We haven’t heard much about the war on Christmas lately.[1] I think that’s a good thing. This year, festering election fraud claims, which are believed by many but proven by none, have been rather distracting.[2] There is also the matter of the resurgent pandemic caused by a tiny novel corona virus, which has disrupted the economy, many social practices, and virtually everything else. Fortunately, 95% effective vaccines are starting to be introduced. If they work as advertised, we should be on the road to quasi-normalcy within six months.
By then, the virus will have affected every single annual event. It started with the greatest show on Earth:[3] the NCAA basketball tournament. Then Wimbledon and The Open (golf, British) were cancelled. Countless weddings were postposed, graduations virtualized, and worlds turned upside down. Every person on the planet has been affected, either directly or indirectly. And recently, we learned that the virus has made its way to Antarctica. Why should the few people who live there miss out on the fun?
Thanksgiving was spent largely in small nuclear units, bubbles if you will. Christmas will likely be the same – for most, not all. Too many people continue to believe whatever they want to believe about the virus, which exacerbates community spread, which has resulted in many hospital intensive care units operating near or at capacity.
As different as this Christmas will be, it will still be Christmas: a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ for Christians and a celebration of Santa Claus for others. It wasn’t always that way. For instance, Christmas was not celebrated at all until approximately 300 years after Christ died. Moreover, the historical progenitor of Santa, St. Nicholas, was born about 50 years before that, although he wasn’t considered to be Santa for many centuries.
Through the years, different groups have actively opposed the celebration of Christmas, few more so than the Puritans who declared war on it. Not the intentionally divisive fake war that we have heard about over the last couple of decades or so, but an actual authentic war: an at times incredibly effective effort to eradicate the celebration entirely.[4]
Today’s so-called war on Christmas is a decent proxy for the entire political correctness battlefield. For some, saying “Merry Christmas,” although not wrong in and of itself, struck a divisive tone. It ignored the other holidays (Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Boxing Day, New Years Day) that take place on or around Christmas.[5] It excluded some people, who could be easily included with a more expansive expression, such as: Happy Holidays. There was no direct attack on Christmas, which was very much encompassed within Happy Holidays.
For some others, this attempt to be inclusive was considered an assault on religion. To them, Happy Holidays was effectively divisive, by separating away those for whom the religious aspects of Christmas are paramount, not inclusive. Any expression other than Merry Christmas was tantamount to elevating other cultures or holidays over and above Christmas because of the religious nature of Christmas.
In short, the well-intended attempt to be inclusive was deliberately misconstrued as an attack on religion. This concept of a war on Christmas never made any sense to me, especially when you consider the historical wars that have actually been levied against Christmas.
The Puritans knew how to wage war against Christmas. They were always so afraid that somebody somewhere might be having fun, that in 1647, they banned Christmas altogether. They were concerned that Christmas had descended into the depths of revelry from its true home: the Puritans’ metaphorical mountaintop of piety. And this was not a war of words, among other controls, shops were required to remain open, troops were deployed to break up parties and games, and, in London, to tear down decorations.
This war on Christmas was political; in essence, the losers of a civil war were protesting against restrictions imposed by the winner.[6] The war on Christmas was prosecuted so poorly in England that it led to a revival of the civil war and ultimately the repulse of the Puritans. But not their war on Christmas, which had traveled with them to North America. There, the celebration of Christmas was subject to a fine in some parts of their domain (New England) until the 19th century.
The great C.S. Lewis decried the amalgamation of religion and commerce that early 20th century Christmas engendered, loving only the former, not the commerce. Communist Russia and Nazi Germany decried Christmas itself, preferring the elevation of the state at the expense of anything related to religion.
Despite these and other efforts to eradicate or minimize Christmas, the holiday remains an important part of calendars around the world. Though atheists and Muslims would love to eliminate Christmas, that does not appear to be the goal of whomever is in charge of political correctness in the United States.
This year, the virus will affect how we commemorate Christmas, but it will not eliminate our celebration. To those of you who prefer it, “Merry Christmas,” and to the rest of you, “Happy Holidays.”[7]
Bibliography – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_controversies; https://www.historytoday.com/archive/feature/christmas-under-puritans; https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/12/131219-santa-claus-origin-history-christmas-facts-st-nicholas/; https://theconversation.com/when-christmas-was-cancelled-a-lesson-from-history-149310#:~:text=Christmas%20is%20cancelled,replaced%20by%20a%20Presbyterian%20system; https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/opinion/the-puritan-war-on-christmas.html
[1] Though not long ago, President Trump sent out a fundraising letter that included: “This is a HUGE victory in the Democrats’ pathetic WAR ON CHRISTMAS, and I want YOU to be a part of it.”
[2] On December 17, Fareed Zakaria wrote that 60 million Americans believe Trump’s assertions about election fraud. This is good evidence of something he wrote in the same column: “Trump understands that a sensational lie is far more effective than a complicated truth.”
[3] “Earth” derives from the Anglo-Saxon word – erda – for dirt.
[4] Christmas did not become a national holiday in the US until 1870.
[5] There is no particular reason to believe that Christ was born on December 25. No date is mentioned in the Bible and various references contained therein point to different times of year. There isn’t even a consensus on what year Christ was born. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_of_birth_of_Jesus
[6] It was also about the desire to have some fun, at a time when “Christmas” consisted of as many as 12 days of festivities.
[7] If you say either “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” or even “Happy Birthday to a Jehovah’s Witness, they (third person plural used as first person plural because “he or she” is awkward) will inform you that they don’t celebrate any day. For most, this is religious conviction; for some (perhaps), it is a war on Christmas.