Would a little ‘War on Christmas’ be a terrible thing?
I wrote on Saturday about Eric Pickles's pandering to tabloid mythology when it came to the 'War on Christmas'. Many of my fellow media bloggers have written about just how wrong Pickles is; Primly Stable has written to Eric Pickles very politely correcting him on his wrongness, for example.
But it got me thinking: if there really were a little War on Christmas, would it be such a bad thing?
I don't mean literally a war on Christmas. That would be bad. Well, if you could literally have a War on Christmas, which I doubt you could. But still. Anything which meant that Christians couldn't celebrate Christmas, or were afraid to rejoice in the appearance of the little be-haloed babber in the cow shed, would be terrible. No, I mean, what if the so-called politically correct brigade dared to let us all recognise that Christmas wasn't just about Him, and was also about other stuff. Would that be so wrong?
I speak as someone who proudly appeared as the Virgin Mary in my primary school nativity play (it was an all boys' school, all right?) and who uttered the immortal words: "I will do the Lord's bidding" before nearly dropping the infant Jesus into the front row of dewy-eyed parents. There's nothing wrong with nativity plays - very nice story, and all that - or nativity scenes, or going to church, or singing Christmas carols, or using the word 'Christmas' rather than 'Yuletide' or anything like that. Nothing wrong with any of it, and I know it's a wonderful celebration for an awful lot of people. That's great, and no-one's trying to take that away from anyone.
But... that isn't everything about this time of year and the traditional celebrations. It isn't solely about the birth of Jesus of Nazareth - there are a whole lot of other winter traditions that take place at exactly the same time as Christmas, ancient stuff and modern stuff too; and besides, the birth of Christ probably didn't take place on December 25, if it happened at all. It seems a bit silly for people to demand that we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and only the birth of Jesus, at this time of year; it smacks, a bit, of flexing our cultural muscles to slap down minorities and demand they do the same as us.
Just as our Springfest Easter eggs have been appropriated by Christianity as 'symbols of the tomb', so a lot of our other pagan Winterfest gubbins has been scooped up too - the 'Christmas' tree and the Yule log, for example. Just as it's not wrong to think of Xmas* as being a little boy in a manger, it's not wrong to think of it as Papa Noel, or Father Christmas (not Saint Nicholas!), or tinsel, or snowmen, or Wizzard, or Christmas trees, or snowflakes, or cheerful robins on cards, or In The Bleak Midwinter, Frosty Wind Made Moan, or It's A Wonderful Life, or Shirley Bassey sticking her foot through the floor in the Morecambe and Wise Christmas special, or decorations, or turkey, or sausages wrapped in bacon, or plum duff, or crackers, or The Two Ronnies, or any, or all, of that jazz.
Why not? We all see Christmas in different ways. For a lot of us it isn't necessarily a devoted religious festival, which doesn't mean we don't respect the rights of those who do see it that way; it just means there's room for both. It's as much Noddy Holder on the radio and Only Fools and Horses on the TV as it is turning up for Midnight Mass; it's as much giving presents and being slightly disappointed with terrible socks as it is devoting a day to remembering the birth of our Lord.
I think there's room for lots of religious fun and lots of fun for everyone else as well. I don't want to be a po-faced atheist sitting like Scrooge and saying Bah Humbug to it all; I love the idea of lots of Christians having fun in their celebrations, and besides, I want some bloody presents and an excuse to cane a bottle of ruby port, all right? But I think it's not fair, either, for anyone to think that if you don't celebrate Christmas religiously, you're not celebrating it properly. No-one's banning Christmas. Being inclusive to other faiths doesn't mean you're being somehow disrespectful to the beardy guy with the holes in his hands; it just means you're thinking of others, which I'd say is quite a Christian attitude.
Anyway, there you go. Crack out the eggnog and the mince pies, and let us make merry. December is nearly upon us and I'm about to raid the advent calendar. Can we just forget about the 'war on Christmas' this year, and have a festive Winterfest truce? Here's hoping...
* Also: there's nothing wrong with Xmas. The X stands for the Greek letter Chi, meaning Christ, so it's just a bloody abbreviation already. It's not 'taking the Christ out of Christmas' as a billion green-ink letter writers will have you believe.
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Hello. I'm a Bristol-based writer and soon-to-be-redundant journalist. You can read more about me and the Enemies site here, or follow me on Twitter. Email me if you like - antonvowl at live dot co dot uk
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November 29th, 2010 - 11:36
It *is* wrong to write such a long list of Christmas stuff and not mention Kirsty MacColl though.
November 29th, 2010 - 11:37
Lies. There was a bauble-festooned fir tree in the corner of the stable when Baby Jesus was born! It is NOT pagan but a true Christian tradition. Because Mary and Joseph were… er, Christians. You clearly HATE Christians and persecute God and secular fascism and Islamic state and aggressive atheists and WAH!
November 29th, 2010 - 11:47
Spot on, sir.
If there’s one certain to get my back up this time of year are those right-wing fucktards telling ME how I should celebrate Christmas.
On the one hand it’s all jesus this and Christ that, then the next it’s “but you have to have a tree and lights and a turkey big enough to feed the population of Stoke” because it’s “tradition”.
In their minds Christmas is about celebrating the birth of christ in the same manner that our Victorian ancestors did (or rather the rich ones did, which in their case is probably accurate).
And thanks for pointing out the ‘X’ myth as well, which also gets up my nose annually. I doubt that 1000 years ago, commercialism of our Lord’s birthday was at the forefront of the Greek populous.
Archangel Gabriel @ 1985
November 29th, 2010 - 11:52
Something I found particularly interesting about Pickles’ comments was the way he said Christmas should be all about Christianity and religion and so on, but followed it up by saying councils should have Christimas lights and Christmas trees to encourage people to go shopping.
Surely if he wants people to return to the “true” meaning of Christmas he should be in favour of a “war” on the OTT aspects of the event that you describe in this post?
November 29th, 2010 - 11:55
Nah. Let’s just have a good time, get a bit drunk and eat some mince pies and that and forget about the world’s troubles for a few days.
November 29th, 2010 - 11:58
This post does an excellent job of capturing many things I’ve wanted to articulate about Christmas for some time. I like an excuse to drink too much, eat too much, and give presents to my friends, and I’d rather do it without someone else’s god looming over my shoulder the whole time.
Also, why are people claiming that it’s politically correct folks who want to ban the thing, when the politically correct approach* these days seems to be to embrace Christianity in a not-actually-paying-attention-to-what-Jesus-said kind of a way?
* i.e. the approach most condusive to getting ahead in politics
November 29th, 2010 - 12:02
Just to add I find the true anti-Christmas killjoys not be the so called “politcally correct brigade” who are apparently scarred of offending people of other faiths (they are largely just bogeymen created by the tabloids to sell newspapers by creating resentment towards minority faiths) but the sanctimonious self righteous classist “anti-consumerism” crowd who scream about “rampent consumtion” during the festive season!
Those middle class self appointed bastions of “ethical living” who tell us that if we buy Christmas cards and presents for our loved ones we are contributing to the destruction of the planet.
Those middle class parents who boast about how they only spend a fiver on their kids at Christmas and have decided that it’s only the “thick and illeducated” working classes who spend lots of cash on Playstations and XBoxes for their kids. Probably using their child benefit to do it!
One could argue that the levels of advertising and urge from companies to SPEND SPEND SPEND at this time of year gets frustrating, especially for lower income parents and families.
But rather than sympathising with hard-up working class parents/families for being under pressure to get their kids the latest expensive gizmos the “ethical” elite just sneer! Pah!
November 29th, 2010 - 13:36
This year, I’ll be putting the Mithras back into Christmas.
November 29th, 2010 - 13:58
Personally, as a Christian, I see two things at this time of year. One is the Churches’ celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, son of God – which does not need tinsel, turkeys, presents and so on, but a special service or two in Church. And is preceded by the Christian season of Advent which is about meditating on waiting for this great event – no carols, mince pies etc until Christmas Eve.
And then there is the ‘its dark and dull, lets have a party to cheer ourselves up’. Which has no connection – other than chronologically – with the Nativity and includes a lot of pagan bits and pieces and which I also enjoy. This time of year is about believing in two things at once which nicely coincide. So Christmas Day is a special Church service and home to a large gin and a feast. Two for the price of one. And if you don’t believe the religious bit then it iss just a good excuse for a party. (Although the relentless commercial gets me, but it also gets me about Easter, Mother Day, Father Day, I stubbed my little toe Day, so that’s not specially a Christmas moan).
November 29th, 2010 - 14:35
25 December should be reserved for the birthday of Jesus Christ, The Unconquered Sun. I mean unconquered son. Son of God. You know.
November 29th, 2010 - 16:27
I just wanted to thank you for the kind-heartedness within your post, as I found it very uplifting, and very sincere in wishing everyone irrespective of denomination, a good and enjoyable time at Christmas. I hope you have a brilliant Christmas in advance, my friend!
November 30th, 2010 - 00:50
Tim Minchin says it all right here, in words more eloquent than I can come up with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNvZqpa-7Q
“White Wine in the Sun”
November 30th, 2010 - 01:15
Let’s but a bet on the number of times Richard Littlejohn says “YOU COULDN’T MAKE IT UP” this Yultide. I say ten!
November 30th, 2010 - 12:27
Usually about this time of year, my missus, who is a pagan, likes to start complaining about foreign religions from the Middle East usurping the ancient traditions of this country..
December 1st, 2010 - 09:46
Well said, Anton. I’ve been taking this approach to Christmas for the past few years now. For me, December is about being as jolly as possible, eating delicious food, enjoying pretty lights and generally trying to forget that it’s dark by 4pm and often grey and gloomy before that. It’s about seeing all my family and sharing presents and watching TV and playing games and all that. It’s savouring those enchanting mornings where the weather is clear for once and everything, be it houses or fields, looks still and crisp and fresh – even the bare trees. And, even as an avowed atheist, it’s pulling out the tacky little manger scene to stick in the corner of the living room, and enjoying a private smile at the cards depicting in muted tones Mary cradling a baby, and perhaps even heading out into the cold at midnight on Christmas eve and standing in a drafty old Church with scores of other people from the same area.
These few weeks should be an excuse for everybody to be a bit happy and friendly and enjoy themselves in whichever way they choose. Not to attempt to deny the millennia-old tradition of having a good old festival to those who don’t want to party in a very particular manner.
December 2nd, 2010 - 00:03
If Pickles knew the ‘real’ meaning of Christmas I doubt he’d be so vocal about it: [Pharmacratic Inquisition]
December 2nd, 2010 - 17:31
> no carols, mince pies etc until Christmas Eve
Well, there are Advent carols. But the distinction between them and Christmas ones has become all but erased, even in the Church.
December 10th, 2010 - 23:59
A particular bug bear of mine is the way people keep on going on about how the word ‘xmas’ is taking the Christ out of Christmas. It is not. ‘X’ is shorter than ‘Christ’. ‘Xmas’ and ‘trees’ are roughly the same size. So for signs etc, it is handier. That is all. Really. Can we stop bleating on about it.