See Lewis' "Xmas and Christmas: A Lost Chapter from Herodotus".
At 06:05 PM 12/23/05 -0600, you wrote:
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A different Wall Street Journal op ed made a similar point a few years
ago. He proposed that we call the religious holiday Christmas, and the
secular holiday Excessmas.
This is one answer to the question what is the meaning of the December
holidays, but the putative two holidays are not separated in the public
mind, and this answer competes with other answers. I continue to believe
that the appropriate celebration of Christmas is an essentially contested
concept.
Douglas Laycock
University of Texas Law School
727 E. Dean Keeton St.
Austin, TX 78705
512-232-1341 (phone)
512-471-6988 (fax)
----------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Vance R. Koven
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2005 5:57 PM
To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics
Subject: Re: Secularization of Christmas
I think Daniel Henninger had the right idea in his December 16 column in
the Wall Street Journal (that bastion of religious sentiment). Christmas
is really two separate holidays and should be so understood and publicly
acknowledged. The celebration of the birth of Christ is a religious
holiday observed by a minority of Americans, and observed in passing by
others. The other holiday, the one with Santa Claus and evergreen trees
and gift-giving (and gift-buying) and sleigh rides and chestnuts roasting
on an open fire, that's an entirely secular/cultural holiday that almost
anybody in America celebrates or can celebrate. It should have its own
name: let's call it "Yule." Its principal justification is the celebration
of generosity and good fellowship, which I think most of us can get behind.
The fact that Yule is at some historical remove related to or derivative
of Christmas is about as relevant as that December 25 was the date of a
pagan holiday or that humans and Zinjanthropus are biologically related.
One of the reasons for the draconian Puritan laws in New England
forbidding the celebration of Christmas was because, centuries ago, the
Christmas holiday in England and elsewhere had become taken over by those
celebrating Yule, getting drunk and rowdy. That Yule is fully secular, as
much so as (more than, I think) Thanksgiving, is surely demonstrated by
its being celebrated in Japan and China, where there are no Christians to
speak of.
Thus understood, public displays for Yule should be permitted on cultural
grounds, but displays relating to Christmas (e.g., creches) should be
subject at the very least to the rule of multifariousness: OK to
acknowledge in context with other religious celebrations as part of the
salad-bowl culture, but not by themselves. Today I passed by the "holiday"
display in the City of Quincy, Massachusetts, which had a snowman, a Santa
Claus, a nutcracker (!), and a menorah (!!). If there was anything
denoting Kwanzaa, I didn't see it. I think the public, and its
representatives, and its judges, are deeply confused, and a sorting out of
holidays might help.
Lots of Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and probably Muslim Americans celebrate
Yule, though they don't celebrate Christmas. For that matter, lots of
nominal Christians only celebrate Yule. Nobody is obligated to celebrate
Yule, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, Mother's Day or any other purely cultural
holiday, but I see no promotion of religion in celebrating any of these.
The "war over Christmas" is a war over a false definition.
On 12/23/0 (!!)5, Paul Horwitz
<<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Given the wealth of examples Belz cites, all of which occurred even before
the end of the first week of December, might he not have begun asking
himself whether his operating thesis -- that "the secularists" are
attempting to secularize the Christmas season -- is not itself due for
reexamination, or at least for the application of a little more nuance and
care? If USA Today, the Hollywood studios, and NPR -- "of all places" --
are all, in one way or another, adding religious content to the public
square, or at least recognizing the centrality of Christmas in many
Americans' lives, then rather than asking whether the "secularists" have
failed "to win their point," might he instead inquire into whether the
attack on Christmas he apparently believes is failing even exists in the
first place, beyond some isolated factoids?
--
Vance R. Koven
Boston, MA USA
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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