As Christmas is coming up in a few days and as we move through the holiday season, I “naturally” think to myself…. why do we have all these holidays, anyway? Of course, I am sure you are pondering this same question.
The etymology of the word “holiday” going back to the 1200s refers to "holy day, consecrated day, religious anniversary” etc. but moving forward to the 15th century, the meaning went to both "religious festival" and "day of exemption from labor and recreation,” Now, I think, we are getting to the real reason for our holidays.
As you history buffs may recall, working conditions in olden days were not like they are now…no 401(k)s, employee cafeterias, ping pong tables or pregnancy leave. People worked 6 days a week with only Sundays off for religious observance. Not a lot of time to have fun…. Thus, holidays gave people a chance to let loose.
Whether it was a festival to the pagan gods or the Christian one, these holidays constituted breaks from the day-to-day drudgery of life and were routinely accompanied by drinking and great food. What holidays were celebrated and what days they were celebrated on appear to have been more afterthoughts as long as they were sprinkled throughout the year to give the people a chance to eat, drink and be merry on a regular basis.
In 17th century England (the 1600s for you folks who are century challenged), they celebrated Michaelmas, where everyone was thankful for the harvest and ate geese; Candlemas Day, a day for lighting candles and again feasting; and May Day for celebrating spring and dancing around a May pole. Yesterday was Lammastide and St. Crispin’s day while today is Mardi Gras and Juneteenth. Different days with the same purpose; to celebrate and be happy.
But back to Christmas. It is said that Jesus is the reason for the season. I would venture heretically to say that Jesus’ birthday is and always has been the excuse to have a good time or perhaps as a 4th Century marketing initiative.
It looks like Christmas was one of the first cultural appropriations, this time of the pagan holiday, Saturnalia. In Roman times, Saturnalia was held to honor the god Saturn on December 17th and later expanded with festivities through December 23rd. The holiday was celebrated with a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere. The poet Catullus called it "the best of days". Does it appear to look a lot like Christmas?
That said, Christmas has not always had a smooth sailing even for so popular a holiday. Christmas celebrations were banned beginning in 1643 as the Puritan government believed that Christmas celebrations were used as an excuse for drunkenness, promiscuity, gambling, and other forms of excess. Probably were…. The prohibition of Christmas proved to be very unpopular as pro-Christmas riots broke out until Charles II replaced the Puritans in 1660.
In America, it wasn’t until 1870 that Christmas was designated as a federal holiday by President Grant. Even up to 1999, a lawsuit was filed claiming that the designation of Christmas as a federal holiday constituted the Establishment of Religion in violation of the First Amendment.
I think looking back, we can see that our ancestors were just as big partiers as we are except for the Puritans and the atheists whose main function appears to be to ruin a good time.
As Americans, we are a society of immigrants which freely appropriates the holidays of other cultures without guilt. For example, Americans are the largest celebrants of St. Patrick’s Day, that Catholic luminary who drove the snakes out of Ireland in the 5th Century. Scientific research shows that apparently there were no snakes in Ireland, but the myth continues. St Patrick’s Day has not devolved into an anti-snake festival, but rather one where we can drink and be merry and take a break from Lent.
Another holiday that I would highly recommend is Cinco de Mayo. (Someone once asked me on what day Cinco de Mayo was. I will leave that for our Spanish language readers to contemplate.) Cinco de Mayo commemorates the anniversary of Mexico’s victory over the French at the battle of Puebla in 1862. A year later, the French would beat the Mexicans in the Second Battle of Puebla and would occupy Mexico City, but no one is celebrating that one.
Supporting my thesis that Americans love to culturally appropriate holidays as long as they relate to partying, Cinco de Mayo is more popular in the United States than in Mexico. The day gained nationwide popularity in the 1980s due to advertising campaigns by beer, wine, and tequila companies. God bless capitalism!! Today, Cinco de Mayo generates beer sales on par with the Super Bowl (another American holiday).
For future holidays, I would look to Chinese New Year as an up and comer for us to appropriate. I am sure that Americans can pervert this holiday designated to honor ancestors for our own purposes to focus on good Chinese food and giving out gifts in little red envelopes.
For those of you who have gotten this far, you may be wondering, what is the point of all this? Well, I would suggest that we, as the human race, have to work very hard to survive and prosper in this world, and that holidays are essential to give us a chance to enjoy this life.
It really doesn’t matter what we are celebrating. The holidays change from generation to generation, country to country, and religious to secular with the only similar theme being that we enjoy it and are happy. As long as we don’t hurt anyone else or ourselves, I think that we can appropriate even God’s holidays, and He would be ok with this.
For our time in this holiday season, put work, the decline of society, the Broncos’ horrible season, and the troubles of the world aside for a moment. Reflect on joy and all the things that are good and what and who makes you happy.
I will take the next few weeks to celebrate these things no matter what the holiday is called and then be back in the first week of January to identify and suggest solutions to the problems of today and of the ages.
Until then, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.