{"id":28056,"date":"2018-12-06T19:39:16","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T01:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=28056"},"modified":"2018-12-06T19:39:16","modified_gmt":"2018-12-07T01:39:16","slug":"putting-christ-back-in-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2018\/12\/putting-christ-back-in-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting Christ Back in Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Drawing<\/a>
Scrooge and the Ghost of Marley by Arthur Rackham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some are calling for a stronger connection between Christianity and Christmas, concomitantly rejecting the term \u201cXmas\u201d as blasphemous, deploring the substitution of \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d for \u201cMerry Christmas,\u201d and urging generally that we \u201cput Christ back in Christmas.\u201d\u00a0 Sincere religious beliefs prompt most of this campaign, but to what extent has Jesus Christ ever been the true heart of Christmas?<\/p>\n

The Bible does not give the date of Jesus Christ\u2019s birth, and it was not until the fourth century that the Catholic Church recognized December 25th as Jesus Christ\u2019s birthday.\u00a0 Historians have suggested the day was selected to coincide with pagan winter solstice celebrations that were held in many locations throughout Europe.\u00a0 The solstice came at roughly the same time large numbers of cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during subsequent months.\u00a0 Meat was as a result plentiful, as was the wine and beer that had been started during the preceding spring and summer and had now fermented.<\/p>\n

In some areas, the partying was raucous and drunken, comparable perhaps to the partying that occurs at Mardi Gras.\u00a0 After the Reformation, some Protestants frowned on the celebrating and urged true believers to spend Christmas at church rather than in the tavern.\u00a0 In the North American colonies, the Puritans refused to celebrate Christmas and at several points attempted to ban the partying, sometimes using the stocks and branding to punish those who could not resist the Christmas cheer.\u00a0 Christmas did not disappear, but it was for a time so inconsequential that Congress did not take the day off for the holiday, deciding to hold its first session on Christmas Day in 1789.<\/p>\n

Christmas grew in importance in the United States during the nineteenth century.\u00a0 Celebrations did not revolve around a newborn Savior but rather glorified family, community, and assorted \u201ctraditions.\u201d Santa Claus (or \u201cKris Kringle\u201d as he was often dubbed) and the use of Christmas trees became popular in the 1850s, and on June 26, 1870 Congress made Christmas a national holiday.<\/p>\n

In more recent decades, advanced consumer capitalism has taken a heavy toll, and the slogan \u201cI shop, therefore I am\u201d is never more evident that at Christmas.\u00a0 The marketing of potential Christmas gifts now begins well before Thanksgiving, maybe even before Halloween, and for many the \u201cChristmas season\u201d extends for several months.\u00a0 Indeed, with shoppers lining up outside of Best Buy in the wee hours of Black Friday, it is clear the binge buying of consumer goods has itself become a Christmas ritual.<\/p>\n

Over time, people have celebrated Christmas for different reasons.\u00a0 Those determined to put Christ back in Christmas should realize we put our values and desires into the holiday as much as the holiday dictates its own meaning.\u00a0 Some even define themselves by rejecting Christmas completely, as did Ebenezer Scrooge in the early chapters of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.<\/p>\n

I, for one, would like to wish everyone Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and the self-fulfillment and well-being that can and should be possible for members of our species.\u00a0 And, out of love and respect for the curmudgeons among us, Bah Humbug as well!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some are calling for a stronger connection between Christianity and Christmas, concomitantly rejecting the term \u201cXmas\u201d as blasphemous, deploring the substitution of \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d for \u201cMerry Christmas,\u201d and urging generally that we \u201cput Christ back in Christmas.\u201d\u00a0 Sincere religious beliefs prompt most of this campaign, but to what extent has Jesus Christ ever been the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,122,31,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-popular-culture-and-law","category-public","category-religion-law","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28056"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28058,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28056\/revisions\/28058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}