Garth Rattray
WHAT'S BECOMING OF CHRISTMAS? Everyone knows that Jesus was not born in December, but many events are celebrated or commemorated at convenient times anyway. True, 'Christmas' festivities (that have nothing to do with the religious aspect of the holiday) have ancient Roman and pagan roots. And, the paraphernalia associated with the season (the evergreen trees, wreaths and various branches) are pagan. Most Christians choose to celebrate Christ's birthday at this time simply because it's a unifying holiday. Interestingly enough, at one time the Christmas holiday was outlawed as witchcraft by the puritans in England who (understandably) hated its pagan roots.
The concept that Jesus the Christ was God's gift to the world generated the spirit of giving to one another. The popular custom of bearing gifts started out innocently enough with a fourth century European Bishop named Nicholas. He practised his devotion to God by being exceptionally generous to others. This image of a benevolent old man began to undergo changes in the early 1800s and, with the help of America's Dutch roots, some fantastic flights of imagination, lyrical poems and drawings of a rotund, elderly, pipe-smoking elf, St. Nicholas morphed into a grey-bearded, cartoon image clad in red with white trim and black boots. Santa Claus (as he was now known) became very popular in the 1930s when he was used extensively to advertise Coca-Cola. Santa has been a commercial icon to this day. Now, Santa's claws are into everything.
COMMERCIAL EVENT
This whole Santa thing has made Christmas into so much of a commercial event that it's fast becoming known only as 'the holidays'. If you look at it pragmatically, then you can't blame people of the Jewish faith for using the "Christmas" season to bring into prominence one of their relatively minor holidays, Hanukkah (the Festival of Lights). It is an eight-day holiday that celebrates the religious and military triumph of the ancient Jewish heroes with blessings, gifts, games and festive foods. And, so as not to be left out, people of African descent also celebrate Kwanza this time of year. The word happens to be a variation on 'Cuanza', a 600-mile Angolan river. It is also the basic unit of money in that country. But, in this context, it is an African-American and Pan-African 'holiday' (it's more like a cultural festival). It celebrates the family, community and culture. Its origins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa. It is a time for ingathering, reverence, commemoration, recommitment and celebration.
Between Santa (the commercial superstar), Hanukkah, Kwanza and those people who are turned off by the pagan origins of the season, "Christmas" has become diluted and sometimes even politically incorrect. It is fast becoming effectively outlawed again. A library in Memphis Tennessee has grudgingly allowed a modified Nativity scene to be displayed on its premises. They approved the manger, the farm animals and one shepherd, but nixed the image of baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wise men. The issue has gone to court and it is predicted that the library will lose the suit only because (and get this) some years ago US Supreme Court Judge Sandra Day O'Connor ruled that a complete nativity scene may be displayed in public provided that a holiday scene with snow, reindeer and Santa Claus surrounds it!
Don't believe for one moment that this "Happy Holidays" thing is foreign to us here in Jamaica. For years Cable and Wireless has displayed a huge "Christmas" banner with a Santa cap on a telephone and "Happy Holidays" beside it; this, in a predominantly Christian country. All I can say is ... Ho, ho, no!
Dr Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
