Merry Christmas to all my readers
... even if you don't celebrate Christmas!
I was in an Indian grocer yesterday, stocking up on spices and exotic goodies like dried amla berries. (What’s amla, you ask? It’s the Indian gooseberry, a key remedy in Ayurvedic medicine and the world’s most antioxidant-packed whole food.)
The young Indian woman behind the counter rang up my order, and smilingly wished me a merry Christmas. Reflexively, I replied, “Thank you, and merry Christmas to you too!”
No sooner were the words out of my mouth than I felt an uneasy sensation, like in those movies when the juke box stops and everyone turns and stares at the person who has just said something deeply inappropriate. Is it a faux pas to wish people from a non-Christian cultural background a merry Christmas? Should I have asked her what she is celebrating at this time of year? (Man, there are a lot of Hindu festivals in December!) Did she roll her eyes as I left the store, muttering something under her breath about how culturally insensitive white people are?
Or was I overreacting to a simple remark by a young woman who was showing good manners by accommodating the social mores of her adopted country? After a few minutes of internal squirming, I reached the conclusion that if a (probable) Hindu can wish an agnostic from a culturally Christian background a merry Christmas, said agnostic can wish a (probable) Hindu a merry Christmas too.
What do we mean when we wish others a merry Christmas? Committed Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, of course. But Jesus was almost certainly not born on December 25. Many of the core Christmas traditions are pagan in origin, including the Christmas tree, mistletoe, and even the date of December 25 itself, which was held to be the day of the sun’s rebirth after the winter solstice.
Early Christians shared in the pagan revelries, just as non-Christians wish each other a merry Christmas today. What I mean when I wish others a merry Christmas, is that I hope they will be spending this day with people they love. I hope they will be sharing a lovingly-prepared meal. I hope they will give their loved ones gifts that they have thoughtfully chosen (or perhaps even hand-made). I hope they will reflect with gratitude on all that they have, even though they may be facing many challenges. I hope that even if - like me - they do not count themselves as religious, that they will take a moment to connect with something larger than themselves. Something that embodies their deepest and highest values - love, truth, beauty, fortitude, service. To Christians, God is the embodiment of those values. A rabbi told me that in Judaism, everything and everyone - trees, flowers, clouds, one’s husband or wife, children, friends (and presumably even one’s enemies) - is understood as the expression of God. I can go with that.
So I do wish that young Indian woman a merry Christmas, even though she and her family will almost certainly be celebrating a festival that is not named Christmas, on December 25 (or thereabouts). I’ll bet they will share special foods and gifts, and enjoy the company of their loved ones and friends, just as those of us who are either believing Christians, or simply continuing the traditions of cultural Christianity, will be doing.
And I wish you a merry Christmas too!
Since my family are essentially all gone from my life (the story of a childless child of immigrant settlers), and I'm able to choose my own holidays and how I celebrate them, every year I become more and more enamoured and awestruck by the Solstices and Equinoxes. It's amazing how Christmas has completely usurped this most ancient of events, the winter solstice, which is a very real relationship with a very real Sun that emerges anew (as if newly birthed) and begins to end (at least temporarily, for 6 months) the increasingly scary (especially to the ancients!) and mysterious darkness of days. Happy Solstice to all of you, and Merry whatever other holidays you celebrate ... just please do your celebrating without sacrificing any of our animal friends :-)
Merry Christmas!
A day chosen to honor when truth put on flesh and then spread good news to the poor, the sick, the captives, and the blind to set a liberty those who are oppressed.
A person who lives all year enjoining some of the same desire consciously may not be fully agnostic, Merry Christmas fellow traveler.
Any fixed date of a Roman calendar could not represent a day on the Hebrew calendar. A little searching for the day in question some time ago, two Hebrew holidays seem to appear likely, Hannukah for conception, Festival of Lights, and the Feast of Tabernacles, when he did tabernacle among us.