Christmas has been cancelled
Now that December is here, I can talk about Christmas.
The big news is that it has been moved.
December the 25th is no longer Christmas Day.
Starting from this year [so that we can conveniently ignore the upcoming one] Christmas Day now falls on September 11th.
Why?
For a start, December 25th has nothing whatsoever to do with the birth of Christ. Analysis of the bible and of astronomy [not astrology] shows that the most accurate estimate of the birth of Christ is between September 3rd and September 11th. The only reason it is celebrated in December is that the early Christians were jealous of the success of the Roman feast of Saturnalia, and the Pagan feast of Midwinter. So they decided to plonk Christmas in there, just to hi-jack it.
In fact, there is almost nothing Christian about Christmas. Christmas tree? Pagan. Holly and ivy? Pagan. Santa Claus? Coca Cola! You name it, it is probably Pagan in origin.
So let’s call Christmas for what it really is – a brash orgy of consumerism to celebrate mid-winter. I have no problem with that. I love December 21st because it means the days are going to get longer, and spring is on it’s way.
Why pick September 11th?
Why not? It is a hell of a lot more accurate than December, and it will have the added bonus of distracting the Americans from whinging about the World Trade Centre. [Get over it, lads – it was six years ago and other countries have suffered far worse atrocities].
I say it is a damn good idea.
What say you?
Grandad, I celebrate Christmas on 7th January(Julian Calendar) and I would leave it as it is at the moment since back at home, it’s not about consumerism, it really is traditional and modest holiday.
But when people get more money things might change! 🙂
I do support the reasons behind the Sep 11 suggestion!
Christmas has become so commercial and in reality we like gifts, but relationships are more important. A present laden tree might seem magical but the magic fades once the day is over and the presents are removed.
Will changing the date help?
Give loved ones a memory this year. Memories are not just for Christmas but for a lifetime!
Grandad,
It’s the first day of Advent today – a wonderful season of light and reflection. The liturgical colours are a penitential purple.
I’d be delighted if the advertisers and the retailers revived Saturnalia and left the Christians to celebrate their festival in peace.
Lunja – You are moving in the right direction 😉 I just wish it could be a quiet, modest, traditional holiday here.
Grannymar – I couldn’t agree with you more. If the two [Christmas and Midwinter] could be separated, then we could have a quiet Christmas with family and friends, and a consumerfest at Midwinter.
Ian – You’re the expert on the subject. I know shifting Christmas would muck up the Liturgical Calender somewhat [blame the early Christians, not me], but I would love to see Christmas revert to a quiet time for families and friends.
Hear! Hear! Grandad
‘Tis the Season to refuse to be jolly
Tra la la la la… la la la laa!
Shifting Christmas wouldn’t muck up the liturgical calendar much. It mostly depends on the date of Easter – which determines the dates for Lent and Pentecost. The earliest Christians did not celebrate Christmas and when I was in the North there would still have been evangelical churches that didn’t have a service on Christmas Day.
The horrible Americanism ‘Happy Holidays’ is fine with me – if it’s Saturnalia they’re celebrating, they might as well be honest.
Lots of the Christian stuff has no biblical basis, but was tradition developed by the church.
Bet you don’t know how many Magi there were! (Look at Matthew Chapter 2 and see how much embroidering there has been)
Ian – I always cringe when anyone wishes me a Happy Anything, be it a birthday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day or whatever – simply because it implies they wish me misery every other day! I wish everyone a happy day that’s in it [i.e. every day].
If I said three Magi, you’d shoot me down [I know when I’m being set up!!]. Traditionally, they were Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, but like most things, there are huge question marks……
I think Christmas has certainly been cancelled as far as the yanks are concerned. Every year at this time are streams of reports about how some town over there have banned the word Christmas for fear it might offend someone of a different religion. It’s getting worse this year.
Seems that then entire country aren’t allowed to call christmas trees well, christmas trees. They must call them holiday trees!
Only matter of time before the same shite happens over here and I suppose I’m all for it as I hate christmas with a passion. All that unnecessary expense, greed and gluttony while in the mean time in our own very towns there are plenty of people for whom christmas is quite possibly when they are at their lowest point. They might not have the circumstances to provide for their families the way the television and media adverts are telling them they should be.
For everyone planning on a big spend this christmas I would urge you to think of those less fortunate than ourselves and consider making a donation to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. You never know but your own christmas might be all the better knowing that you have made someone elses just that little bit better.
In 2006 alone they spent over €41.3m helping those who needed help the most. Especially at this time of the year.
Would I set you up?
There is no mention of how many Magi there were – it just says that wise men from the east came to visit. The names of Caspar and Co arrived centuries later. The Christmas story is a mix of material from Matthew and Luke – it doesn’t get a mention in Mark or John.
The growth of tradition and the adding on of bits is one of the roots of the split between my lot and the majority lot.
There would be some Christians who wouldn’t even blink if you moved Christmas to September, because they never thought it very Christian anyway. (The Puritans banned it altogether!)
Well, I love the lights, the cards from people I’ve lost touch with otherwise, carols and late-night Mass, the kids going mad on the morning, and decorating the tree with ornaments that hold a whole history of family memories.
I hate the greedy-grabby shopping that goes on, the advertising, and ESPECIALLY the throw-away junk that’s manufactured just for speedy impersonal gift-giving, packed in a ton of wasted plastic packaging. I’d prefer if we all gave each other one meaningful, personal, small gift if any at all. Make me a card or bake me a cake and I’m more touched than if you plonk down 10 euros on a tin of Celebrations that will circulate Ireland for the next five years on the annual Christmas-visit rounds. Oy.
If we all took the money spent on crap gifts this Christmas and gave it to reputable charities instead, we could change the world.
Robert – I love the hypocrisy of the Americans. They scream about being a Christian country, to the extent that it is ingrained in everything [national anthem, currency, lunatic president] and then they go and try to ban all mention of Christianity in case they offend anyone!!
It will come over here, as the Irish seem to relish in anything American, but the first person to wish me Happy Holiday is going to get castrated. [If it’s woman, I’ll think of something….]
Ian – Would I set you up? Of course you would! 🙂
I’m with the puritans. I’m all for family gettogethers, and peace and love and all that, BUT………
Susan – The nicest presents I have received have been the simplest. The retailers would have us believe that your amount of love for someone is reflected in the amount you spend. What a load of…….!
And as for the ads – you can’t have The Perfect Christmas unless you have a new sofa or a new mobile phone!! What is that all about?
*runs away to hide until January*
‘If we all took the money spent on crap gifts this Christmas and gave it to reputable charities instead, we could change the world.’
Susan ~ unfortunately with most charities there is a good chunk hived off for admin purposes. This happens particularly with the card industry at this time of year.
I recommend people to make a direct donation to their local hospice.
This is where you’ll find the real meaning of Christmas and the true meaning of life.
I say we cancel it all together it’s to bloody commercial any way and we pick 10 days in the year and celebrate Let’s get drunk day…pick your own days…and feel free to borrow days from future years if needed…
Robert – I’ll go along with that. I assume I can borrow from the past too, so that means I have two years of oblivion to look forward to?
You must have been reading “Skipping Christmas” or watched the movie version “Christmas with the Kranks.” Still, speaking as a Pagan Yank, I figure anything that gets folks to be a litle nicer to each other for the THREE BLOODY MONTHS it lasts is OK with me. Happy Holidays Grandad; ouch !! I just felt a sharp pain in the goolies.
I’m with you on this. We celebrate winter solstice. Living off the grid as we do, this is something to really celebrate.
TT – No. I completely avoid any films or books that mention Christmas. I’m all for people being nicer to each other, but they should do it all year ’round.
As for the kick in the nuts – it hurt you more than it hurt me 🙂
Janet – Winter Solstice is a real time to celebrate. The worst of winter may not be over, but even the thought that the nights are getting shorter cheers me…
No.no.no. I can think of nothing more horrible than people being nice to each other ALL the time. Yuk! Anyhoo it’s Miller time. Bye.
methinks there’s too much nog in your eggnog Grandad. As with television, screen out what you don’t like or agree with and go with what you do. Yes it’s become far too commercialised, but I just don’t subscribe to that part of it. I much prefer the warm fuzzy feelings (& it’s not the whisky) that arrive with this season to the constant sensationalism the media love to feed us. *singing joy to the world* Yip i even listen to Boney M over December !!!!.
Ashley – There isn’t nog in it. I do screen out the commercials. No problem there. But if I venture down from the mountains, I can’t enter a shop without some tacky tune being played at me. I like Christmas Carols [provided they are properly sung], but it all the Bing Crosby/Slade sh*te that drives me over the edge.
I’ve taken to cloistering myself for the period.
Humbug.
I am with you on this Grandad,Heck try going in a store at this time of the year around here,it will drive you mad.and for getting drunk,i have been that way for years.have a happy whatever.
Drunk is the only way to be, this time of year, Popeye! And a Happy Whatever to you too! [I’ll accept that – it’s nice and ambiguous!]
Went out for a quiet drink last night only to be bombarded with Slade’s
“So here it is, Merry Christmas
everybody’s having fun.
Look to the future now,
It’s only just begun”
Spare me the torture!
You’re right Grandad – I’ll think I’ll stay at home from now on AND get drunk!
You’re damn right – CANCEL IT, not move it.
Bullshit on the 9/11 – that would be better, at least it’s warmer here. Right now we’re having Ireland weather, 38 and pissing rain.
For 38 damn years, I have rassled with frackin’ lights on a strand. Not one strand, 27 dozen strands! For the tree. For the little asshole village, for the mantel, for the shelves, for the bushes, for the gutters!
I’m too damn OLD for this shit. I HATE IT. Where is it written that I have to untangle? After 38 years, she doesn’t know a female plug from a male plug and that you can’t put to females together and get sparks! (and shut up with the lesbian jokes K8)
And the bunghole that decided that extension cords had to be grounded, but Christmas lights don’t, will be shot on sight.
Is this the same damn fool that decided that one prong of the male has to be wider than the other? But extension cords don’t have to accept that plug???/
WTF: Where’s Al Gore when we really need him? Declare all this lighting crap to be killing the snow fleas in Santa’s Reindeer and save us poor schlubs.
I would have done this rant on my own site, but she reads it, and we already aren’t speaking because of the decorating. She might wire the bedframe and when I piss the bed tonight, I’ll be dead.
%^$* %#@ #&*(& ^ 0&($7%(% %&*(7 _I)-8 90 &(^$%9 *&*(545 n897)%
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Just shoot me please!
heh heh heh, Grandad, you’ve opened up a pandora’s box…
“deck the halls with bells of hoooolllyyy”
Bloody Hell! Grandad, you Ian and I need to do coffee! (Irish Coffee that is). It would be a liveley discussionwith the Agnostic, the Athiest and the Clergyman!
Of course Christmas originally had nothing to do with christianity any more than Easter is about the crucifixion and ascension (it happens on a different day each year for crying out loud) But it’s convenient to tie in Christian convention with existing parochial beliefs. Now . . .
Yer a bunch of miserable ratbags. Maybe because Christmas is cold and miserable and you’re locked indoors. I love it. Presents and all. OK the tacky consumerism is selectively ignored but there’s nothing like: Carols by Candlelight, a feast with family, a splosh in the pool, sweating in your salad, soaking up the sunshine, drinking Mango Daquiries and a game of Kings at the end of it all!
Come on over everyone . . the water’s fine and you’ll have a good time, I guarantee it!
i’m with you Baino. It must be the weather. Here in SA we have our hottest weather over Christmas. Impossible to be miserable with all the sunshine. You are all welcome here too !
Steph – What is it about Slade and That Damned Song? I hate it. It’s like Santa on crack.
Sixty – Are you feeling better now? You’ve been messing with your medication again, haven’t you?
Ashley – I just love letting the fox loose in the chicken run. 😉
So, everyone….. We are cordially invited to Baino’s and Ashley’s for Christmas. Will we charter a couple of jets?
Incidentally Baino – “the Agnostic, the Athiest and the Clergyman” – which is which, and which am I?
Sounds good to me. I say celebrate xmas when & how you want.
Welcome DrowseyMonkey! [I don’t think we’ve met before?]
I’m celebrating right this moment.
It will all be over by tomorrow. And that’s official. *hic*
Why yes, thank you, I do feel better. It’s dark now and I’m enjoying all our wonderful twinkly lights.
That other person shows up from time to time and I don’t like him very much.
Saturnalia? Isn’t it Tuesnalia this year?
Oh, and what’s up? Why aren’t all the Yanks screaming at you for telling them to get over September 11?
Sneezy – Maybe the Yanks have finally gotten over September the 11th? But I doubt it 🙂
I love Christmas. LOVVVVVVVEEE it. Not because I get cool things and nothing to do with the history of it all. I just like my tree with twinkling lights on it. I’d have one all year round if i could get away with it. Ho Ho Ho.
Hi Ses5909. Unusual name? Are you a computer? Any relation to HAL9000?
There’s nothing to stop you having a tree all year round. Just don’t sing tacky music at me when I call.
Primal Sneeze: Speaking for me, I was over 9/11 on 9/12. It didn’t effect me. The aftermath did. Osama didn’t have anything with all the dumb decisions after 9 /11. I still want Osama dead, but apparently nobody in power here in the “God Bless America” does.
Santa Claus is based on a Catholic saint.
Mgroves – To a point. As far as I am aware, Saint Nicolas was depicted as a tall man in a brown or white cloak up to a century ago. Then the Coca Cola company laid their grubby little paws on him, and changed him into a red and white, ruddy faced fat little pain.
I wrote about it last year.
Call me a sucker, but I love the early morning on Christmas Day when my kids wake up. My oldest guy still believes in Santa, and waits all year for his jolly old friend to come visit him. The younger one lost that illusion when he was five, but he wakes with the hope that the perfect day is waiting for him. It’s the only morning I see more than weary cynicism in his eyes.
When they are disillusioned, usually about half an hour after waking up, we all come back to reality and the lousy news, parades, and torn wrapping paper that the dogs play with. But for that bubble of time, it works for us.
The commercialism is waaay too much, I know. I guess, even at my advanced age though…I do like the warm fuzzy feelings I get. I enjoy getting my grandkids something they want…(and yes…and I do that all year as well)
My only real angst about Christmas…is that it always has me wondering why people are so very nice for a few weeks and then…bam…everything goes back to normal. People in the stores, and just in general, are these days, quite pleasant. I know that will change as soon as the holiday is over and that makes me sad.
I better stop now…feel myself getting all mushy.
Sixty….I love your viewpoint.