One day after Thanksgiving, a day of being thankful, many folks then go out for Black Friday- a day where you trample and fight other people in stores for deals on a bunch of stuff you don’t need. I wrote about being thankful for what we have, and returning to that mindset on Thanksgiving, but there are still many out there who participate in Black Friday. It usually continues into the Christmas season as well.
Last year, Reverend Mark Sandlin wrote a piece about the War on Christmas that so many on the Right are espousing. He said that he would sign up for it because it is not a war of what the Right are saying, a war on the actual holiday of Christmas that Christians celebrate, but a war where consumerism is trying to take over a holy day; and it is not just a holy day for Christians but for many others, as is the season itself.
Hanukkah is celebrated this season, as is Advent, Three Kings’ Day, Kwanza, Yuletide, and the Winter Solstice for various Pagan sects. There are even twelve days of Christmas, and December 25 is just the first one. Traditionally, Christmas goes on from December 25 to January 6 for Christians, or is supposed to.
I agree with Reverend Mark Sandlin for this supposed war on Christmas- sign me up. Not to battle those who want to hear something other than “Merry Christmas,” but to put a stop to an endless war of every single holiday being taken over by consumerism.
This season is a holy time for many faiths and for many people, yet we as a society ?have lost focus of this, and instead focus on it as a time to where we can get more crap that we
do not need.? We focus, instead, on the way that stuff has taken us over and made us addicted to that latest gadget or toy that will make us seem savvier than we already are.
This season is a time of rebirth for many faiths. Even before the Christian faith was founded, the Winter Solstice was celebrated by many cultures and religions as a time of rebirth and renewal. It was revered because of the life of the Earth being made new. Once Christianity was founded, because of the birth of Jesus (even though he most likely was not born at this time), the ideal became the same for Christians.
Instead of being as Scrooge was before the visits from the three ghosts, and worrying more about money and possessions than caring for your fellow man, we need to take time to return to our roots of all faiths for this season.
This season is about renewal, birth, helping your fellow occupants on this planet, peace on Earth, and so many other things. We have allowed this season to be made into yet another season of consumerism and it is time that we took it back; and not just people of Christianity, but people whose faiths celebrate this time, and people who believe in the ideals of the holiday season.
It is time that we become as Scrooge did after the visits; celebrate and give joyfully. It is time that we banish the endless darkness and winter that the evil of consumerism has brought in, and instead invite in the spirit of Christmas. It is time that we bring back the spirit of giving, the spirit of joy, of love, and let it fill ourselves and our natures to where it spills out to other people that need it, and wish to share in it.
Otherwise, this season will become the season of consumerism.
Edited by SS
