integrity and NOT sell out like a member of the Black Eyed Peas. Christmas, it seems, lost a lot of integrity to gain notoriety. I don't know what's worse, being famous for rumors, or being average for merits.
So how did it get here? How did Christmas arrive to be one of the world's most known, and celebrated (ish) holidays? Well wonder women, all goes back to the pagans...ah yes, those fun loving pagans.

Celebrating the winter solstice has been a long tradition in many pagan cultures. The Scandinavian pagans, for example, celebrated the solstice from the end of December to the beginning of January. It was a celebration of rebirth. The hard days of winter were passing by, and the coming days of spring were fast approaching...sort of. Winter can feel a lot longer than it really is. Most European nations would celebrate the solstice with a feast and party like it was 1099.
In Rome a celebration of the god Saturn took place in the winter. This festival allowed a little topsey, turvey fun. Masters would take the place of their servants, and vice versa. Much partying and getting down, like the Europeans but much more armored. A particular Roman holiday was celebrated on December 25, the birthday of the infant god Mithra, who would conquer the sun. This holiday was the most sacred among some Romans.

Christmas, the actual holiday, had a rocky start for Americans. Pilgrims didn't like the long standing traditions of "getting jiggy with it" and banned the holiday. In fact, the holiday was so frowned upon that anyone showing any Christmas cheer was fined five shillings. Lame. Christmas was not declared a federal holiday in the United States until 1870. Double Lame. You could say that the founding members of our nation were a bunch of Scrooges.

The 19th century was when Christmas started to make a turn around. For a long time it was still associated with parties, frivolity, and even gang riots. The switch from this to a family centered holiday was really a means to control people in winter, keep them from running ragged in the streets. And what could keep you inside more than a call from your mother, expecting you at 5:00pm? And who could forget the Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol? That single work of literature focused on the charity, love, and warm fuzzies the Christmas season brings. This once again pushed people out of the drunken streets and into their homes where they belonged.

So really, all Christmas is is a 19th century guilt trip? All it ever was was one big awesome party Dickens had to snuff out. Hmmm, I hope it's a little more than that.

Thoughts? WW