Ladies and gentlemen. I’m here to tell you that if you are Christian no one is saying you can’t celebrate a Merry Christmas. In fact, if you’re something else you can celebrate Christmas too. Or celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. Or celebrate the “holidays.” Or celebrate nothing. We’ve got people trying to stir up ugliness over December 25, and it isn’t the people who use “holiday” instead of Christmas.
This is another one of those non-issues inflamed by the Fox News screamers, aided and abetted by half-brain people like Texas Governor Rick Perry. These people are the opposite of kind and tolerant, even if Perry muscularly claims to be “Christian,” a label that requires attributes that aren’t apparent in this man or his followers. And so what if Rhode Island’s governor, Lincoln Chaffee, used the term “holiday” tree. Trees aren’t religious. They’re pagan. Call them anything you want. (Did you know that Rhode Island got its name because the area reminded the explorer Giovanni Verrazano of Rhodes? I hadn’t known about Verrazano’s contribution to the state until I studied an older book called The Historical Atlas of the United States by Derek Hayes, which, by the way, would make a nice holiday gift for those who like maps. But I digress.)
It ought to make everyone uncomfortable to hear the folks who complain about “holiday” being used instead of Christmas. Setting one against the other has an overtone of anti-Semitism, as if Jews are ultimately responsible for what the screamers imply is an erosion of their religious celebration. And if it isn’t Jews, then it must be pandering liberals, who, by the way, comprise a number of Jews. Creepy.
As a devoted, pandering liberal, I haven’t noticed Christmas is in jeopardy. Boston Common has a very distinct crèche and a big festive Christmas tree. The radio plays Christmas music 24/7. Friends of all cultures and faiths still hold parties, as does every organization one belongs to. Christmas and other shopping doesn’t seem to have disappeared either. In fact, it appears to have saved this year’s economy. How could anyone claim it matters that Christmas trump “holiday” when the combination plays such an important part in our merchants’ health?
Christmas is kept out of the public schools, thank goodness. Would you want your kids, even if they are Christian, having to celebrate Christmas Rick Perry’s way? Now he’s trying to get his prayers in schools. Another reason not to move to Texas.
I asked several Jewish friends about their thoughts on the matter. They didn’t have many thoughts about it at all. They weren’t insulted if someone wished them a Merry Christmas. One said her family had presents and Christmas-style dinner with a disgusting Christmas pudding. They both recommended enjoying the whole thing. But maybe my friends are just nice people.
Do the screamers really think Christmas is getting watered down? Apparently they are unaware that it once stopped a war, even if the pause lasted for only a few days in 1914. The Germans and the British stopped the killing and allowed one another to bury their dead in the no-man’s land that separated the opposing troops. In some reports the soldiers on either side even talked with one another. Then they went back to shooting at one another.
It’s hard to think anyone could successfully sabotage a holiday whose celebration has come to require observers to bring a tree into the house and put baubles on it. Between the rich music, good literature, tasty food customs, and the sweet story about a babe sleeping in a manger, Christmas has done well for us. It’s not going away. And it’s a lot better than the terrors of Good Friday.
I’m thinking one way to handle all this holiday stuff is for everyone to celebrate everything. Celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa. Observe Passover, the end of Ramadan, the Japanese Ocean Day, Sukkot, the Day of the Dead and Yom Kippur. Make Easter really big, and don’t forget the Fourth of July. Life is too short to make up imagined insults.
My advice for Rick Perry and the screamers is: if you care so much about Christmas, just enjoy it. But remember to be kind and tolerant while doing it. Isn’t that the Christmas spirit?