A number of years ago, Chris did a podcast episode with our mutual friend Elle Collins about the joys of secular Christmas, but it doesn’t seem to exist on internet anymore, alas.
But without even diving deeply into the semiotics of the thing, I feel there’s much to like about Christmas at an absolutely surface level with minimal religious trappings: lights, decorations, music, food, candy, hot drinks, getting together with friends and family, parties, that kind of stuff. For a lot of people, that kind of thing is enough to enjoy Christmas even if they don’t have a religious attachment.
However, if you need something more, the things I like to think about when it comes to Christmas are that it’s a celebration at the darkest time of the year, when much of nature sleeps or dies, and in a way, we’re forced to confront our own mortality. BUT, Christmas (and other winter holidays; this isn’t a Christmas exclusive) reminds us that life and death is a cycle: today is dark, but tomorrow is a little brighter. If you’re no longer into the idea of an incarnate deity born that man no more may die, consider the holly, the evergreen. If they can tough out the winter, so can we. “Hope,” saith the holly.
And we foster that hope with lights and songs and games and music and good food and good will and forgiveness toward the other people around us. Consider these verses from a favorite song of mine:
All hail to the days that merit more praise Than all the rest of the year And welcome the nights that double delights As well for the poor as the peer Good fortune attend each merry man’s friend That doth but the best that he may Forgetting old wrongs with carols and songs To drive the cold winter away ‘Tis ill for a mind to anger inclined To think of small injuries now If wrath be to seek, do not lend her your cheek Nor let her inhabit thy brow Cross out of thy books malevolent looks Both beauty and youth’s decay And wholly consort with mirth and sport To drive the cold winter away
In that podcast I was talking about at the top, Chris talked about how he loves the very idea of Santa Claus, because he represents humankind at their most selfless. Not just in the idea that there’s a powerful figure whose whole deal is giving other people things, but that Christmas morning is likely to be the happiest a kid will feel all year, and parents are willing to give someone else credit for it. It almost staggers the mind, tbh.
On top of that, for me personally, one of the major draws of the Christmas season is the wealth of folklore that comes along with it, but your mileage may vary on that.
Anyway, of course, all this winter stuff only applies if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere; sorry if you’re in Australia or something, I don’t have any metaphors for you.
