Well, not really. Okay, maybe a bit!
Humbug!
I was recently called a miserable old bugger because I don't like Christmas. The person who said that was actually joking, but she wasn't the first and she certainly won't be the last. Other people have said it and really meant it.
Funnily enough the nobody considers me a misery when I celebrate:
The Winter Solstice and The Summer Solstice;
The Autumn Equinox and The Spring Equinox;
ImBolg, Bealtaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain;
Hogmanay and Apple Wassail;
all thirteen full moons and all twelve new moons (or vice-versa);
everybody's birthday;
Vinalia, Dionysos' birthday (Jan 6th) and Global Orgasm Day!
That's probably not everything, either.
Gimme a break. I don't have time for Christmas!
Festive fun.
I've no great objection to Christmas per se. It's a great festival for Christians - just like Diwali for the Hindus, Channukah for the Jews and Eid for the Muslims. No problem with any of that - you want to celebrate? Go to it guys - go nuts! I'll even give you a present if I can afford it.
Admittedly, Christianity pinched the date of Christmas from European Pagans (this is a matter of historical record) but that's okay. Nobody actually knows when Jesus was born anyway - although the clues indicate some time in September as the most likely - so choosing the date Pagans celebrate the rebirth of the sun was very logical for the birthday of a Messiah.
No problem!
Here's the problem:
It's completely meaningless to almost everyone who celebrates it.
It's been cheap, tacky and tawdry since the Victorians popularised it.
The classical radio has wall-to-wall carols, the shops have wall-to-wall 1970's Xmas hits (Slade! AGAIN!) from the first day of December.
On top of all this the jollity is enforced by Wal-Mart and Tesco for no more reason than it increases profits. We are told that it's the season of "goodwill to all men", which, basically, means buying them expensive things they neither want nor need.
(Bullshit - EVERY season is the season of goodwill, and Wal-Mart has more money than Saudi Arabia, or Poland. No, I'm not kidding here. The people who own Asda have more money, and therefore political clout, than roughly 75% of the world's countries. Turns your stomach, doesn't it? )
The consumerist society's banking controllers have us over a barrel. Again!
But I can live with that, for now.
I buy my family presents because they celebrate Christmas, and good luck to them. What I really object to is the automatic expectation that, because I'm a white person in England, I'll be celebrating it myself in the same way as everyone else. Brainwashing! Possibly racist brainwashing too.
"Are you all ready for Christmas?" says the woman at the checkout.
"No luvvie. We don't really do it." says I.
And, because I don't look Asian or Hasidic Jewish, the poor woman is lost for words.
An it harm none, do what YOU will!
Happy Christmas!
Every culture in the Northern Hemisphere has a midwinter festival of some kind - so in that case I'd like to wish everybody who will be celebrating:
Blessèd Yule
Shalom Channukah
Saturnalia Bona
Hail Sol Invictus
Happy Winterval
and
Merry Bloody Christmas too!
Shalom Channukah
Saturnalia Bona
Hail Sol Invictus
Happy Winterval
and
Merry Bloody Christmas too!
Love,
Seán
