The Reason for the Season

For most people in this country, the annual celebration of Christmas is a highly anticipated and treasured tradition. The reason for the existence of Christmas, which is commonly understood to be a celebration of the birth of Christ, has its origins in Christianity. But according to separate reports from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York and Fox News, while only about 77 percent of Americans identify their religion as Christian, 96 percent of the people in this country celebrate Christmas each year. Ultimately, that means that around 80 percent of non-Christians are actively participating in what some view as an explicitly and exclusively Christian holiday.

For some, it is unclear exactly what these non-Christians think they are doing when they wish each other "Merry Christmas," and head down to Sears to pick up a few red and green sweaters (50 percent off) for their spouse and children. After all, they say, "Jesus is the reason for the season." And what do those atheists down the street or the Hindu kid in Tommy’s kindergarten class know about Jesus? Nothing, that’s what. And so they have no business participating in this Christian tradition if they aren’t going to respect its true meaning. Or so this line of reasoning goes.

However, what some conservative Christians fail to realize when they advocate for the exclusion of non-Christians from the celebration of Christmas is that while Christmas may mean one thing to those who celebrate it in the religious sense, it means something else entirely to those others who are seen as trying to horn in and take holiday cheer that isn’t rightfully theirs. Thanks to the tendency of American society to pick up on cultural traditions and then disseminate them for public consumption, it’s almost inconceivable that any group could expect to keep anything strictly for themselves. After all, apart from the fact that most Americans are Christian and non-Christians are therefore perpetually surrounded by expressions of that belief system, Christmas has been steadily leaking into secular mainstream American culture for longer than anyone can remember.

In addition to the celebration of Christ, the Christmas season in the 21st century also means a number of other things. To name a few: a long winter/Christmas vacation for everyone, Christmas movies and television shows that everyone is exposed to, and huge sales in stores throughout the nation that are advertised to (you guessed it!) everyone. So rather than just an expression of religious beliefs, Christmas has become a distinctly American tradition. Obviously then, the pipe dream of continued cultural purity surrounding Christmas is one that many would do well to abandon.

Besides, some significant parts of the way American Christians celebrate this sacred holiday actually don’t even have any explicit connection to the birth of Jesus. Rather, traditions such as Christmas trees, Yule logs, giving and receiving gifts, and possibly even the date of December 25 itself arose out of pagan celebrations that pre-dated Christ altogether. Meanwhile the figure of Santa Claus actually arose out of a Dutch folk tale that was originally unassociated with the nativity. So much for always keeping focus strictly on the reason for the season.

To be sure, there certainly are a number of strictly religious traditions that go along with the Christian observance of the holiday, such as attending church on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day or prayers of thanksgiving for God’s gift to the world in the form of Christ. However, these are not the traditions that secular and non-Christian individuals have taken up as their own for their celebrations, so it’s difficult to see where the problem with the widespread celebration of this holiday lies.

Ultimately, it shouldn’t really matter to anyone who is celebrating Christmas or why. The way and the reason that an individual and his or her family decides to observe the holiday season is something personal that does not affect anyone but themselves. For non-Christians, the secular celebration of Christmas is not a malicious attempt to dismantle the foundations of Western Christianity. Rather, it is an important expression of their American culture, centered around love for family and friends, spreading good cheer, and the spirit of giving, which some might even say are Christian ideals.

The fact that non-Christians celebrate Christmas does not take anything away from the religious beliefs that, for most, the holiday is based. Last I heard, no Christian ever suddenly stopped believing in Jesus because a Muslim person wished them "Merry Christmas" or decorated an evergreen tree in December. Rather than begrudging non-Christians their own celebrations of Christmas, it seems more productive and much kinder to simply be grateful for the positive effects that the holiday season has on everyone. After all, the more the merrier.

Ashton R. Lattimore ’08 is an English concentrator in Dunster House. Her column appears on alternate Wednesdays.