This Day Called Christmas

And so this is Christmas! Merry Christmas and goodwill to all.

Christmas is certainly our most interesting holiday. It's a fascinating mixture of pre-Christian, religious, and secular elements...and the secular elements are both folklorish and commercial. Yet none of these elements, somehow, manage to diminish the others.

The holiday is more ancient than Jesus, harking back past the Saturnalia of the Romans to various ancient Midwinter folk festivals among the pagans, perhaps all the way back to solstice worship at the dawn of recorded history. The solstice would have been noticed earliest by Northern peoples, who would have been most aware of the lengthening of the night and grateful for the season when the long nights began to recede again.

The Christian church—perhaps originally to co-opt a persistent celebration it couldn't eradicate—consecrated today as the birthday of Jesus. The nativity of Jesus is a story full of mystery and beauty that counterbalances the dramatic story of his betrayal and death. It's a foundation-stone of the now-ancient New Testament, appearing in two of the four gospels, Luke and Matthew. It bears a strong resemblance to earlier mythical origin stories, especially the birth of Mithras, a mythical god who anchored a populist folk religion in Roman times; the nativity story's infolding of myth and legend infuse it with power and piteousness. The exquisite loveliness of its symbolism is celebrated with nativity scenes large and small across the Christian world. Together, the stories of the birth and death of Jesus sum up, for many Christians, the beauty and drama, the tragedy and hopefulness of their own lives and the lives of those they love.

Christmas is also secular. It drives revelers to an orgy, sometimes literally a frenzy, of shopping and acquisitiveness. As a secular event it's so broadly a part of our culture that it's celebrated by many non-Christians too. Even many Christians seem most comfortable with the secular nature of Christmas: traditionally it was a hallmark of the "lazy Christian" to go to church only on Christmas or Easter, but many Christmas-loving Christians forego even that observance.

Christmas can seem overpoweringly commercial if you're not careful—the economic fortunes of retailers and the changing annual fashions among shoppers are news every year, and Christmas marketing saturates us. But many of the holiday's most beloved elements continue to have a strong folklorish character. The Christmas tree and boughs of holly, Sinterklaas or Old Saint Nick, spiked eggnog and mistletoe, stockings hung at the mantel, the many beloved poems, tales, movies and songs—and many ethnic variations on those and many other elements, even practices and traditions specific to particular families—all combine to create a mood of midwinter magic that for many people embody the best aspects of family life, of childhood and the nostalgia for childhood.

It might seem that these folk elements must be ancient, but many of them are relatively recent: I love it that Washington Irving, the author of Rip Van Winkle, invented the idea of Santa's flying reindeer like Edward Hibberd Johnson invented electric Christmas-tree lights. Like a great many of our favorite folkloric Christmas notions, both of those date from the 19th century. A few even come from the 20th. Christmas is capacious and welcoming that way—the melting-pot of holidays, you might say. In America, even football has been allowed into the overflowing horn-o'-plenty of the day's traditions.

So Christmas is simultaneously a mysterious and very ancient holiday and a crassly modern one, a folk festival as well as a religious holy day.

It's wise to remember that not every Christmas is a happy one in every life. In the traditional Polish vigil dinner of Wigilia, on Christmas Eve, it's customary to set an extra place at the table of the feast for the wayward traveler who might knock at the door. Thus is symbolized a welcoming spirit for the "odd man out." The itinerant traveler, after all, might once have been the Nazarene carpenter Himself, out wandering from hamlet to hamlet spreading His news; who knows? Have a thought for the lonely today, whose loneliness might be accentuated in this season; don't be miserly with acts of kindness that might make a difference to another.

For underlying this great merry amalgam of a holiday like a soft warm bed is the shared sense that this day called Christmas is a day to get in better touch with our better natures. It's a day to set differences aside, to be a good neighbor to our neighbors, to remember our children and to delight them, to attend church, to raise our voices in song or listen to others sing, to say a kind word, to reaffirm family ties and call to mind old friendships and dear loved ones departed; to raise a glass and eat well and help others eat well. It invites us to feel without stinting the goodwill and the compassion for others that the story of God and the sojourn of His Christ-child on Earth has kindled in so many hearts over so many centuries. It's a day to lift our moods and our spirits, whether individually or together, however we might find ourselves on this day, on our own sojourns here, in this season of this year.

A Merry Christmas to you.

Mike Johnston
Penn Yan, New York
Christmas Day 2016

Copyright 2016 by Michael C. Johnston. All Rights Reserved.

Please don't take my work, but I don't mind if you point others to it!
Here's a quick link to this page: http://tinyurl.com/h9bcjpa

The illustrations are public-domain images from Karen at thegraphicsfairy.com.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Henry Richardson: "Merry Christmas! I read this interesting article concerning Christmas yesterday: 'The Geopolitics of Christmas.'"

Mike replies: That is interesting, Henry, thanks. An ambitious article, too. I didn't realize that the "decorated pine tree" was a 19th century custom, or that the phrase "Merry Christmas" itself became the standard Christmas greeting due to Dickens' A Christmas Carol in 1843. 

Speaking of which, did you know that Dickens originally set out to write a new Christmas novella every year? He wrote five of them, of which A Christmas Carol is the first. None achieved nearly the acclaim or popularity of the first (or were as good), so he eventually gave up the project.

Comments

[Rob L.]

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

[Richard Khanlian]

An eloquent and inclusive appreciation of Christmas. Thanks, Mike, and Merry Christmas to you.

[Bob Moore]

Wonderful essay on a most treasured time of year.

Should be required reading for adolescents and those new to the west.

Thank you.

Bob

[Michael]

Lovely. Thank you, Mike.

[MikeR]

Merry Christmas to you, Mike.

I carry on the Wigilia tradition that I learned from my Polish immigrant parents. It has become an anticipated part of Christmas for both of my kids, and in turn for their kids. In a sense, I think of it more like the Polish version of, and preceding, Thanksgiving.

A successful 2017 to you!

[Fred Haynes]

A beautiful post Mike!
I accept it as your Christmas gift to all of us who happily follow your observations about photography and life. Thank you!
And Merry Christmas to you too.

[Phil Service]

Thank you, Mike. Beautifully said.

[Les Myers]

You wrote a beautiful essay. Thank you! Merry Christmas!

[Eolake]

"Have a thought for the lonely today, whose loneliness might be accentuated in this season; don't be miserly with acts of kindness that might make a difference to another."

Yes indeed.
One of my facebook friends posted that he felt so lonely that he was not sure if he will make it through the holiday season. I don't know yet what will come of it. And an old friend of mine chose Christmas day to talk to me about how, despite familiy and a great job, recently he is feeling increasingly hollow and empty of the energy to do anything significant in life.

[MJFerron]

One of your better columns for me Mike. Well done. I hope you had a great day.

You mentioned the commercial side of the holidays. My position for the last 6 years in retail has made the holidays more stressful being the busy time of year for my end of the business. One gentleman made it a bit better Christmas eve near closing. He thanked me for working when others are home so he could buy a gift for his dad.

My thanks to all the folks who work in hospitals and nursing homes or are in the armed forces and do not get to be with their families at all. Much appreciated.

[Huw Morgan]

A Merry Christmas to you Mike. May you have a very productive and enjoyable New Year!

[Bob Johnston]

That's a beautiful piece Mike. A great summation of the Christmas festival. I wish that the increasing crass commercialisation of Christmas could be reduced though and I say that as someone who does not support organised religion.

Merry Christmas to you and all the Top readers.

[Tim McGowan]

Thanks Mike for sharing All the wonderful research
and information . Especially enjoyed the Graphics
Fairy link, I love that stuff.

[adamct]

Thanks, Mike. Merry Christmas to you, too. I used to be incensed by the commercializations of Christmas, but I've started to let it go. Here are a few of the reasons why:

1. The things that really matter about Christmas don't seem to be affected by it. I still get together with my family, I still visit friends, we still actually sing carols, we still play games and bake and cook together and enjoy each others' company. We still decorate the tree and make a fire and marvel at the snow and think about Jesus' birth, whether real or fictitious.

2. The food and cookies are still delicious.

3. To the extent I shop, I do most of it online. This tends to eliminate much of the annoyance of shopping: no repetitive Christmas carols, crowds, crowded parking lots, salespeople asking if I want to sign up for the store's credit card, overcrowded registers, displays that have been ransacked by Mongol hordes (no offense to the actual Mongolians), etc.

4. ...but the single best part is that I've come to realize that it is pretty easy (unless you have young children) to opt out of the commercial aspects of Christmas. Nobody will force you to spend a lot of money on presents. You can just say, "No thank you", stay home, play the carols YOU like, bake some cookies with friends and family and enjoy a glass of your favorite fermented beverage.

Merry Christmas to everyone here at T.O.P. and a good "rutch" (German for the verb "slide") into the New Year!
Adam

[Darlene]

Thank you Mike for helping to keep me educated and entertained. Hope your Christmas Day was full of love and kindness.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

One thing, and it's really rather peripheral to the point of your essay, reached out and grabbed me by the throat and would not let go.

You refer to Mithras as "a mythical god".

Now, I hold no special brief for the actual divinity of Mithras. However, you have chosen to explicitly cast him as being somehow not real, while discussing Jesus in direct terms as if he were. Living as an atheist in one of the most religious societies on the planet has perhaps made me pretty sensitive to this issue. Your article ends up reading to me as being kind of aggressively Christian.

[But...the post was about...Christmas. --Mike]

[Stan B.]

Always amusing hearing people cussin' as they methodically make their way around the homeless on their way to church to celebrate the birth of their homeless god.

[Dan Doviddio]

Merry Christmas Mike. If you ever get a chance to catch Adam Ruins Everything's version of Christmas I think you will find it interesting.

[dennis coyle]

Nativity cont'd :
http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/12/21/crowding-around-nativity-baroque-neapolitan-creches/

[John Krumm]

A good read on Christmas morning, thanks. I've started to sometimes refer to myself as Christian-atheist, sure to irritate a few in both camps. I come from a long line of Christains and definitely feel part of the culture and take part in some celebrations, I just happen to be an atheist too.

[David Lee]

I live in a muslim country and the christmas spirit is everywhere. Many muslim families have a turkey dinner, tree and presents. They have no problem at all with Jesus. He is considered a prophet, just as Mohamed.

[Geoffrey Heard]

Living as I do in 3rd world country which is also pretty madly Christian (at least in public observance) I see some burgeoning consumption but not so much. Church services and e-x-t-e-n-d-e-d family gatherings are the go, with food very much as usual rather than particularly special. I mentally compare how my grandchildren in Australia celebrate Xmas with how we do it here, and it is chalk and cheese -- and I would rather the cheese.

This pretty much says it all:
http://www.uclick.com/client/sea/pb/2016/12/25/

Cheers, Geoff

[shadzee]

And... Happy Yalda ;-)

http://www.gatha.org/index.php?option=com_content&id=254&Itemid=69

[mike plews]

For some reason this year I skidded into my Christmas vacation on a wave of stories about random acts of decency. People have dropped gold coins into Salvation Army buckets and it happened again this year. 600 volunteers line up to help distribute food, toys, diapers and books at the mission. For the last ten years a local lottery winner has dropped off $25,000 at the local wet shelter, happened again this year.
In the news business you sometimes look pure evil straight in the eye and it can weigh you down. This year I got reminded there is a lot more good than bad out there. Will hold on to that through the year.