We’ve been arguing lately about whether we should be saying “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays.” It strikes nerves because Christmas automatically invokes a religion (Christianity) in a place where we aren’t supposed to discriminate on the basis of religion, while the Christmas tradition is so ingrained in the American consciousness that Americans, by and large, don’t want to say goodbye to it. Meanwhile, those Americans who prefer to celebrate winter holidays other than Christmas are made to feel like outsiders, with the stigma that they aren’t real Americans. This is why it has become politically correct to say the more generalized “Happy Holidays.”
I’m conflicted on this one, because the Christmas holiday is so much a part of our culture that it is held in higher esteem than any other holiday, and frankly I just want to say “Merry Christmas,” and saying “Happy Holidays” seems cheap to me; as an American, however, I feel it is very important to equally respect all belief systems. After all, America is supposed to be the great melting pot.
Reflecting on this conflict led me to understand something: there are two different, distinct Christmases.
I don’t mean there are two holidays on two different dates—no, both of them are on December 25, and both are centered on love and gift-giving. But one of them is a religious Christmas and the other is a secular Christmas. The former is centered on the birth of Jesus Christ, and is a celebration of his life and his gift of salvation to mankind, while the latter is centered on Santa Claus, who brings gifts to children, big and small, all over the world. While there are similar activities involved with the celebration of both events, you’ll find in each totally different carols, different decorations, and likely the addition of church service in the case of religious Christmas. You’re more likely to drink spiked eggnog if you celebrate secular Christmas. With religious Christmas, you have the manger, the wise men, and angels. With secular Christmas, you have sleighs, reindeer, snowmen and elves. Most likely you’ll see a Christmas tree in either Christmas, but the decorations will probably suit your choice of religious or secular.
The celebration of Christmas goes back nearly as far back as Christ himself. While no one really knows when Jesus was born, connecting it to the winter solstice was a worthwhile way of bringing pagans into the Christian faith, and Christmas became a sacred gateway into the faith for Christians and pagans alike. The festivities became tradition all over the world, and the entire Western world now observes it as state holiday.
When the idea of Santa Claus became popular, a new theme became available. Now, instead of baby Jesus coming into the world, being greeted by wise men on camels, we had a kindly old man who gave toys to poor children. The nice thing about that was that it wasn’t necessary to go to church in order to celebrate Santa’s Christmas, and the delivery of toys made it easy to commercialize. Advertisements with Santa filled stores and created a bustling season of gift-giving, something that all children look forward to all year. It became fun and exciting.
Christmas became one of the biggest events in Western culture and a fixture in the USA. Before civil rights took on the weight they have today, Christian traditions were simply taken as fact in our country. It was celebrated both religiously and commercially. The commercial end of it was more profitable and thus became far more present in the media. It became more usual for people to engage in the commercial end of Christmas rather than the religious end. Thus, there became two distinct ways to recognize Christmas.
However, the distinction didn’t become so great until certain awarenesses came to light in our country. The most important one was the Civil Rights movement. There was a renewed need to examine and improve the equality among the varied ethnicities, creeds and religions. With that, there came the consciousness about the inherent religious bias regarding the “Merry Christmas” messages saturating the holiday season in public places and in the media.
Unfortunately this consciousness cast a negative light on both the religious Christmas and the secular Christmas. The idea of Santa and his elves came under attack by those who felt that the proper greeting during this time of year should be “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings.” The truth is, from a civil rights perspective, the only thing offensive about saying “Merry Christmas” to everyone is that the word “Christ” is in it. Treating it like an official holiday meant placing Christian tradition as “more right” or better than other faiths like Judaism or Islam. Thus we have the controversy in recent years about the use of “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays.”
But secular Christmas has little in the way of religious practice. If it were called Santa Claus Day, no one would complain that it represents the adoption of a state religion by the government. But if it were called Santa Claus Day, it would be an offense to anyone who has celebrated many years’ worth of Christmas in the US. It’s too late for a name change. Christmas is one of the greatest traditions in America.
So there we have it. We have the side that says “Merry Christmas” and the side that says “Happy Holidays.” Only the side that says “Merry Christmas” isn’t a fully unified force. There are those who see it as an American institution, and others who see it as a Christian institution. People of other faiths may also see Christmas as a Christian institution. Whether or not Christmas began as a Christian institution, it has also become an American institution, and that is the nature of the battle here. There is no solution that will satisfy everyone.
That being said… Merry Christmas… or Happy Holidays… or Season’s Greetings.
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