Cascadia Journal

I stand in astonishment at the arguments that We the People of the United States make over Christmas.  For a holiday that is supposed to be so very joyous, there are so many others that are offended at the very mention of the holiday.  Some of these folks, and you know who they are, will complain about every time this supposed religious holiday is mentioned in a public context.  I think that there are two distinct holidays called Christmas, and I think that the complainers are getting the two confused.

The first Christmas is the Christian holiday.  Having attended a Christian-based elementary school in my youth, I believe I know about this one.  Christmas is the day, and the season, where we celebrate the birth of the Son of the Christian God.  We all know the story, Christian or not.  I think we can all accept the given that Christmas is an important date on the Christian calendar, secondary only to, perhaps, Easter.

Thus, I can also understand the unwillingness of those who have spiritual beliefs based in other religious faiths or those who lean toward the agnostic or atheist do not want to have this Christian holiday forced upon them.  It especially makes perfect sense to me that one without this Christian belief should not have to see their public tax money spent on religious belief, nor have their children forced to endure this tradition in school.  To this point, I can agree that this should not be the case.

This is where the second Christmas comes in.  I look around me and I see quite a few people celebrating a Christmas that does not have any connection (or at best a very tenuous connection) to the birth of the Son of God.  I see a significant number of people celebrating a holiday based upon visiting family and friends, the exchange of gifts, tales of a man and his elves from the North, trees & other pagan symbols, and so on.  This Christmas is a very public and universal holiday, mostly ignores Christian belief, and has very little connection to the Christian holiday of the same name.

In fact, looking at the advertisements around us, it looks like the secular Christmas incorporates a majority of the seven deadly sins.  But I digress.

Despite the fact I don’t want to see the presentation of particular religions in public schools, a general celebration or acknowledgment of Christmas does not bother me.  I don’t think it’s appropriate to teach the benefits of one religion over another in school.  However, the secular Christmas celebration is now an ingrained part of our culture.  To ignore its presence would be to leave out a part of who we are.

The display of a crèche in the public square is likely not the best choice for a public, communal celebration of Christmas.  But let me talk about some of the other symbols of the holiday:

• Santa Claus, the North Pole, elves, reindeer, etc. –  If we look back a couple of hundred years, some of the cultures of northern Europe had a tale of St Nicholas, a Christian figure who is celebrated on December 6, a feast day which once included an exchange of gifts.  There is an indirect link between this figure and Santa Claus.  All of the stuff about magic elves, flying reindeer, polar castles and such are all part of popular secular culture.  No modern church makes a big deal of St Nicholas, nor is any part of the Santa Claus story part of their worship.
• The Christmas Tree.  — A tree was part of the Winter Solstice celebration by pagans and others several hundred years ago, and copied by some followers today.  While I have seen trees in a few churches during the holiday season, they are never a focal point of the worship or services.  The tree is associated with a secular Christmas celebration, I see very little connection between the tree and the Christian Christmas celebration.
• Christmas Carols. — In the history of music, Christmas carols can be categorized as sacred or secular.  Clearly, a song such as “O Come All Ye Faithful” is a call to celebrate a Christian holiday.  Clearly “Jingle Bells” or “White Christmas” is not.  Mt first thought is that these can be easily separated out.  However, from the music education standpoint, I believe it cannot hurt for children to understand both types of music.  To leave out the secular tunes would be to deny the origins of the ancient Christmas holiday, as well as to ignore a major part of cultural and music history.  I believe we can sing “Silent Night” in a school-based setting as a part of music education without making it a part of a religious education.

It is a fact that the vast majority of us celebrate something this time of year, whether it be a religious holiday or a secular holiday, or even just a nod to the Winter Solstice.  I do believe that it is important to not promote one religious belief system over another in our public facilities.  But it is wrong to try to deny that a holiday exists during this time.   School teachers and retail stores alike use themes based on the seasons and holidays to get fresh ideas for projects and events.  There is no sense in outlawing a winter holiday theme, or even a Christmas theme as part of winter-holiday-based presentation.

We really just need to understand the difference between the two Christmases.  One is the Christian holiday.  The other is the secular holiday.  The two can live in harmony and can be celebrated in tandem.  We can celebrate Christmas in a public setting without mandating religion and without denying ourselves a big public Christmas tree.  Perhaps we can live by one of the popular tenets of the holiday and just live together in peace on the issue.