Christmas and Community
Hey parents, don’t read this around your children if you want them to believe in Santa. There are a few spoilers in here, not just of Santa, but of other traditions as well. I hope, however, that you will continue to read through, as these wandering thoughts do come together toward the end. So…without further ado…much ado about Christmas…
A long time ago, there was this fledgling little religion, an upstart really, in the heart of Rome. This religion is called Christianity, and was a brand new tome added to the already established religious repertoire, which at the time, was the Roman hierarchy of gods (itself adapted from Greek religious tradition). Let’s sit with that for a minute, because this is too often glossed over.
There was an established religious tradition in ancient Rome, and it was the worship of the pantheon of gods and goddesses, ranging from Jupiter (or Zeus) down to Hades, and so on. This was the normal state of the Roman empire at the time. The people worshiped multiple deities, that’s what they taught their children, and that’s what drove the holidays they celebrated. They had what to us would be weird festivals for all the gods, like the celebration of Saturnalia, and my personal favorite, Lemuralia, where they spent their energies exorcising “demons,” which would be entities like the vengeful spirit of Remus, Romulus’ twin who was murdered upon the founding of Rome. (Sometime in the early 7th century, Lemuralia was finally taken over by Christianity, allegedly, by All Saints’ Day.) My point here is only that there were many, many religious traditions established and in place, and along came this little religion that simply would not die.
Back then, there was another religion that would not die just beneath the surface of Roman life at the time. Trust me, this comes back to Christmas, I promise! But this religion is Judaism, which still lasts to this day. As a child, I was taught that the main difference between Jewish and Christian faiths was that the Jewish people worshipped a god called Yaweh, and the Christians believed that Jesus was the son of god. To me at the time, this was all the difference in the world, until I eventually learned that Yaweh is just another way to express Christianity, and that the Talmud is really just the old testament. So in a very real sense, Christianity is, from my understanding today, an evolution of Judaism, as opposed to something starkly different.
My, how things have changed! With the advent of prosperity gospel, and the downplay of Jesus’ influence (on the religion named after the man, as if that makes sense), I would argue that the religion has continued to evolve over the years. To be clear, one of the chief differences between Christianity and Jewish religions from a morality perspective is that Judaism requires participants to perform certain acts, whereas Christianity, especially today, requires nothing of the participants that can be reviewed and confirmed in the outside world. In other words, if I say I’m a Christian, you have no way of knowing whether or not that’s true, no matter how it is that I conduct myself in the world. (In my opinion, without the separation of acts from religious commitment, prosperity gospel would never have become possible.)
The situation is redeemable though. Ever since Martin Luther, Christians (read: ley-people) have been in charge of the protestant church. So through the people, people like you, the religion can be evolved back. And this is where Christmas comes in, folks, as well as a confession: I am not a Christian. If you know me, you know this, but you should also know that I do celebrate Christmas. There’s a good reason for it.
Finally, to the point!
I can think of no other holiday in modern America, or perhaps even in the entirety of western civilization, where the emphasis is placed as much on actions, external to self. Christmas is a day when it’s not enough to have that “personal relationship with god,” but when it’s important to act, to let others know how you feel about them, and that you care. It’s an act that builds community, and brings people closer together. So I celebrate. It doesn’t matter to me much that there’s a Winter Solstice that the holiday supplants, or that it, by tradition, follows along with Saturnalia, the Roman holiday in which people did exchange gifts. Christmas is, despite the commercialization, despite the over-eager advertisers trying to start the holiday months earlier, is a community-building event.
In fact, I think that it’s more special because of these historical connections. I think that Christmas transcends one religion, transcends ideology, and has the capacity to unwind a lot of the hurt we’ve been through in recent years. But to do it, we have to understand it, and not simply go through the motions. The gift we give, the most important of which is always time, is how we come together. The importance is not, nor will it ever be, what those gifts are (although I do love my Cocktail Smoking Kit I got as an early present). What really matters is that they are from other people in our lives, families, and society, and they very much mean that someone is thinking of you.
And that’s what we really need, especially now that there seems to be so much other-ing happening. We need someone to be thinking of us. So Merry Christmas, and if you’re reading this, know that someone is thinking of you, whether you know it or not. I hope for you the best, and I will forever believe in the power of community to change the world. Your gift giving, in so many ways, is an act of power by strengthening those ties with others.
