Well, it's that time of year again. The weather's turned cold. The semester is over. And a certain subset is unreasonably upset over the color of a takeout coffee cup while their opponents yell into the online ether that "Yule was celebrated first!" The vitriol worsens every year and often devolves into free-for-all reminiscent of our most recent presidential election.
I don't know about you, but I'm blessed with a delightfully diverse social circle full of people from both sides of the so-called "War on Christmas." I have rural Christian friends in Middle America who adamantly insist on "keeping Christ in Christmas" and I have Wiccan, Druid, and atheist friends in the San Francisco Bay Area pointing out the many Christmas traditions with pagan roots. Every year I watch the Christians argue with the non-Christians as if one side could ever really win. I've got news for you: No one has ever changed anyone else's mind by yelling at them on the internet. So I'd like to propose a truce. Let us all cease hostilities in the War on Christmas. No more attacking others beliefs or aggressively defending your own. Instead of focusing on our differences, let's try see how he all have a similar "reason for the season."
In fact, no one really has exclusive claim to a midwinter holiday celebration. The Romans celebrated Saturnalia long before there even was a Christ to remember in late December. Sadeh is a Persian midwinter festival celebrated since antiquity. People today celebrate Yule, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, among others. Pretty much everyone has some kind of celebration in December or January. Once upon a time, cultures were fairly homogeneous. Jews lived among other Jews, Christians lived among people who practiced Christianity in a similar way, Muslims lived among other Muslims. Everyone could celebrate their own winter holiday in a cultural vacuum without influence from the other holidays. Oh, how times have changed!
This holiday season, I can bounce from a Hanukkah celebration to a Yule ritual to a secular holiday party and finish it all up with Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve...and I would probably see some of the same faces at multiple events! We are such a multi-cultural society now that crossover between holidays is commonplace. Even though different groups have different names for the winter holiday, they all share similar expressions. We all take a break from our regular routines and spent extra time with friends and family. We enjoy festively decorating our homes (FYI, bringing evergreen boughs and trees indoors during this time is a cross-cultural symbol of the promise of spring and rebirth). We all give gifts to our loved ones and donate to charities at this time of year. Some of the details of celebration may differ even between individuals of the same faith. I celebrate Christmas Eve with a good bottle of whiskey and the Star Wars Holiday Special; my aunt plays board games with her kids. My celebration is no less valid than hers.
So if everyone's way of celebrating the holiday is right, does that mean that no one's is wrong? YES! Exactly! You do you. Have a silly ugly sweater party or a formal Christmas Eve dinner. Just keep in mind the real reason for the season: to come together with your loved ones and remember the love we should all have, not just for those close to us, but for all humanity.
Peace on Earth, and Goodwill to All Men.
