bobquasit | Askville posts: The Meaning of Christmas

Someone posted a rather nice question asking about the meaning of Christmas for religious and non-religious people. I posted my answer in the discussion board, rather than risk the usual negative ratings from angry Christians. But I've received several compliments from Christians instead.

As an atheist, I celebrate Christmas from a secular mindset. The winter festival or holiday predates Christianity, of course, and many - most! - Christmas traditions actually date back to so-called "pagan" religious rituals, from a number of different religions. Of course, being an atheist I don't take those religions any more seriously than I do Christianity.

But I do appreciate the cultural and social significance of the holiday. Oddly enough, I object to the commercialization of the season more than most Christians I know; I find the constant buy, buy, buy drumbeat to be horribly annoying and inappropriate.

I see Christmas as a time to celebrate my love for my family and friends, a time to share together when the world is cold and dark outside. It's a time for nostalgia, and for my son to get all excited and filled with wonder. I'll be writing his annual letter from Santa Claus soon, just as my father always did for me and my siblings. It may seem odd for an atheist to perpetuate the myth of Santa Claus, and it does come up at odd moments in conversation; when I tell him there's no "real" magic in the world (although there are many things which are, in a sense, "magical"), he always counters with "What about Santa Claus? He's magic!".

"He's a special case," I lamely reply.

But I want him to enjoy his childhood - and his adulthood, for that matter - and since I have only happy memories of Christmas and believing in Santa when I was little, I do the same for him.

As was pointed out in another thread ( http://askville.amazon.com/Christ-removed-Christmas-call-St-Nickmas/DiscussionBoard.do?requestId=29608140&page=1 ), Christ has effectively been removed from Christmas in many ways. Yet the holiday remains, and ironically the original "pagan" aspects are now more prominent for many than the Christian ones! It has truly become a secular holiday. Not to denigrate those for whom it is still a religious holiday, of course; it's your privilege to celebrate the holiday in any way you choose. But for many who celebrate Christmas, the religious element has either been completely eliminated or is vestigial at best.

I'm suddenly reminded of a science fiction story - "Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus" by Fredric Pohl - set in a future in which the commercialization of Christmas has been increased to such an incredible level that the religious aspect has been totally forgotten by the public. Christmas carol lyrics have been replaced with advertisements set to the same tunes. Everything is a brand name, from the tree to the food.

The protagonist, who works for an advertising company if I remember correctly, falls in love with a girl, a colonist who has returned from Venus or Mars with her family. They remember and honor the religious traditions, and are utterly horrified by what the holiday has become on Earth. The protagonist's attempts to get the girl and her family to adjust to what he thinks is the "right" Christmas make for a very funny story.

Ah, I just found one of the "Christmas" advertisements from the story online! Here it is:

"'Tis the season of Christmas, and all through the house
St. Nick and his helpers begin their carouse.
The closets are stuffed and the drawers overflowing
With gift-wrapped remembrances, coming and going.
What a joyous abandon of Christmastime glow!
What a making of lists! What a spending of dough!
So much for the bedroom, so much for the bath,
So much for the kitchen -- too little by half!
Come Westinghouse, Philco!
Come Hotpoint, G.E.!
Come Sunbeam! Come Mixmaster! Come to the Tree!
So much for the wardrobe -- how shine Daddy's eyes.
As he reaps his Yule harvest of slippers and ties.
So much for the family, so much for the friends.
So much for the neighbors -- the list never ends.
A contingency fund for the givers belated
Whose gifts must be hastily reciprocated.
And out of the shops, how they spring with a clatter,
The gifts and appliances words cannot flatter!
The robot dishwasher, the new Frigidaire,
The doll with the didy and curlable hair!
The electrified hairbrush, the black lingerie,
The full-color stereoscopic TV!
Come, Credit Department! Come, Personal Loan!
Come, Mortgage, Come Christmas Club, Come ---"

- From "Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus" by Fredric Pohl, available in The Best of Fredric Pohl

It's quite a nice thread; I hope it continues.

Update: I just extended it myself.

I imagine that when the time comes that my son realizes that there is no Santa Claus, I'll tell him in all honesty that he is Santa Claus - he'll be Santa for his kids, just as his mother and I were for him, and my father was for me.