Whence the Holidays?
From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:
hol·i·day
Pronunciation: ‘hä-l&-”dA, British usually ‘hä-l&-dE
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hAligdæg, from hAlig holy + dæg day
1 : HOLY DAY
So I looked up “Holy Day”
Main Entry: holy day
Function: noun
: a day set aside for special religious observance
What does any of this have to do with “The Holidays”™ as the part of the year we are now in is called? I can’t begin to count the number of times, after reading a “Christmas” book or watching a “Christmas” special with my daughter that I would have to say, “Okay Sophie, I know that they said the real meaning of Christmas is peace and love and caring for others, but what is the real meaning of Christmas?” Fortunately we’ve taught her well and she can give the right answer.
When did the “meaning of Christmas”™ cease to be Christ’s Nativity and become some wishy-washy, PC, power-of-positive-thinking, feel good pablum? And when did Thanksgiving turn into Insane Materialism Eve?
Am I upset by this? You betcha! What am I gonna do? I don’t know. Keep gift buying to a reasonable level. Reinforce the honest-to-goodness meaning of Christmas. If I had it to do over, and my wife was Orthodox, I would eschew Santa Claus altogether. I mean, shucks why should some fictional bozo who lives on an ice cap get the credit for the gifts I give my kids? I know that’s maybe a stupid, prideful reason for dissing the jolly elf. How’s this then, the real Saint Nicholas is so much more interesting and inspirational that the guy who usurped his name.
This is when I start to wish I belonged to a church that kept the Old Calendar. At least then there would be some seperation between the Day of Gifts and the Feast of the Nativity. All of this Orthodox angst about Commercial Christmas is exacerbated by my being the lone Orthodox in my family. Should Paul be baptized, and it looks probable, then Lainey and I will have to figure out how we are going to deal with this.
I’m going to let this rumble around in my head a little and post more later.
Raphael, glad to see you posting again. As always, you’ve provided good fodder to munch and crunch on. I always appreciate what you have to say – knowing that is has fermented and come forth from the Font of Grace.
The Santa thing was verboten in our house with our kids, largely due to my husband’s thoughts on the elf, which were/are similar to yours. We always had one gift from Santa for them, but the story was always accompanied by the explanation that we were emulating St. Nicholas’ gift giving. Though we didn’t know the “true” story of St. Nicholas of Myra (and honestly I still don’t). We didn’t do the Easter bunny either. Easter was one Holy Day I fought to keep holy, in spite of the ceramic rabbits dotting the house.
My children have grown up to be very generous and caring adults, largely NOT due to the example of their mother
and inspite of the lack of Santa squeezing his girth down the chimney.
Keep blogging bro! And hang in there. Prayers continue.