Secularization of Christmas
Encyclopedia
Christmas controversy refers to controversy or disagreement surrounding the celebration or acknowledgment of the Christmas
holiday
in government, media, advertising and various secular environments. In the past, Christmas-related controversy was mainly restricted to concerns of a public focus on secular Christmas themes such as Santa Claus
and gift giving
rather than what is sometimes expressed by Christians as the real "reason for the season"—the birth of Jesus
. The term "Xmas
," a popular shortened form of the word Christmas that originates from the use of the Greek letter chi
to represent "Christ" (Χριστός), has been a particular topic of controversy.
Modern-day controversy occurs mainly in western countries such as the United States
, Canada
, and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom
, and usually stems from a contrast between the holiday's significant social and economic role in these countries and its strong association with Christianity
in an increasingly multiculturally sensitive
and religiously diversifying
society. In recent decades, public, corporate, and government mention of the term "Christmas" during the Christmas and holiday season has declined and been replaced with a generic term— usually "holiday(s)" or "winter"— to avoid referencing the holiday by name. In addition, popular non-religious aspects of Christmas, such as Christmas carols
and Christmas trees
, are still prominently showcased and recognized, but are vaguely associated with unspecified "holidays" rather than with Christmas. Also, many retailers are asked to greet their customers with "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" than with the traditional "Merry Christmas".
Supporters of using terms such as "holidays" in place of "Christmas" argue that many of the symbols and behaviors that western societies have come to associate with Christmas were originally syncretize
d from pre-Christian pagan traditions and festivals that predate Jesus, and thus need not be directly associated with Christmas. Specifically, symbols and behaviors such as caroling, Christmas trees, mistletoe
, holly wreaths
and yule log
s, have pre-Christian origins. It has also been further argued that as western society continues to diversify culturally and religiously, public recognition of a potentially sect
arian holiday, such as Christmas, may be seen as non-inclusive or offensive to non-Christians or non-celebrants in general.
commentators such as Peter Brimelow
and Bill O'Reilly
beginning in the early 2000s.
The claim among Brimelow, O'Reilly, and some other prominent media figures and personalities was that any specific mention of the term "Christmas" or its religious aspects was being increasingly censored
, avoided, or discouraged by a number of advertisers
, retailers, government (prominently school
s), and other public and secular organizations.
by the United States government, and few have raised objections to this designation; however, many groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union
and Americans United for Separation of Church and State
, argue that government-funded displays of Christmas imagery and traditions violate the U.S. Constitution—specifically the First Amendment
, which prohibits the establishment by Congress of a national religion. The battle over whether religious displays should be placed within public schools, courthouses, and other government buildings, has been heated in recent years.
Supreme Court rulings starting with Lynch v. Donnelly
in 1984 have permitted religious themes in government-funded Christmas displays that had "legitimate secular purposes." Since these rulings have been splintered and have left governments uncertain of their limits, many such displays have included secular elements such as reindeer, snowmen and elves along with the religious elements. Other recent court cases have brought up additional issues such as the inclusion of Christmas carols in public school performances, but none of these cases have reached the US Supreme Court.
A controversy regarding these issues arose in 2002, when the New York City
public school system banned the display of Nativity scene
s, but allowed the display of supposedly less overtly religious symbols such as Christmas trees, Hanukkah
menorahs, and the Muslim star and crescent. The school system successfully defended its policy in Skoros v. City of New York (2006).
In December 2007, a controversy arose when a public school in Ottawa, Canada
planned to have the children in its primary choir sing a version of the song "Silver Bells" with the word "Christmas" replaced by "festive"; the concert also included the songs Candles of Christmas and It's Christmas with the original lyrics.
there have been some minor controversies, one of the most famous being the temporary promotion of an extended winter holiday period including not just the normal Christmas festivities but other celebrations (in one year Halloween
and the Chinese New Year
) as Winterval
by Birmingham City Council in the late 1990s. This remains a controversial example of "Christmas controversy" due to its prominent promotion of Christmas, as a religious event clearly called Christmas, as a part of the programme of Winterval events. A City council spokesman observed that:
In November 2009 the city counsel of Dundee
was accused of banning Christmas because it promoted its celebrations as the Winter Night Light festival, initially with no specific references to Christianity. Local church leaders were invited to participate in the event, and they did.
s were renamed to "holiday trees" for various reasons, mostly for an enforcement of separation of church and state
or a recognition of cultural and religious diversity. Reaction to such renamings has been mixed.
One of the most prominent Christmas tree controversies came in 2005, when the city of Boston
labeled their official decorated tree as a holiday tree, and the subsequent response from the Nova Scotia
n tree farmer who donated the tree was that he would rather have put the tree in a wood chipper than have it named a "holiday" tree.
Another controversy occurred in 2005 with the US builders hardware
retailer Lowe's
. Signage for their Christmas trees read "holiday trees" in English
, but read árboles de Navidad (Christmas trees) in Spanish
rather than árboles de feriados. In 2007, Lowe's started using the term "family tree", sparking protest from the American Family Association
, but they have since claimed that this term was only a printing mistake.
In 2009 in Jerusalem, Israel
the Lobby for Jewish Values
with support of the Jerusalem Rabbinate
has handed out fliers condemning Christmas and have called for a boycott of restaurants and hotels that sell or put up Christmas trees and what the organization called "foolish" Christian symbols.
referred to the tree as a Christmas tree in his remarks and in the press release his office issued after the ceremony.
The Michigan
Senate had a heated debate in 2005 over whether the decorated tree in front of the Michigan Capitol would continue to be called a holiday tree (as it had been since the early 1990s) or named a Christmas tree. The question was revisited in 2006, when the bipartisan Michigan Capitol Committee voted unanimously to use the term Christmas tree. And in 2007, Wisconsin lawmakers considered whether to rename the tree in the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda, a holiday tree since 1985, the Wisconsin State Christmas Tree.
s of various prominent secular organizations, particularly retail giants, demanding that they use the term "Christmas" rather than solely "holiday" in their print, TV, online, and in-store marketing and advertising. Most of these boycotts were organized by the American Family Association
, a private, non-profit group which promotes conservative Christian values.
, when England was ruled by a Puritan
Parliament
. Puritans (including those who fled to America) sought to remove elements they viewed as "pagan" (because they were not biblical in origin) from Christianity (see Pre-Christianity below). During this period, the English Parliament banned the celebration of Christmas entirely, replacing it with a day of fasting and considering it "a popish festival with no biblical justification", and a time of wasteful and immoral behavior.
The Army were sent to raid homes and confiscate any cooked meat. This led to such resentment that it provoked riots in Kent, leading to the Second Civil War
and the Siege of Colchester
. Indeed Christmas only became a legal holiday in Scotland in 1967, after the Church of Scotland
finally relaxed its objections.
During the colonial period, celebrating Christmas was punishable by a fine and in 1776 it was still not widely celebrated.
in ancient times (before subsequent drift due to chronological errors in the Julian calendar
eventually left the solstice on its present date of December 21.) As such, many pagan winter holidays occurred on this date, which marks the shortest day of the year and the point where the days become longer again. Many customs from these holidays, particularly from the pagan Scandinavian
and Germanic celebration of Yule
in northern Europe, are transparently present in later Christmas customs, suggesting that the date was appropriated directly from pagan customs and given a Christian veneer rather than being the true birthday of Jesus.
The pagan Scandinavian
and Germanic people of northern Europe celebrated a 12 day long "midwinter" (winter solstice
) holiday called Yule
(also called Jul, Julblot, jólablót, midvinterblot
, julofferfest) beginning on December 25. Many modern Christmas traditions, such as the Christmas tree
, the Christmas wreath, the Yule log
, and others, are direct descendents of Yule customs. As Northern Europe
was the last part to Christianize, its pagan traditions had a major influence on Christmas. Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul. In English, the word Yule
is synonymous with Christmas, a usage first recorded in 900. It is believed that the celebration of this day was a worship of these peculiar days interpreted as the re-awakening of nature. The Yule
(Jul) particular God was Jólner, which is one of Odin's
many names.
The concept of Yule
(Jul) occurs in a tribute poem to Harold Hårfager
from about AD 900, where someone said "drinking Jul". Julblot is the most solemn sacrifice feast. At the “julblotet”, sacrifices were given to the gods to earn blessing on the forthcoming germinating crops. Julblotet was eventually integrated into the Christian Christmas. As a remainder from this Viking
era the Midsummer
is still important in Scandinavia and hence vividly celebrated.
Sol Invictus
("The Unconquerable Sun"), was originally a Syrian god who was later adopted as the chief god of the Roman Empire
under Emperor Aurelian
. His holiday is traditionally celebrated on the 25th of December, as are several gods associated with the winter solstice
in many pagan traditions. It is highly unlikely that December 25 was simply set aside for celebration by the early Christians, since Jesus' exact birthday was unknown.
, Christmas in the United States was primarily a religious holiday observed by Roman Catholics, Episcopalian
s, and Lutheran
s. Its importance was often considered secondary to that of Epiphany
and Easter
.
As was the case with other Christian holidays, Christmas borrowed elements from Pagan peoples, including yule
logs, decorations such as candle
s, holly
, and mistletoe
. Christmas tree
s were seen as Pagan in origin. Cited as proof is Jeremiah
, 10:3-4, which states, "For the customs of the peoples are false: a tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan. People deck it with silver and gold they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move."
The Advent
period (originally a fasting period meant to point to the Second Coming of Christ), and gift giving (invented by Martin Luther
to counter St. Nicholas Day, 6 December) were also Pagan in origin.
During the various Protestant reformations, these paganizing elements were a source of controversy. Some sects, such as the Puritans, rejected Christmas as an entirely Pagan holiday. Others rejected certain aspects of Christmas as paganizing, but wanted to retain the "essence" of the holiday as a celebration of the Christ's birth. This tension put in motion an ongoing debate within Christianity about the proper observance of Christmas.
, the current state of observance of Christmas is largely the result of a mid-Victorian revival of the holiday spearheaded by Charles Dickens
. In A Christmas Carol
, Hutton argues, Dickens sought to construct Christmas as a family-centered festival of generosity, in contrast to the community-based and church-centered observations, the observance of which had dwindled during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Historian Stephen Nissenbaum contends that the modern celebration in the United States was developed in New York State from defunct and imagined Dutch and English traditions in order to re-focus the holiday from one where groups of young men went from house to house demanding alcohol and food into one that was focused on the happiness of children. He notes that there was deliberate effort to prevent the children from becoming greedy in response.
Christmas was not proclaimed a holiday by US congress until 1870.
had already noted a distinct split between the religious and secular observance of Christmas. In Xmas and Christmas: A Lost Chapter from Herodotus
, Lewis gives a satire
of the observance of two simultaneous holidays in "Niatirb" (Britain backwards) from the supposed view of the Greek historian and traveller. One, "Exmas", is observed by a flurry of compulsory commercial activity and expensive indulgence in alcoholic beverage
s. The other, "Crissmas," is observed in Niatirb's temples. Lewis's narrator asks a priest
why they kept Crissmas on the same day as Exmas. He receives the reply:
The December 1957 News and Views published by the Church League of America, an organization co-founded in 1937 by George Washington Robnett attacked the use of Xmas
in an article titled "X=The Unknown Quantity." The claims were picked up later by Gerald L. K. Smith
who in December 1966 claimed that Xmas was a "blasphemous omission of the name of Christ" and that "'X' is referred to as being symbolical of the unknown quantity." Smith further argued that Jews introduced Santa Claus
to suppress the New Testament accounts of Jesus, and that the United Nations
at the behest of "world Jewry" had "outlawed the name of Christ." There is, however, a well documented history of use of Χ (actually a chi
) as an abbreviation for "Christ" (Χριστός) and possibly also a symbol of the cross.
The Soviet Union
and certain other Communist regimes banned overtly religious Christmas observances. Most customs traditionally associated with Christmas (like decorated trees, presents, and Ded Moroz
) were later reinstated in Soviet society, but tied to New Year's Day
instead; this tradition remains as of the present day. It should however be noted that most Russian Christians are of the Orthodox community, whose religious festivals (Christmas, Easter etc.), do not necessarily coincide precisely with those of the main western Christian churches (Catholic or Protestant).
Certain Christian denominations continue to reject the holiday for theological reasons. Some of these groups include Jehovah's Witnesses
, Amish Mennonites
, most sabbatarian
denominations such as the True Jesus Church
and the Church of God (7th-Day)
, and the Iglesia ni Cristo
, as well as certain Reformed
and fundamentalist
churches of various persuasions including some Independent Baptist
, Holiness
, and Apostolic Pentecostal
congregations.
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
holiday
Holiday
A Holiday is a day designated as having special significance for which individuals, a government, or a religious group have deemed that observance is warranted. It is generally an official or unofficial observance of religious, national, or cultural significance, often accompanied by celebrations...
in government, media, advertising and various secular environments. In the past, Christmas-related controversy was mainly restricted to concerns of a public focus on secular Christmas themes such as Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
and gift giving
Gift
A gift or a present is the transfer of something without the expectation of receiving something in return. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation of reciprocity, a gift is meant to be free. In many human societies, the act of mutually exchanging money, goods, etc. may contribute to...
rather than what is sometimes expressed by Christians as the real "reason for the season"—the birth of Jesus
Nativity of Jesus
The Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in two of the Canonical gospels and in various apocryphal texts....
. The term "Xmas
Xmas
"Xmas" is a common abbreviation of the word "Christmas". It is sometimes pronounced , but it, and variants such as "Xtemass", originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation...
," a popular shortened form of the word Christmas that originates from the use of the Greek letter chi
Chi (letter)
Chi is the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet, pronounced as in English.-Greek:-Ancient Greek:Its value in Ancient Greek was an aspirated velar stop .-Koine Greek:...
to represent "Christ" (Χριστός), has been a particular topic of controversy.
Modern-day controversy occurs mainly in western countries such as the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and usually stems from a contrast between the holiday's significant social and economic role in these countries and its strong association with Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
in an increasingly multiculturally sensitive
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
and religiously diversifying
Diversity (politics)
In the political arena, the term diversity is used to describe political entities with members who have identifiable differences in their backgrounds or lifestyles....
society. In recent decades, public, corporate, and government mention of the term "Christmas" during the Christmas and holiday season has declined and been replaced with a generic term— usually "holiday(s)" or "winter"— to avoid referencing the holiday by name. In addition, popular non-religious aspects of Christmas, such as Christmas carols
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...
and Christmas trees
Christmas tree
The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...
, are still prominently showcased and recognized, but are vaguely associated with unspecified "holidays" rather than with Christmas. Also, many retailers are asked to greet their customers with "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" than with the traditional "Merry Christmas".
Supporters of using terms such as "holidays" in place of "Christmas" argue that many of the symbols and behaviors that western societies have come to associate with Christmas were originally syncretize
Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
d from pre-Christian pagan traditions and festivals that predate Jesus, and thus need not be directly associated with Christmas. Specifically, symbols and behaviors such as caroling, Christmas trees, mistletoe
Mistletoe
Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemi-parasitic plants in several families in the order Santalales. The plants in question grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub.-Mistletoe in the genus Viscum:...
, holly wreaths
Wreath
A wreath is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, twigs and/or various materials that is constructed to resemble a ring. They are used typically as Christmas decorations to symbolize the coming of Christ, also known as the Advent season in Christianity. They are also used as festive headdresses...
and yule log
Yule log
A Yule log is a large and extremely hard log which is burned in the hearth as a part of traditional Yule or Christmas celebrations in several European cultures...
s, have pre-Christian origins. It has also been further argued that as western society continues to diversify culturally and religiously, public recognition of a potentially sect
Sect
A sect is a group with distinctive religious, political or philosophical beliefs. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and...
arian holiday, such as Christmas, may be seen as non-inclusive or offensive to non-Christians or non-celebrants in general.
History
The expression war on Christmas has often been used to denote Christmas-related controversy in the media. The term gained notability thanks in part to its use by conservativeConservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
commentators such as Peter Brimelow
Peter Brimelow
Peter Brimelow is a British American financial journalist, author, and founder of VDARE. Brimelow has been the editor of many publications, including Forbes, the Financial Post, and National Review...
and Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
beginning in the early 2000s.
The claim among Brimelow, O'Reilly, and some other prominent media figures and personalities was that any specific mention of the term "Christmas" or its religious aspects was being increasingly censored
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
, avoided, or discouraged by a number of advertisers
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, retailers, government (prominently school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s), and other public and secular organizations.
North America
Christmas Day is recognized as an official federal holidayFederal holiday
In the United States, a federal holiday is a public holiday recognized by the United States federal government. Non-essential federal government offices are closed...
by the United States government, and few have raised objections to this designation; however, many groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
and Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a group that advocates separation of church and state, a legal doctrine interpreted by AU as being enshrined in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.-Mission:The guiding principle of Americans...
, argue that government-funded displays of Christmas imagery and traditions violate the U.S. Constitution—specifically the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
, which prohibits the establishment by Congress of a national religion. The battle over whether religious displays should be placed within public schools, courthouses, and other government buildings, has been heated in recent years.
Supreme Court rulings starting with Lynch v. Donnelly
Lynch v. Donnelly
Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668 , was a case in the Supreme Court of the United States challenging the legality of holiday decorations on town property.-Background:...
in 1984 have permitted religious themes in government-funded Christmas displays that had "legitimate secular purposes." Since these rulings have been splintered and have left governments uncertain of their limits, many such displays have included secular elements such as reindeer, snowmen and elves along with the religious elements. Other recent court cases have brought up additional issues such as the inclusion of Christmas carols in public school performances, but none of these cases have reached the US Supreme Court.
A controversy regarding these issues arose in 2002, when the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
public school system banned the display of Nativity scene
Nativity scene
A nativity scene, manger scene, krippe, crèche, or crib, is a depiction of the birth of Jesus as described in the gospels of Matthew and Luke...
s, but allowed the display of supposedly less overtly religious symbols such as Christmas trees, Hanukkah
Hanukkah
Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
menorahs, and the Muslim star and crescent. The school system successfully defended its policy in Skoros v. City of New York (2006).
In December 2007, a controversy arose when a public school in Ottawa, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
planned to have the children in its primary choir sing a version of the song "Silver Bells" with the word "Christmas" replaced by "festive"; the concert also included the songs Candles of Christmas and It's Christmas with the original lyrics.
United Kingdom
In the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
there have been some minor controversies, one of the most famous being the temporary promotion of an extended winter holiday period including not just the normal Christmas festivities but other celebrations (in one year Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
and the Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
) as Winterval
Winterval
Winterval was a season of public events in Birmingham, England organised by Birmingham City Council in each of two consecutive winters: first from 20 November to 31 December 1997, and then again from mid-October 1998 to mid-January 1999...
by Birmingham City Council in the late 1990s. This remains a controversial example of "Christmas controversy" due to its prominent promotion of Christmas, as a religious event clearly called Christmas, as a part of the programme of Winterval events. A City council spokesman observed that:
- "...there was a banner saying Merry Christmas across the front of the council house, Christmas lights, Christmas trees in the main civil squares, regular carol-singing sessions by school choirs, and the Lord Mayor sent a Christmas card with a traditional Christmas scene wishing everyone a Merry Christmas"...
In November 2009 the city counsel of Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
was accused of banning Christmas because it promoted its celebrations as the Winter Night Light festival, initially with no specific references to Christianity. Local church leaders were invited to participate in the event, and they did.
Christmas tree controversies
Since the 1980s, there have been several instances in both the United States and Canada when official public mentions and references to Christmas treeChristmas tree
The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...
s were renamed to "holiday trees" for various reasons, mostly for an enforcement of separation of church and state
Separation of church and state
The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....
or a recognition of cultural and religious diversity. Reaction to such renamings has been mixed.
One of the most prominent Christmas tree controversies came in 2005, when the city of Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
labeled their official decorated tree as a holiday tree, and the subsequent response from the Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
n tree farmer who donated the tree was that he would rather have put the tree in a wood chipper than have it named a "holiday" tree.
Another controversy occurred in 2005 with the US builders hardware
Builders hardware
Builders' hardware, or just builders hardware, is a group of metal hardware specifically used for protection, decoration, and convenience in buildings. Building products do not make any part of a building, rather they support them and make them work. It usually supports fixtures like windows,...
retailer Lowe's
Lowe's
Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a U.S.-based chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores. Founded in 1946 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the chain now serves more than 14 million customers a week in its 1,710 stores in the United States and 20 in Canada. Expansion into Canada began in...
. Signage for their Christmas trees read "holiday trees" in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, but read árboles de Navidad (Christmas trees) in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
rather than árboles de feriados. In 2007, Lowe's started using the term "family tree", sparking protest from the American Family Association
American Family Association
The American Family Association is a 501 non-profit organization that promotes conservative Christian values, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion, as well as other public policy goals such as deregulation of the oil industry and lobbying against the Employee Free...
, but they have since claimed that this term was only a printing mistake.
In 2009 in Jerusalem, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
the Lobby for Jewish Values
Jewish lobby
The term Jewish lobby is used to describe organized lobbying attributed to Jews on domestic and foreign policy decisions, as a political participant of representative government, conducted predominantly in the Jewish diaspora in a number of Western countries...
with support of the Jerusalem Rabbinate
Chief Rabbinate of Israel
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is recognized by law as the supreme halakhic and spiritual authority for the Jewish people in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Council assists the two chief rabbis, who alternate in its presidency. It has legal and administrative authority to organize religious...
has handed out fliers condemning Christmas and have called for a boycott of restaurants and hotels that sell or put up Christmas trees and what the organization called "foolish" Christian symbols.
Reclamation of the term "Christmas tree"
In recent years, efforts have also been made to rename official public holiday trees back to Christmas trees. In 2002, a bill was introduced in the California Senate to rename the State Holiday Tree the California State Christmas Tree; while this measure failed, at the official lighting of the tree on December 4, 2007, California Governor Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
referred to the tree as a Christmas tree in his remarks and in the press release his office issued after the ceremony.
The Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
Senate had a heated debate in 2005 over whether the decorated tree in front of the Michigan Capitol would continue to be called a holiday tree (as it had been since the early 1990s) or named a Christmas tree. The question was revisited in 2006, when the bipartisan Michigan Capitol Committee voted unanimously to use the term Christmas tree. And in 2007, Wisconsin lawmakers considered whether to rename the tree in the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda, a holiday tree since 1985, the Wisconsin State Christmas Tree.
Retailer controversies
Since c. 2005, some non-profit organizations in the United States have petitioned for boycottBoycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
s of various prominent secular organizations, particularly retail giants, demanding that they use the term "Christmas" rather than solely "holiday" in their print, TV, online, and in-store marketing and advertising. Most of these boycotts were organized by the American Family Association
American Family Association
The American Family Association is a 501 non-profit organization that promotes conservative Christian values, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion, as well as other public policy goals such as deregulation of the oil industry and lobbying against the Employee Free...
, a private, non-profit group which promotes conservative Christian values.
2000s
- After threats of boycotting, the Sears Holdings CorporationSears Holdings CorporationSears Holdings Corporation is a retail conglomerate formed in 2005 by the merger of Sears, Roebuck and Co., of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, with Kmart Holdings Corporation, of Troy, Michigan...
(which owns SearsSears, Roebuck and CompanySears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...
and KmartKmartKmart, sometimes styled as "K-Mart," is a chain of discount department stores. The chain acquired Sears in 2005, forming a new corporation under the name Sears Holdings Corporation. The company was founded in 1962 and is the third largest discount store chain in the world, behind Wal-Mart and...
) altered their marketing policies from using the term "holiday" to using the term "Christmas." The change of policy included the distribution of "Merry Christmas" signs to stores nationwide, and the changing of all instances of the term "holiday" to "Christmas" on their website and in stores. Sears also included a "very Merry Christmas" greeting at their website from December 8 through December 26, 2005. Kmart opened the 2006 Christmas season with their slogan "Where ChristmasChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
comes together", and several commercials acknowledging Christmas, including one with the tune to "Hark! The Herald Angels SingHark! The Herald Angels Sing“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is a Christmas carol that first appeared in 1739 in the collection Hymns and Sacred Poems, having been written by Charles Wesley. This is not the version widely known today. A sombre man, Wesley had requested and received slow and solemn music for his lyrics, not the...
".
- In 2005, Wal-MartWal-MartWal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
was criticized by the Catholic LeagueCatholic League (U.S.)The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, often shortened to the Catholic League, is an American Catholic anti-defamation and civil rights organization...
for avoiding the word "Christmas" in any of their marketing efforts." The company had downplayed the term "Christmas" in much of its advertising for several years. This caused some backlash among the public, prompting some groups to pass around petitionPetitionA petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
s and threaten boycottBoycottA boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
s against the company, as well as several other prominent retailers that practiced similar obscurations of the holiday. In 2006, in response to the public outcry, Wal-Mart announced that they were amending their policy and would be using "Christmas" rather than "holiday". Among the changes, they noted that the former "Holiday Shop" would become the "Christmas Shop", and that there would be a "countin' down the days to Christmas" feature.
- In 2005, Target CorporationTarget CorporationTarget Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
was criticized by the American Family AssociationAmerican Family AssociationThe American Family Association is a 501 non-profit organization that promotes conservative Christian values, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion, as well as other public policy goals such as deregulation of the oil industry and lobbying against the Employee Free...
for their decision not to use the term "Christmas" in any of their in-store, online, or print advertising. The AFA initiated a nation-wide boycott of the Target Corporation, resulting in over 700,000 petition signatures, all of which were individually sent to Target customer serviceCustomer serviceCustomer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.According to Turban et al. , “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer...
. Within a week of initiating the boycott, the AFA received an official letter from Target which indicated that they would begin incorporating the term "Christmas" in their advertising: "Over the course of the next few weeks, our advertising, marketing and merchandising will become more specific to the holiday that is approaching – referring directly to holidays like Christmas and HanukkahHanukkahHanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
. For example, you will see reference to Christmas in select television commercials, circulars and in-store signage.".
- When it was revealed in November 2006 that Wal-Mart would be using the term "Christmas" in their advertising campaign, an article about the issue initiated by USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
pointed out that Best Buy Corporation would be among the retailers that would not be using "Christmas" at all in their advertising that year. Dawn Bryant, a Best Buy spokeswoman, stated: "We are going to continue to use the term holiday because there are several holidays throughout that time period, and we certainly need to be respectful of all of them." The American Family Association launched a campaign against Best Buy's policy. In reaction to the same policy, the Catholic LeagueCatholic League (U.S.)The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, often shortened to the Catholic League, is an American Catholic anti-defamation and civil rights organization...
placed Best Buy on its 2006 Christmas Watch List.
- In late October 2008, US hardware retailer The Home DepotThe Home DepotThe Home Depot is an American retailer of home improvement and construction products and services.The Home Depot operates 2,248 big-box format stores across the United States , Canada , Mexico and China, with a 12-store chain...
was criticized by the American Family AssociationAmerican Family AssociationThe American Family Association is a 501 non-profit organization that promotes conservative Christian values, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion, as well as other public policy goals such as deregulation of the oil industry and lobbying against the Employee Free...
for using terms such as "holiday" and "HanukkahHanukkahHanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
" on their website, but avoiding the term "Christmas". The retailer responded by saying they will be adjusting their website to make references to Christmas more prominent. It was later claimed by Snopes.com that the AFA's characterization of Home Depot's advertising was false, as the retailer's advertising had initially included several references to the word "Christmas".
- On November 11, 2009, the American Family Association called for a "limited two-month boycottBoycottA boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
" of Gap, IncGap (clothing retailer)The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008,...
over what they claimed was the "company's censorship of the word Christmas." In an advertising campaign launched by Gap on November 12, the term "Christmas" was both spoken and printed on their website at least once, and was part of a television ad campaign sungSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
as: "Go Christmas, Go Hanukkah, Go Kwanzaa, Go solstice... go Christmas, go Hanukkah, go whatever holiday you Wannakuh". On November 17, AFA responded to this campaign by condemning the ads for references to the "pagan holiday" of solsticeWinter solsticeWinter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film...
, and declined to call off the boycott. On November 24, Gap responded to AFA's initial boycott, stating that they will launch a new television commercial on ThanksgivingThanksgiving (United States)Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
weekend that will have a "very strong Christmas theme",. The AFA then ended their boycott of Gap.
2010s
- On November 24, 2010, the branch manager of Chase Bank in Southlake, TX (northeast of Fort Worth) told Antonio Morales that a Christmas tree he had donated to the branch had to be taken down; per JPMorgan Chase's policy to use only decorations supplied by the company. Bank spokes person, Greg Hassell, stated that the company provided decorations are designed to be "something everyone is comfortable with, regardless of how they celebrate the season."
- Wachovia Bank, for a short period, implemented a policy to ban all Christmas trees from their local branches. This policy offended many customers prompting Wachovia to change its policy and allow Christmas trees to be displayed.
- In November 2010, the word 'Christmas' on two signs at Philadelphia's Christmas VillageChristmas Village, PhiladelphiaChristmas Village in Philadelphia is an annual outdoor holiday market event held at Dilworth Plaza on the west side of City Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve...
was removed by the organizers after complaints, but restored three days later after the mayor intervened.
Puritan era
The first documented Christmas controversy was Christian-led, and began during the English InterregnumEnglish Interregnum
The English Interregnum was the period of parliamentary and military rule by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the Commonwealth of England after the English Civil War...
, when England was ruled by a Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
. Puritans (including those who fled to America) sought to remove elements they viewed as "pagan" (because they were not biblical in origin) from Christianity (see Pre-Christianity below). During this period, the English Parliament banned the celebration of Christmas entirely, replacing it with a day of fasting and considering it "a popish festival with no biblical justification", and a time of wasteful and immoral behavior.
The Army were sent to raid homes and confiscate any cooked meat. This led to such resentment that it provoked riots in Kent, leading to the Second Civil War
Second Civil War
The Second Civil War may refer to:* Second Congo War , also referred to as a civil war* Second English Civil War * Second Liberian Civil War * Second Sudanese Civil War...
and the Siege of Colchester
Siege of Colchester
The siege of Colchester occurred in the summer of 1648 when the English Civil War reignited in several areas of Britain. Colchester found itself in the thick of the unrest when a Royalist army on its way through East Anglia to raise support for the King, was attacked by Lord-General Thomas Fairfax...
. Indeed Christmas only became a legal holiday in Scotland in 1967, after the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
finally relaxed its objections.
During the colonial period, celebrating Christmas was punishable by a fine and in 1776 it was still not widely celebrated.
Pre-Christianity
There is also controversy concerning the precise date of December 25 as the presumed birthday of Jesus. The 25th of December was the date of the winter solsticeWinter solstice
Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film...
in ancient times (before subsequent drift due to chronological errors in the Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
eventually left the solstice on its present date of December 21.) As such, many pagan winter holidays occurred on this date, which marks the shortest day of the year and the point where the days become longer again. Many customs from these holidays, particularly from the pagan Scandinavian
Norse paganism
Norse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...
and Germanic celebration of Yule
Yule
Yule or Yuletide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...
in northern Europe, are transparently present in later Christmas customs, suggesting that the date was appropriated directly from pagan customs and given a Christian veneer rather than being the true birthday of Jesus.
The pagan Scandinavian
Norse paganism
Norse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...
and Germanic people of northern Europe celebrated a 12 day long "midwinter" (winter solstice
Winter solstice
Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film...
) holiday called Yule
Yule
Yule or Yuletide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...
(also called Jul, Julblot, jólablót, midvinterblot
Midvinterblot
Midvinterblot is a painting created for the hall of the central staircase in Nationalmuseum in Stockholm by the Swedish painter Carl Larsson in 1915. It is Sweden's most debated painting....
, julofferfest) beginning on December 25. Many modern Christmas traditions, such as the Christmas tree
Christmas tree
The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...
, the Christmas wreath, the Yule log
Yule log
A Yule log is a large and extremely hard log which is burned in the hearth as a part of traditional Yule or Christmas celebrations in several European cultures...
, and others, are direct descendents of Yule customs. As Northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
was the last part to Christianize, its pagan traditions had a major influence on Christmas. Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul. In English, the word Yule
Yule
Yule or Yuletide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...
is synonymous with Christmas, a usage first recorded in 900. It is believed that the celebration of this day was a worship of these peculiar days interpreted as the re-awakening of nature. The Yule
Yule
Yule or Yuletide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...
(Jul) particular God was Jólner, which is one of Odin's
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
many names.
The concept of Yule
Yule
Yule or Yuletide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...
(Jul) occurs in a tribute poem to Harold Hårfager
Harald I of Norway
Harald Fairhair or Harald Finehair , , son of Halfdan the Black, was the first king of Norway.-Background:Little is known of the historical Harald...
from about AD 900, where someone said "drinking Jul". Julblot is the most solemn sacrifice feast. At the “julblotet”, sacrifices were given to the gods to earn blessing on the forthcoming germinating crops. Julblotet was eventually integrated into the Christian Christmas. As a remainder from this Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
era the Midsummer
Midsummer
Midsummer may simply refer to the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, but more often refers to specific European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice, or that take place on a day between June 21 and June 24, and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between different...
is still important in Scandinavia and hence vividly celebrated.
Sol Invictus
Sol Invictus
Sol Invictus was the official sun god of the later Roman empire. In 274 Aurelian made it an official cult alongside the traditional Roman cults. Scholars disagree whether the new deity was a refoundation of the ancient Latin cult of Sol, a revival of the cult of Elagabalus or completely new...
("The Unconquerable Sun"), was originally a Syrian god who was later adopted as the chief god of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
under Emperor Aurelian
Aurelian
Aurelian , was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following...
. His holiday is traditionally celebrated on the 25th of December, as are several gods associated with the winter solstice
Winter solstice
Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film...
in many pagan traditions. It is highly unlikely that December 25 was simply set aside for celebration by the early Christians, since Jesus' exact birthday was unknown.
Protestantism
Prior to the Victorian eraVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, Christmas in the United States was primarily a religious holiday observed by Roman Catholics, Episcopalian
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
s, and Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
s. Its importance was often considered secondary to that of Epiphany
Epiphany (Christian)
Epiphany, or Theophany, meaning "vision of God",...
and Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
.
As was the case with other Christian holidays, Christmas borrowed elements from Pagan peoples, including yule
Yule
Yule or Yuletide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...
logs, decorations such as candle
Candle
A candle is a solid block or cylinder of wax with an embedded wick, which is lit to provide light, and sometimes heat.Today, most candles are made from paraffin. Candles can also be made from beeswax, soy, other plant waxes, and tallow...
s, holly
Holly
Ilex) is a genus of 400 to 600 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. The species are evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs, and climbers from tropics to temperate zones world wide....
, and mistletoe
Mistletoe
Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemi-parasitic plants in several families in the order Santalales. The plants in question grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub.-Mistletoe in the genus Viscum:...
. Christmas tree
Christmas tree
The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...
s were seen as Pagan in origin. Cited as proof is Jeremiah
Book of Jeremiah
The Book of Jeremiah is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the book of Isaiah and preceding Ezekiel and the Book of the Twelve....
, 10:3-4, which states, "For the customs of the peoples are false: a tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan. People deck it with silver and gold they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move."
The Advent
Advent
Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...
period (originally a fasting period meant to point to the Second Coming of Christ), and gift giving (invented by Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
to counter St. Nicholas Day, 6 December) were also Pagan in origin.
During the various Protestant reformations, these paganizing elements were a source of controversy. Some sects, such as the Puritans, rejected Christmas as an entirely Pagan holiday. Others rejected certain aspects of Christmas as paganizing, but wanted to retain the "essence" of the holiday as a celebration of the Christ's birth. This tension put in motion an ongoing debate within Christianity about the proper observance of Christmas.
19th century
According to historian Ronald HuttonRonald Hutton
Ronald Hutton is an English historian who specializes in the study of Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and contemporary Paganism. A reader in the subject at the University of Bristol, Hutton has published fourteen books and has appeared on British television and radio...
, the current state of observance of Christmas is largely the result of a mid-Victorian revival of the holiday spearheaded by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
. In A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
, Hutton argues, Dickens sought to construct Christmas as a family-centered festival of generosity, in contrast to the community-based and church-centered observations, the observance of which had dwindled during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Christmas was not proclaimed a holiday by US congress until 1870.
Early 20th century
In the early 20th century, Christian writers such as C. S. LewisC. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
had already noted a distinct split between the religious and secular observance of Christmas. In Xmas and Christmas: A Lost Chapter from Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
, Lewis gives a satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
of the observance of two simultaneous holidays in "Niatirb" (Britain backwards) from the supposed view of the Greek historian and traveller. One, "Exmas", is observed by a flurry of compulsory commercial activity and expensive indulgence in alcoholic beverage
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
s. The other, "Crissmas," is observed in Niatirb's temples. Lewis's narrator asks a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
why they kept Crissmas on the same day as Exmas. He receives the reply:
- "It is not lawful, O Stranger, for us to change the date of Crissmas, but would that Zeus would put it into the minds of the Niatirbians to keep Exmas at some other time or not to keep it at all. For Exmas and the Rush distract the minds even of the few from sacred things. And we indeed are glad that men should make merry at Crissmas; but in Exmas there is no merriment left." And when I asked him why they endured the Rush, he replied, "It is, O Stranger, a racket. . . "
The December 1957 News and Views published by the Church League of America, an organization co-founded in 1937 by George Washington Robnett attacked the use of Xmas
Xmas
"Xmas" is a common abbreviation of the word "Christmas". It is sometimes pronounced , but it, and variants such as "Xtemass", originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation...
in an article titled "X=The Unknown Quantity." The claims were picked up later by Gerald L. K. Smith
Gerald L. K. Smith
Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith was an American clergyman and political organizer, who became a leader of the Share Our Wealth movement during the Great Depression and later the Christian Nationalist Crusade...
who in December 1966 claimed that Xmas was a "blasphemous omission of the name of Christ" and that "'X' is referred to as being symbolical of the unknown quantity." Smith further argued that Jews introduced Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
to suppress the New Testament accounts of Jesus, and that the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
at the behest of "world Jewry" had "outlawed the name of Christ." There is, however, a well documented history of use of Χ (actually a chi
Chi (letter)
Chi is the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet, pronounced as in English.-Greek:-Ancient Greek:Its value in Ancient Greek was an aspirated velar stop .-Koine Greek:...
) as an abbreviation for "Christ" (Χριστός) and possibly also a symbol of the cross.
The Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and certain other Communist regimes banned overtly religious Christmas observances. Most customs traditionally associated with Christmas (like decorated trees, presents, and Ded Moroz
Ded Moroz
Ded Moroz is a fictional character who in some Slavic cultures plays a role similar to that of Santa Claus. The literal translation of the name would be Grandfather Frost, although the name is often translated as Father Frost....
) were later reinstated in Soviet society, but tied to New Year's Day
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...
instead; this tradition remains as of the present day. It should however be noted that most Russian Christians are of the Orthodox community, whose religious festivals (Christmas, Easter etc.), do not necessarily coincide precisely with those of the main western Christian churches (Catholic or Protestant).
Certain Christian denominations continue to reject the holiday for theological reasons. Some of these groups include Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
, Amish Mennonites
Amish Mennonite
Amish Mennonites are a Christian church or constituency of Anabaptist heritage, that came into existence as a result of a division which took place in the Mennonite churches of Southern Germany, Eastern France and Switzerland in the late 17th century....
, most sabbatarian
Biblical Sabbath
Sabbath in the Bible is usually a weekly day of rest and time of worship. The Sabbath is first mentioned in the Genesis creation narrative. The seventh day is there set aside as a day of rest—the Sabbath. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in...
denominations such as the True Jesus Church
True Jesus Church
The True Jesus Church is a non-denominational Christian church that originated in Beijing, China, in 1917. The current elected chairman of the TJC International Assembly is Preacher Yong-Ji Lin. Today, there are approximately 2.5 million members in fifty three countries and six continents...
and the Church of God (7th-Day)
General Conference of the Church of God (Seventh-Day)
The General Conference of the Church of God , or simply Church of God or CoG7, is a seventh-day Sabbath-keeping Christian denomination...
, and the Iglesia ni Cristo
Iglesia ni Cristo
Iglesia ni Cristo also known as INC, is the largest entirely indigenous Christian religious organization that originated from the Philippines and the largest independent church in Asia. Due to a number of similarities, some Protestant writers describe the INC's doctrines as restorationist in...
, as well as certain Reformed
Reformed churches
The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations characterized by Calvinist doctrines. They are descended from the Swiss Reformation inaugurated by Huldrych Zwingli but developed more coherently by Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger and especially John Calvin...
and fundamentalist
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
churches of various persuasions including some Independent Baptist
Independent Baptist
Independent Baptist churches are Christian churches generally holding to conservative Baptist beliefs. They are characterized by being independent from the authority of denominations or similar bodies. Members of such churches comprised three percent of the United States adult population according...
, Holiness
Holiness movement
The holiness movement refers to a set of beliefs and practices emerging from the Methodist Christian church in the mid 19th century. The movement is distinguished by its emphasis on John Wesley's doctrine of "Christian perfection" - the belief that it is possible to live free of voluntary sin - and...
, and Apostolic Pentecostal
Oneness Pentecostalism
Oneness Pentecostalism refers to a grouping of denominations and believers within Pentecostal Christianity, all of whom subscribe to the nontrinitarian theological doctrine of Oneness...
congregations.
See also
- Christmas and holiday season
- Culture warCulture warThe culture war in American usage is a metaphor used to claim that political conflict is based on sets of conflicting cultural values. The term frequently implies a conflict between those values considered traditionalist or conservative and those considered progressive or liberal...
- List of wars on concepts
- Political correctnessPolitical correctnessPolitical correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
- Santa Claus for entry on the Christian opposition to Santa Claus
- Separation of church and stateSeparation of church and stateThe concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....
- WintervalWintervalWinterval was a season of public events in Birmingham, England organised by Birmingham City Council in each of two consecutive winters: first from 20 November to 31 December 1997, and then again from mid-October 1998 to mid-January 1999...
External links
- Naughty & Nice: A History of the Holiday Season: Public radio program explores the contentious history of Christmas and other winter holidays in America
- I'm Dreaming of a Right Christmas Vision MagazineVision MagazineVision Magazine is the official independent student publication of the University of Santo Tomas College of Architecture. It is the longest-running publication for architecture, design, and the arts in the Philippines and the first collegiate journal for architecture in the country...
facts about Christmas - Christmas - an untold story The United Church of GodUnited Church of GodThe United Church of God, an International Association is a Christian denomination based in the United States with members in various countries around the world...
arguments against current manner of celebrating Christmas. - "It's Time for the Annual War on Christmas an argument denying the existence of a war on Christmas".
- "How the secular humanist grinch didn't steal Christmas" An article analyzing the so-called "war on Christmas" and arguing that it is not an actual movement but rather a creation of right-wing conservatives designed to advance their political goals.