Okay, to be honest, there are few things I hate more than Christmas.
Thing is, Christmas is the ultimate secret club.
It’s exclusive. Now, I’m Jewish, and I’m an atheist. I never had an interest in Santa Claus or Reindeer, or elves or mistletoe or any of that other shit. I am perfectly happy spinning my dreidel, lighting my candles, and eating my latkes. The thing is, though, there’s this constant oppressive “you should be Christian, and if you’re not, you’re anti-happiness blah blah blah” message everywhere. I don’t care. I’m not religious. I’m an atheist, for hell’s sake.
But damnit, all of us non-Christians are AGAINST THE HOLIDAY SEASON!! OHNOES!! IT’S A GODDAMNED WAR ON CHRISTMAS!!!!!11111eleven111
I’m going to be completely frank. I like the idea of people keeping their holidays private. I keep mine private and celebrate them with my family. There are a few cases where I bring in friends to celebrate, and even then, I’m careful to make sure they know that there are pieces they won’t agree with, and that it’s okay, I’m not trying to shove my own practices down their throat. Private means keeping it in the home and in the place of worship.
Christians seem to be unable to accept this. As soon as Halloween has wrapped itself up, Christmas is fucking everywhere…..in the stores, on the streets, in front of government buildings, in gaudy lawn displays, etc, etc, etc AD FUCKING NAUSEUM. I basically can’t go anywhere without having Votan (now cute, happy, and all fluffy, sans gallows) stuffed down my throat along with a bunch of druidic fertility symbols and, oh right, THE BIGGEST FUCKING EXCUSE FOR CRASS CONSUMERISM EVER.
Which is the biggest problem. Christmas has been marketed so widel, and has been made to mean so much that it basically means absolutely jack fucking shit. Happiness? Sure, why not. Family? Yeah, go for it. Buying shit? Hell yeah. Winter? Sounds good. Big pagan red guy with cute deer? Definitely. Deer with rhinitis? We’re all over that shit. Buying shit? Already said that one, but hey, let’s toss that in too!
Holidays are supposed to serve some distinct purpose. In my own experience, Khanukkah celebrates survival of the Jewish people under duress. Pesach celebrates freedom and rebirth…it’s a fertility holiday. Shavuot and Sukkot are strictly fertility holidays. Purim celebrates a massacre, and we’re really not ashamed of it. Rosh Hashanah is the New Year and is ripe with fertility symbolism. Yom Kippur is the day of atonement and serves that purpose alone. Tubish’vat is a fertility holiday. Tishe B’av is a fast of mourning. There isn’t a holiday meant to celebrate everyday things like happiness and family. These thigns are not set apart, because they’re considered a part of life. No one needs to celebrate basic parts of life. It’s the special occasions which deserve celebrations, and these special occasions are separated by being established as holiday observances. How can Christmas be a special occasion when it celebrates the mundane, and when it takes up two whole months? It’s not a holiday, it’s a goddamned marketing campaign that comes around once a year for an entire season!
So yeah, let’s wage a war on Christmas. Let’s tear the Christians’ Ivory fucking Tower down brick by brick and find something meaningful in Saturnalia, Solstice, and so forth. There are meaningful holy days that have been devoured by the marketing onslaught that is Christmas. Let’s reclaim it. Let’s reclaim celebrations of Votan, Mithras, Saturn, and the Horned God. Let’s keep Khanukkah free from the Christmas bullshit. Let’s take the symbolism back. Let’s take everything back. Let’s take back our streets, our right to not listen to carols, our right to see movies that aren’t about people “finding the true meaning of Christmas and being happy with their family.”
But let them keep the merchandising. They need something; to celebrate, and that’s all the shallow fucks can muster.
I get this wierd feeling that you might be just a tiny bit annoyed by Christmas.
Comment by Andrea — December 17, 2007 @ 2:59 am
I respect your right to not practice a religion. That being said, I wish that you not defame mine. Christmas was perverted by the minions of the Lying One and the true message has been lost to many who worship the wordly. You seem very conflicted about the rejection of your faith. I request that you return to the faith of your mother and protect the homeland for your 1,000 rule reign.
Comment by johnnypeepers — December 17, 2007 @ 11:05 am
I would respond with the simple statement: what goes around comes around. Christianity has, for so long, claimed that those who do not follow Christianity will go straight to hell, are immoral and demonic, sacrifice babies, and so forth. The ubiquitous message that is peddled for the entire Christmas season is that if you don’t celebrate Christmas, you are a scrooge who hates things like family, joy, goodwill toward man, etc. Two months of such abuse is more than anyone should have to put up with.
Christmas has been perverted, yes. It has been perverted by the Church, which has repeatedly devoured pagan cultures in its desire for more power. The true message of “Christmas” depends on the tradition. Sometimes the tradition was a celebration of Odin. Sometimes it was a celebration of Cernunnun. Sometimes it was a celebration of Mithras. Pick your Sun God.
The red, green, and white come from blood, evergreen plants, and snow…the three sacrifices offered for the rejuvenation of whichever god you were worshipping so that the sun would come back. For Odin, a number of animals were hoisted up on the gallows. For the Persians, bulls were sacrificed to Mithras, and practitioners bathed in the blood of the sacrifice. For the Gaelic Druids, well, the rumors go that it wasn’t just animals that were sacrificed so that spring would come.
The reasons those celebrations were meaningful is because they were separate from the rest of the year. That’s the point of holidays…that is, Holy Days, and why they are separated from the everyday, that is, the Profane. You separate them, cordon them off, and cherish those specific days. There is no reason to celebrate the Profane, that is, family, friends, goodwill to man, etc. These things are everyday and should be taken for granted. We should think about goodwill to man, not just at the “Christmas season” but during ALL seasons. The fact that Christians pack all their niceties into a two month period, where they parade it in front of everyone else is simply disgusting; it says that they’re being good people simply for the sake of show, and it says that they’re not good people for the rest of the year. And of course, when we call you on that, you get uppity, defensive, and angry that we’re waging a War on Christmas. I’m not sure this is the impression you want to give the rest of us.
As for your unsolicited recommendation about my cultural identity, I’m happy to inform you that I am quite proud of my Jewish heritage. I just don’t think that a belief in God is a critical aspect of that heritage. Judaism is not a faith, it”s an argument. You Christians don’t seem to get that.
Comment by gnathus — December 17, 2007 @ 3:19 pm