I will post in my succeeding entries articles that pointed why it is not a religious celebration at all. Don’t get me wrong, Im a Christian. But its up to us to believe what we think weigh more in our conscience. This may not be the true birth of Christ, what is most important is that there is indeed God who came to this sin-marred Earth through a virgin to save me and you from sure death because of love. God’s birth may not be known, what is reassuring is that he died for us so that we may live.
This first article shows what made Christmas merry, as how it is celebrated today, is not the celebration but the economic activities attributed to it.
In view of centuries of criticism of the commercialization of Christmas, it is interesting to note that the holiday’s secular, not its religious aspect, has been most responsible for its popularity. In the United States “retailers have to count on yuletide sales for up to 50 percent of their annual profits. The shoppi
ng season now pumps an estimated $37 billion into the nation’s economy- making the American Christmas larger than the gross national product of Ireland” (Jeffrey L. Sheller, U.S. News and World Report, “In Search of Christmas”, Dec. 23, 1996, p. 64).
The lure of profit has proven so strong that, since t he 1870s, merchants have vigorously promoted Christmas. Initially they even laid out their stores with more religious trappings, such as pipe organs, choirs and statues, than some churches could muster. Convinced of the economic impact of Christmas, Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving from November 30 to November 23 to add another week of shopping before Christmas (Sheller, p.62).
“What many historians find most fascinating about the reinvention of Christmas is that its commercialization, now so frequently denounced, is what spawned the transformation in the first place. The ‘commercial form’ associated with Christmas and other holidays, says Schmidt of Princeton [Lee Eric Schmidt, Consumer Rites, 1995), ’have become integral to their survival.’ The consumer cult
ure ‘shapes our holidays’, Schmidt says, ‘by taking in diverse, local traditions and creating relatively common ones. To turn Christmas into a purely religious celebration now might cheer those who want to ‘take back Christmas’, he says. But such an observance ‘would lack the cultural resonance and impact of a holiday deeply rooted in the marketplace.”If Christmas came to that, adds Restad [Penne Restad, Christmas in America, 1995], we probably wouldn’t keep it as a society (Sheller, p.64)
(Holidays or Holy Days Does it Matter,p.6, 2006 reprint)
This first article shows what made Christmas merry, as how it is celebrated today, is not the celebration but the economic activities attributed to it.
In view of centuries of criticism of the commercialization of Christmas, it is interesting to note that the holiday’s secular, not its religious aspect, has been most responsible for its popularity. In the United States “retailers have to count on yuletide sales for up to 50 percent of their annual profits. The shoppi
ng season now pumps an estimated $37 billion into the nation’s economy- making the American Christmas larger than the gross national product of Ireland” (Jeffrey L. Sheller, U.S. News and World Report, “In Search of Christmas”, Dec. 23, 1996, p. 64).The lure of profit has proven so strong that, since t he 1870s, merchants have vigorously promoted Christmas. Initially they even laid out their stores with more religious trappings, such as pipe organs, choirs and statues, than some churches could muster. Convinced of the economic impact of Christmas, Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving from November 30 to November 23 to add another week of shopping before Christmas (Sheller, p.62).
“What many historians find most fascinating about the reinvention of Christmas is that its commercialization, now so frequently denounced, is what spawned the transformation in the first place. The ‘commercial form’ associated with Christmas and other holidays, says Schmidt of Princeton [Lee Eric Schmidt, Consumer Rites, 1995), ’have become integral to their survival.’ The consumer cult
ure ‘shapes our holidays’, Schmidt says, ‘by taking in diverse, local traditions and creating relatively common ones. To turn Christmas into a purely religious celebration now might cheer those who want to ‘take back Christmas’, he says. But such an observance ‘would lack the cultural resonance and impact of a holiday deeply rooted in the marketplace.”If Christmas came to that, adds Restad [Penne Restad, Christmas in America, 1995], we probably wouldn’t keep it as a society (Sheller, p.64)
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