Commercialization of Christmas

Remove all ads!

You periodically hear Christians complain about how Christmas has become commercialized or secularized. It's not about Jesus Christ any more; it's about Santa Claus. It's not about God's love for us; it's about having fun with our friends. It's no longer celebrated at church; it's celebrated at the mall.
Compare Christmas to other Christian holidays. Logically, our biggest holiday of the year should be Easter. After all, lots of people are born, but very few come back from the dead. There is very little secularization of Easter: A little playing around with Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies, but nothing like the secular stories and traditions built up around Christmas. I am hard-pressed to think of a single story or song about the Easter bunny; I can easily rattle off dozens about Santa Claus. Easter has largely remained a purely spiritual holiday, celebrated almost exclusively through songs and symbols that focus directly on what the holiday is all about -- the resurrection.
So why is it that Easter gets so much less attention than Christmas? Not just in the secular world, but even within the church? Perhaps your experience is different, but in churches I've attended, not only will the Sunday before Christmas be dedicated to the holiday, but at least several Sundays before we will be singing Christmas songs, lighting advent candles, etc. There is usually at least one special service scheduled to celebrate it, on Christmas or Christmas Eve or the Sunday evening before. Somewhere in there will be a big special program for Christmas, with planning and rehearsals begin months in advance.
Easter? The church may have a sunrise service, that is, the service starts earlier than usual that day. And that's about it.
I offer a simple theory: Christmas is a big holiday precisely because it is a mixture of the pious and the practical. The pious element gives the holiday reason and meaning. The practical element gives it action and vibrancy. The pious element makes it profound. The practical element makes it fun.
To the Christian, all the little rituals and traditions give him something to do to celebrate the holiday. Easter should be the most exciting day on the Christian calendar, but it is, to put it bluntly, boring. It is boring because there is nothing in particular to do about it. There is nothing to look forward to, nothing to plan, nothing to get excited about.
At this point I don't doubt that some deeply spiritual person will say, "How shallow! You've missed the point. You should be excited about the thought of the resurrection. You should be overjoyed at the knowledge that Christ has saved you." Etc.
I reply, Maybe we should, but we don't. Because all you are talking about is thinking. And I can think these thoughts at any time, there is nothing about Easter that makes them particularly special. I do not have to eagerly anticipate thinking about the resurrection like a child has to anticipate opening his presents at Christmas. To think about thinking something is to think it. And for many people -- myself included -- the fact that they can do these things whenever they want means that they rarely do them at all.
Why do you think stores advertise a sale as "one day only" or "while supplies last"? Presumably they are making money off this sale or they wouldn't be doing it. So why not do it all year long and make more money? Aren't they afraid that there are people who would like to come but won't be able to make it the day of the sale, and so won't bother to come at all? The answer, as any marketing person will tell you, is, sure, they might lose some sales because they made the sale too short. But by making it short, they get many people to think, Wow, if I want to get this, I'd better go right now. If the sale was on 365 days a year, there are many many people who would say, I'll go tomorrow, and the next day they'd again say, I'll go tomorrow, and they'd keep on saying that, and never get there.
Christmas is a special day because there are specific things we do that day that we do not do on other days. And so we plan, and prepare, and anticipate.
But more important, Christmas, as presently celebrated in America, serves as a bridge between the Church and the world outside. It is precisely because Christmas has been secularized that people with little interest in spiritual things celebrate it anyway. Christians created all sorts of fun activities to celebrate Christmas: giving presents, eating a fancy meal with friends and family, decorating the house, etc, etc. Non-Christians see that these things are fun and want to participate ... and they can't help but occassionally hear and think about what the holiday is really celebrating.
It is precisely because Christmas has been commercialized that stores and shops all over the country spend hundreds of millions of dollars talking about Christmas. At what other time of year do you see television commercials that make any reference, however indirect, to Jesus Christ?

 

Well said. I don't do Christmas. I'm just in for the commercialization Instead, these days, I have my "spiritual highlight" at Solistice... but I get your point

(Hey, Santa, need a few spare elves?)

 

For me it never was about Jesus Christ

I celebrated the return of light, as the "barbarians" did before the early-christians perverted their way of life

With a christmas tree, great food and lot´s of family..

 

I don't think that anyone could argue that Christmas hasn't been commercialized by a huge segment of society. But as far as I'm concerned they can do what they want. To paraphrase Joshua, as for me and my house, Christmas is about Christ. Anyone who tries to interfere with my celebrations my way is going to get the wrong end of a baseball bat shoved up his butt. As long as they let me worship God my way, let them worship -- or not worship -- as they please. So, I don't get all wound up about the commercialization of the season. I do get wound up when tiny special interest groups (which tend to try and take on a religious persona, but usually turn out to be atheists) try and change harmless traditions claiming discrimination. How the %$^& does a Christmas tree in the centre of the city hurt you? Does it really ruin your day to have someone say 'Merry Christmas' to you? If so, you need something else to do, as you have far too much time on your hands, overly thin skin, and 7 foot chips on your shoulders.

If the situation were reversed, and a Jew said 'Shalom' to me, or a Muslim said "Salaam Aleikim", I would be happy they said something nice to me. There's nothing offensive in a greeting like that.

 

The commerziliation maked me stop celebrate christmas.

 

Elios, how long has it been since you've been to church? The Easter season is 40 days long, running from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday. Although the culmination of this period is (should be) the most joyous day on the Christian calendar, the time leading up to it is meant for deprivation, reflection, and self-improvement. Lent is a solemn season when people try to make themselves more worthy of the gift they're about to receive. Flash, glitz, and upbeat music just aren't appropriate.

Gee, I remembered quite a lot from my days of CCD, didn't I?

That said:
Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hippity hoppity,
Easter's on its way

Bringin' ev'ry girl and boy
A basketful of Easter joy
Things to make your Easter
Bright and gay

He's got jelly beans for Tommy
Colored eggs for sister Sue
There's an orchid for your mommy
And an Easter bonnet too. Oh!

Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppity
Happy Easter Day

Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Look at him hop and listen to him say,

"Try to do the things you should"
Maybe if you're extra good
He'll roll lots of Easter eggs your way

You'll wake up on Easter morning
And you'll know that he was there
When you find those choc'late bunnies
That he's hiding ev’rywhere,
Oh!

Here' comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppity
Happy Easter Day.

Think about how cultural holidays such as St. Patrick's Day, Cinco de Mayo, and Mardi Gras have been adopted into popular culture as reasons to drink. Don't forget that Halloween is a very spiritual day to Wiccans and Pagans, not just a time for kids to dress up and collect candy (and for adults to dress up and drink). It's not just Christmas.

 

Just curious: the gift giving tradition stems back to the Three Wise Men offering their presents right?

I think the giving of presents has indeed turned into an annual duty instead of an act reminiscent of the Three Wise Men. Sure, the thought of giving counts, but why save this thought until Christmas as supposed to the other 364 days of the year? As a (former) child receiving presents, it's like an allowance, only you reap the rewards for "being good" at the end of each year.

But it isn't so clear to me that commercialization is the source of this mentality. It certainly has taken full advantage of the public's inclination to spend more, by having sales to bolster profits. So to me, it seems like commercializing Christmas is a result of people needing to buy and give presents.

On the other hand, I think commercializing Christmas will help prevent Christmas from being a sacred day again. As long as sales and low prices happen at Christmas, the more likely people will buy their annual load of gifts for economical reasons rather than compassionate ones. So maybe you wonder what happens if prices skyrocket during Christmas? Would people stop their shopping frenzy? Theoretically there's a chance, but realistically this will never happen due to secondary factors (namely competition). So even though it may not cause Christmas to become secular, commercialization surely propagates that notion.

And that's my "present giving" point of view on the subject