I'll be the first to admit that I can be a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to the Christmas season. I've gotten to the point in which I cringe when I hear Christmas music on the radio. I detest every shop clerk wishing me a "Merry Christmas" each time in December I drop in to pick up a carton of milk or buy gas to fuel the Aveo.
Part of my loathing of this time of the year has to do with the rampant commercialization. Every store one can think of runs snazzy ads to convince us to purchase things for ourselves or others that, frankly, we don't really need. "Oh look, for only 50 gazillion dollars, I can get a deluxe automated snorkel cleaner. I'll be the envy of the neighborhood!!"
While the commercialization aspect is quite grating, I think my biggest complaint concerns why Christmas AND Easter -- two Christian holidays -- are symbolized by a fat geezer and a rabbit! Why is it that two religious celebrations are mixed with pagan symbols to sell them to the public?
On the one hand, Christians tend to badmouth pagan beliefs and rituals. If you listen to the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin, it is all these pagan (or, at least, non-Christian) values that are destroying the fabric of our nation.
On the other hand, these same people are big fans of the free enterprise system and the strange marriage of the birth/death of Jesus with a pagan fellow who rides around the earth in a flying sleigh and a rabbit who hops around bringing toys and candy to little kiddies.
I mean, if you think about these odd connections, they make no sense whatsoever. The baby Jesus supposedly was born of a virgin, a miraculous one-time occurrence and this is now combined with an animal (rabbit) that breeds like there is no tomorrow. Jesus also was executed, then supposedly resurrected, and this is now combined with an overweight man who wears weird clothing and consorts with flying reindeer and mythical elves at the North Pole.
It's quite surreal and a bit loony, if you ask me.
Part of my loathing of this time of the year has to do with the rampant commercialization. Every store one can think of runs snazzy ads to convince us to purchase things for ourselves or others that, frankly, we don't really need. "Oh look, for only 50 gazillion dollars, I can get a deluxe automated snorkel cleaner. I'll be the envy of the neighborhood!!"
While the commercialization aspect is quite grating, I think my biggest complaint concerns why Christmas AND Easter -- two Christian holidays -- are symbolized by a fat geezer and a rabbit! Why is it that two religious celebrations are mixed with pagan symbols to sell them to the public?
On the one hand, Christians tend to badmouth pagan beliefs and rituals. If you listen to the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin, it is all these pagan (or, at least, non-Christian) values that are destroying the fabric of our nation.
On the other hand, these same people are big fans of the free enterprise system and the strange marriage of the birth/death of Jesus with a pagan fellow who rides around the earth in a flying sleigh and a rabbit who hops around bringing toys and candy to little kiddies.
I mean, if you think about these odd connections, they make no sense whatsoever. The baby Jesus supposedly was born of a virgin, a miraculous one-time occurrence and this is now combined with an animal (rabbit) that breeds like there is no tomorrow. Jesus also was executed, then supposedly resurrected, and this is now combined with an overweight man who wears weird clothing and consorts with flying reindeer and mythical elves at the North Pole.
It's quite surreal and a bit loony, if you ask me.
You may be interested in my blog post about not celebrating Christmas: http://www.on-the-other-hand.com/on-not-celebrating-christmas/
ReplyDeleteI do agree that the combination of pagan and Christian elements in Christmas and Easter are bizarre.
I don't fnd it bizarre at all. All the fertility (and rebirth and immortality)symbols of solstice and equinox, to say nothing of the Wild Man culture of Northern Europe, were simply incorporated to win over those old pagan religion folks, to tame the old ways. When you realize that the old traditions predated or existed alongside the Christian stories, it is quite amusing, like you know a secret that the innocent folks don't. If you are aware of this, you can never look at a little girl sitting on Santa's lap quite the same way. And those cute little mushrooms? Hallucinogens.
ReplyDeleteHere's an enligtening book:
http://www.amazon.com/Pagan-Christmas-Spirits-Rituals-Yuletide/dp/1594770921
And about the wild man:
http://www.amazon.com/Santa-Claus-Last-Wild-Men/dp/0786429585
The odd connections aren't so strange at all. Just not very appealing, shocking even, to people who prefer to think of Christmas and Easter solely in terms of the creche and the crucifix.
Along the same lines, I read an excellent book last year, _The Jesus Mysteries, Was the original Jesus a pagan god?_. While more general than the above mentioned Christmas oriented books, it was a fascinating and thought provoking text.
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