Is it Ok to Celebrate Christmas, Even If You’re Not a Christian?

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Valerie Tarico

Pine ConesI just love Christmas!”  my friend Hannah confessed recently, “even though I’m appalled by Christianity.”  She sounded sheepish, as if loving Christmas somehow made her bad.

Poor Hannah.  I understand her tone of apology.  What Hannah is appalled by isn’t the broad range of kind, thoughtful Christians in her community, but rather the thin cruel theologies that drive the Evangelical Right.  People like Bill O’Reilly have claimed Christmas for their own–deriding broader holiday traditions.  “It’s about Jesus!”  They cry loudly. “Jesus is the reason for the season!”   “It’s a Christian holiday (and this is a Christian country)!”  Who wants to be associated with O’Reilly and his minions?

Hannah’s Christmas isn’t about Jesus, and she doesn’t want to lend power to fundamentalists by joining in something they have defined as their celebration.   But she needn’t fear.   Jesus isn’t the reason for the season.

Yes, December 25 has become the time that Christians express the joy that comes from a sense of unearned forgiveness and unconditional love.  It is a time when they relish the community of believers and family, and they look forward to a future when peace and joy will reign on earth “as they do in heaven” and the lion will lie down with the lamb.  And for them, this is the very heart of the holiday.

That said, the Catholic Church chose December 25th  (Winter Solstice in the Julian Calendar) to honor the birthday of the Christ for a very specific reason:  It was already a well loved holiday – a time of revelry, gift giving, and yes, celebrating the birthdays of gods

Early Christians recognized this:   Fourth Century Bishop John Chrysostom wrote: “On this day also the Birthday of Christ was lately fixed at Rome in order that while the heathen were busy with their profane ceremonies, the Christians might perform their sacred rites undisturbed. They call this (December 25th), the Birthday of the Invincible One (Mithras); but who is so invincible as the Lord? They call it the Birthday of the Solar Disk, but Christ is the Sun of Righteousness.”(The Fourth Century is our first record of a December Christ-mass celebration.)

Not only did earlier generations of Christians recognize this, some of them were offended by the holiday’s Pagan associations.   Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell outlawed the celebration in England, and his prohibition against Christmas was kept by the Puritan colonies in the New World.  Even Baptists in times past condemned the holiday, and to this day Jehovah’s witnesses and some other fundamentalists perceive it as contrary to Christian teachings.   And not without reason.

Christmas appears to have its roots in two Roman holidays:  Saturnalia (December 17-23) and Sol Invictus (December 25)  Saturnalia, the feast of the god Saturn, is said to have been the most popular holiday of the Roman calendar. People celebrated with visits to friends and giving gifts, particularly wax candles (cerei), that may have represented the return of light after the solstice.  Natalis Sol Invictus (Birthday of the Unconquered Sun) is when the births of solar deities were celebrated including Sol, Attis and the Persian Mithras (who was, incidentally, born of a virgin). At the time of Constantine, the cult of Sol Invictus was the official religion of the Roman Empire. Small wonder, then, that he pronounced the 25th as the birthday of Jesus, center of the new official religion. (Excellent article here.)

The ways we celebrate Christmas reflect the intuitive, creative ways in which all human cultures and religions borrow, blend and adapt. We find what fits and make it our own.  It’s why French bread and coffee are part of Vietnamese cuisine.  It’s why T-shirts are popular in Kenya.  It’s why Egyptian hieroglyphs morphed into a Roman alphabet which then made its way around the planet.

My guess is that virtually everything Hannah loves about Christmas has roots that extend through and beyond the Christian tradition.  Here are just a few for fun.

  • Yule log – Ancient Norse tribes used  the yule log to celebrate Thor.  The term “Yule” itself may mean “wheel,” referring to the sun and its cycle of return.
  • Holly – This plant has been special to many people.  It was thought to ward off witches by Celts, and was used in Roman Saturnalia festivities.
  • Evergreen boughs – Branches from evergreens symbolized everlasting life for Romans, Germanic tribes and Vikings.
  • Mistletoe – This parasitic vine also known as “All heal” was sacred to Druids, because it grew in the sacred oak tree.  Early Europeans left it hung in the house all year to ward off fire and lightning.
  • Decorated trees – Uncut, outdoor trees were decorated by European Pagans and Druids at solstice.  (The custom of cutting trees was brought to America by German immigrants and became popular during the 19th Century
  • Twelve Days of Christmas – The sacred significance of the number twelve traces its roots back to ancient Babylonian star worship.  It made its way into a 12 day Egyptian solstice festival, the early Hebrew religion (12 tribes of Judah), the Roman calendar (12 months), early Christianity (12 apostles) and –low and behold—modern star worship (12 signs of the zodiac).

So, I say to my friend Hannah:  Love any Christmas tradition that is dear to you, including the ones that originated in Christian cultures and stories.  And no more apologies!  We all are borrowers, and especially at this time when people around the world celebrate the renewal of warmth, light, and life, we are all the richer for it.

Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington. She is the author of Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light and Deas and Other Imaginings, and the founder of www.WisdomCommons.org.  Subscribe to her articles at Awaypoint.Wordpress.com.

Related:
Ancient Mythic Origins of the Christmas Story
Celebrating Love and Light:  Ten Holiday Tips for the Post Religious
12 Christmas Traditions That Aren’t About God or Shopping

Posted in Musings & Rants: Life, Parenting, Relationships | 2 Comments

Reason’s Greetings

Posted on December 4, 2008 by Valerie Tarico

Bill O’Reilly is in heaven, because the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has given him a platform from which to launch his latest series of tirades about “The War on ChristmasTM.”   Alongside a manger scene and a holiday tree, the executive office building in Washington State now has a plaque that says, “At this season of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail.”  It goes on to add: “There are no gods, no devils or angels, no heaven or hell.  There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.” The sign was placed by ex-evangelist Dan Barker (author of Godless) on behalf of Washington members of the FFRF, an organization that works largely on separation of church and state.

As nontheist and a Washington State member of the FFRF, I have mixed feelings about the sign.  Not about the fact that it exists, mind you.  Our governor and attorney general have issued a joint statement:

The U.S. Supreme Court has been consistent and clear that, under the Constitution’s First Amendment, once government admits one religious display or viewpoint onto public property, it may not discriminate against the content of other displays, including the viewpoints of nonbelievers.

Well, thank goodness! 

For years Evangelical fundamentalists have driven their beliefs into the public square in the form of failed apocalyptic foreign policies, failed abstinence only sex ed, failed manufactroversies about climate change and evolution, and a failed bid to install a dominionist ditz in the vice presidency.  Many of us—Christians and nonChristians alike, are tired of their astounding sense of entitlement and frightened by how far it has gotten them.

That said, the sign is pretty in-your-face.  All right.  Very.

I honor Dan Barker’s work to call attention to the dark side of religion.  Month after month, he and his wife Annie Laurie Gaylor defend kids who are tormented at school because they aren’t Christians.  They give voice to young freethinkers.  They file anti-discrimination lawsuits.  They labor to keep science classes rigorous and social services fair. They compile news articles about fraud and violence and sexual abuse committed in the names of gods—and they can show you stacks of evidence that Catholic priests are not outliers.

I honor their work so much that I support it, and I gave up my Monday evening to interview Dan for a Seattle Community Access show called Moral Politics.  But, still, I have to ask, wasn’t the first sentence enough?

Throughout recorded history, winter solstice has been a time to celebrate.  Ancient agricultural cultures gave sacred significance to the return of light, the budding of new plant and animal life, a new cycle of plenty.  Their festivals had names such as Saturnalia, Yule and Lucia.  Some of them are celebrated to this day.  It was the special significance of the winter solstice that caused the Christian church to designate it as the birthday of Jesus.  Not only did it have the perfect connotations, representing as it did, the death and resurrection of the sun, it was already established as a birthday of gods. Prior to or during the time of Jesus, the Roman Attis, the Greek Dionysus, the Persian Mithra, and the Egyptian Osiris all had their birthdays celebrated on December 25.  Solstice really is the reason for the season. 

I wish that the FFRF had simply given secular voice to the wonder we all feel when, in the dark of winter, we experience the promise of warmth and beauty and new life.

December 4, 2008    Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and author in Seattle, Washington.  Her book The Dark Side, describes the rational and moral contradictions that caused her to abandon Evangelical fundamentalism. She is founder of www.WisdomCommons.org. 

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Mutts Like Me

Posted on November 9, 2008 by Valerie Tarico

As a psychologist and former language student, I have often thought that a key factor perpetuating tribal racial identity is that we don’t have a good label for the growing percent of the world’s population that is multi-heritage.  If we did, the number of people fitting and adopting this label would swell over time.  Then, racial tribalism and concomitant tribal violence might be just a tad harder for demagogues to conjure. 

 

While a friend and I waited for the election returns on the unforgettable Fourth, we discussed this issue, and we played around with various coined words–mult, mu-he, etc.– none of which had any appeal.  Finally she commented that we should simply use the word "mutt."  I laughed because I have called my own heritage "Northern European mutt" for years. 

 

But then I actually started wondering if it might have potential.  There can be power in serenely or playfully or proudly adopting a term that by tradition is belittling.  Think Yankee. 

 

As far as that goes, mutt is pretty benign and has a fair number of positive connotations for the millions of us who have adored one.  Mutts are often stronger, healthier and smarter than purebreds.  They tend to live longer.  They surprise you more.  They’re less prone to neuroses and other kinds of twitchiness.  They’re about substance rather than style; personality rather than sheen.  They’re adaptable.  And nobody freaks if they get scruffy, as long as they get the ball. 

 

Now, as if I weren’t already madly in love with the character and mind of our new president, he goes and calls himself a mutt. Might Obama’s opener, with help that is already emerging among the netroots give yet another impetus to the identity shift that is already happening? I suddenly want a mutt t-shirt, even though I may not deserve one– in-bred, white bread, and twitchy as I am. Maybe the best I can hope for is to look on in envy and delight when my twinkle-in-the-eye grandchildren get to check "mutt" on their census forms.

 

Valerie Tarico, Ph.D.

Seattle

November 8, 2008

Valerie Tarico is the author of The Dark Side:  How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth, and founder of www.WisdomCommons.org

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Two Stadiums Where Religion Made the World Worse

Posted on November 9, 2008 by Valerie Tarico

This gallery contains 1 photo.

November 9, 2008. Within a few days of each other last week, on opposite sides of the world, on opposite ends of the wealth and privilege spectrums, the faithful filled two stadiums. In  one, in Kismayo, Somalia, 1000 Muslim believers … Continue reading →

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Morality and Spirituality: How Communication Technologies Define the Dialogue

Posted on November 9, 2008 by Valerie Tarico

When moral and spiritual ideas were handed down via oral tradition, they could evolve with the cultural and technological context in which they existed.  Some stories were repeated often around the fire while others, less favored, eventually faded into the hazy past.  Uninteresting details might be omitted by a storyteller, others elaborated.  New implications might be extracted—rules, roles, and ideas about the natural world–depending on the needs of the era.  The gods themselves matured.

 

The advent of writing changed this.  On the one hand, writing was one of humanity’s most powerful inventions.  It allowed information to be transmitted directly between people who didn’t know each other.  It allowed knowledge to accumulate.  But it also allowed ideas –especially those that couldn’t be tested—to stagnate.  Written words are frozen in time, a snapshot of the mind of the writer at a specific point in history.  Allegiance to a set of civic, moral or spiritual writings allows a person or a group of people to become developmentally arrested, bound to the insights and limitations of the authors.

 

Canonization, the process by which an authoritative body designates a specific set of writings as complete, perfect, or more holy than all others, makes this worse.  Prior to canonization, a single fragment of text may be static but the mix can evolve, with some documents moving to the fore and others falling out of favor, perhaps being lost altogether.  Canonization freezes the mix, giving priority not only to the written word, but to a specific set of written words that have received the blessing of a specific human hierarchy. 

 

Ironically, the invention of the printing press, a world changing wonder insomuch as it accelerated the growth and spread of human knowledge, made even worse the opportunities for developmental arrest.  By making a static set of sacred texts widely available, it removed yet another form of flexibility and spiritual/moral growth.  Clergy could no longer selectively emphasize those canonical texts that fit the moral consciousness of a given time period (omitting the rest), without losing their authority in the minds of many adherents.   Some scholars have suggested that fundamentalism had its birth in the invention of the printing press, and that its spread across the planet region by region, religion by religion, has paralleled the growth of literacy.

 

This leads to two conclusions:

 

1:  Religious fundamentalism, a phenomenon that many consider one of the top current threats to our longevity as a species, can be thought of as problem of communication technology.  Specifically, it may be thought of as book worship or, in religious terms, bibliolatry.   Recall that an idol is an object (shaped by human minds and hands) that attempts to represent and communicate the essence of divinity.  For pre-literate people, statues, images, icons, and sacred spaces filled this role.   In an age of mobility and literacy, what better idol than a book?  And what more likely idolatry than bibliolatry?

 

2:  As a problem that originated in communications technology, the nuclear standoff of tribal fundamentalisms in which we live may be transcended also by communications technology.  Problems introduced by technological evolution frequently are solved by further technological evolution.  In fact, I might argue that they are rarely solved otherwise. 

 

In this light it is tremendously exciting that now, for the first time in human history, we have communication technologies that combine the best of oral tradition and the written word.  For the first time, utter strangers thousands of miles apart can exchange ideas and information via living documents that evolve continuously.

 

A book, they say, is out of date the day it is in print.  Not so with the Web.  Web 2.0 allows an individual text to evolve the way that oral instruction once did.  Wikipedia articles change daily as new information becomes available.  The Web also re-opens evolution at the level of the collection—a rich, indexed, ever-changing library replaces a canonical list of authoritative texts. 

 

Savvy, entrepreneurial fundamentalists have latched onto new web technologies as a means of dispersing the words and world view of our Bronze Age ancestors, just as their ideological forebears did with the printing press.   But in their devotion to this world view they miss the stunning opportunity we have been given. 

 

Now as never before we have the means to honor not the answers of our spiritual ancestors but their questions:  What is Real?  What is Good?  How can we live in moral community with each other?  Because we have moved beyond the age of the book and of sacred books, we have the means to make this a conversation, not of a priestly class nor of a single culture, but of scholars and seekers and life lovers from every part of this precious planet.  Together we can take the conversation from where it got stuck and set it free once more to flow forward on the currents of human need and knowledge.  

 

Valerie Tarico, Ph.D.

Seattle, 2008

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.–Basho

http://www.wisdomcommons.org

 

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