Christmas wars: Joy might be the best response
Stores have become so careful that window displays proclaim, "Merry." Merry what? But flash mobs may have come up with something that is enjoyable while conveying a message.
The holidays have become an awkward time. Should one’s “Christmas card” say, “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Holidays,” or “Happy Whatever”? Should public seasonal decorations and displays include all of the various religious and cultural festivals of these weeks, Christmas, Kwanza, and Hanukkah, or none of the above.
Sea-Tac Airport has settled the matter in favor of “none.” Its offering is a chilly display of winter birches, white and blue and indeterminate in meaning.
I was in New York City last week and took a walk on Fifth Avenue to see the window displays of the various stores. Frankly, it was odd. Not only were there no mangers and wise men, there weren’t even any Victorian Christmas scenes, or model railroads carrying people through quaint Alpine villages or winter wonderlands.
Some of the windows I saw were either just abstract displays of lights or they featured pop culture icons in shifting kaleidoscopes of light and sound. Other windows seemed to be inspired by themes that might have been drawn from the city’s Museum of Natural History. There were windows of explorers and jungle scenes, airplanes, and hot air balloons.
In one stretch of windows, words were gaily bannered above the displays of hippopotami and tigers. One window said, “Merry.” Nothing more. Just “Merry.” You fill in the blank (provided you think there is one). Another window was hung with the word, “Happy.” Again, no “Happy Hanukkah” or “Happy Holidays.” Just “Happy.” I guess you’d have to call that playing it safe.
At Rockefeller Plaza with its famous ice rink and beautifully lit tree, there were decorative posters that featured a snowstorm of adjectives like “magical,” “wondrous,” “awesome,” “thrilling,” and “fantastic.” No nouns, just a blitz of adjectives. We’re excited, the posters seemed to declare, but we have no idea about what, or at least we’re not telling.
Some religious groups have put pressure on retailers to retain religious language and Christian-themed displays, threatening boycotts if retailers don’t go along. But that strikes me as an effort that is at odds with the Christmas story itself. That story is not about using political power to compel your will. Arguably, the Christmas story is a challenge to coercive powers, as the infant Jesus and his parents flee the wrath of Herod and his soldiers.
I would think that the efforts of Christian groups might be more wisely given to encouraging their own constituents to embody the values of their faith than to organizing boycotts. Or instead of religious groups exerting pressure to see that the materialistic excess of the season is baptized with Christian messages, how about critiquing that excess in light of Christian or religious values?
My own favorite entries into the holiday confusion are the Flash Mob Hallelujah Choruses that have popped up various places and can be seen on the Internet. The way these things go is that you’re in some place like a mall or a food court when without warning one person launches boldly into the opening lines of Handel’s famous Chorus. Moments later another singer answers the first. More and more singers join in, as people pop up from the food court lunches or step aside from their shopping. It turns out that it is a choir, or group of choirs, who have ambushed the unsuspecting shoppers with joy.
The response of the bystanders, after the briefest confusion, is delight. Some join in the singing. Others get out their camera phones. Children are hoisted onto shoulders for a better view. People take the hand of a companion as if strangely moved.
For the three or four minutes that the Chorus lasts, people are caught up and joined together in an experience of transcendence that suggests something more than the mundane. When it’s all over the singers simply return to what they were doing. Talking on the phone, pushing a mop on the mall maintenance crew, eating their lunch.
I suppose someone could argue that there is some sort of Christian triumphalism here, (“King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and He shall reign forever and forever”), but no one seems to react that way. Whether they see it as a gift of great music, a break in the doldrums of shopping, or an impromptu community sing-along, people of all sorts seem to delight in it. With these Flash Mob Hallelujah Choruses no public authority is legislating it or staging it. It’s an intrusion into the ordinary.
The unexpected intrusion of the holy in the midst of the ordinary of these happy flash mobs seems to me is more in keeping with the Gospel message than heavy-handed efforts to “Put Christ back in Christmas.”
The original heavenly chorus, the one that stunned the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks, was a sort of flash mob too. It caught the shepherds by surprise. One moment the heavens were filled with dazzling light and song. The next moment it was over. The shepherds, like us, are left to sort out the meaning of the moment and decide what to do next.
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Comments:
Posted Mon, Dec 20, 10:59 a.m. Inappropriate
Who was it, anyway, who frightened stores into truncating "Merry Christmas" to "Merry" and "Happy Hannukah" to "Happy"? (A good thing, actually, that they weren't still wishing folks a Happy Hanukkah last week, after the holiday was over, which would have shown good intentions but ignorance of the Jewish calendar. Who frightened Nina Totenberg into thinking of "Christmas party" as an expression to be forgiven?
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/12/20/nprs_nina_totenberg_apologizes_for_saying_christmas.html (http://goo.gl/mnOL6 for short)
I'm not a Christian, nor was I raised Christian: my father was Jewish and my mother Confucian. Hanukkah and New Year's were our winter holidays. But I understood that when people wished me a Merry Christmas, as one still commonly did in the 1980s, they didn't mean "Merry Christmas; I assume you're Christian, and if you're not, you should be" — they meant "this is a special time for me and I wish you joy and happiness." Nobody ever told me not to wish others a Happy Hanukkah and I can't imagine anyone being offended at this.
That having been said, I still can't really imagine most people being offended such traditional greetings. Indeed, the only places I really see this are, well, places such as the ones you mention, and on TV, etc. Are there really folks out there ready to flip out at the specific mention of a religious holiday, or have the folks in risk management once again taken things far too far?
The issue of religious symbols on public property is something separate. But either way, I see the "War on Christmas" as being more self-inflicted than anything.
Posted Mon, Dec 20, 12:33 p.m. Inappropriate
There's a certain tentative grace about the decision of Port of Seattle to do away with Christmas trees. As one who participated in the decision I remember clearly that our decision was based on equity: either to honor all traditions or honor none. Ultimately it was a retailer who popped up with the idea that there could be holiday decorations without any religious representations. The majority of the group opted for equity, with the resulting aptly described "chilly winter birches."
The goal was laudable: make the airport a place for everyone. The result, though, is that the airport display is actually for no one. If the religious roots of the season are not honored all that's left is winter and retail. That makes for a pretty empty holiday.
I felt the Port's best choice was to have Christmas trees and also have a menorah, as demanded by Rabbi Bogomilsky. Perhaps the interfaith dance is too complicated for secular institutions, but I think the holiday is richer when it includes Christmas, Hanukkah, and any other special religious days that coincide with the year-end retail sales.
Ultimately I resigned from the Port's decoration committee because, while we were arguing about decorations, the Port was standing firm against our efforts to preserve the Lora Lake Apartments as housing for homeless people. Talk of trees or menorahs seemed irrelevant while the message of the birth of Christ is clearly about compassion toward people in need. Many of us who believe in Christmas would trade all the Christmas decorations in the world for a few homes for people in need. A hearty "Merry Christmas" doesn't replace a warm meal and a roof.
Posted Mon, Dec 20, 3:16 p.m. Inappropriate
Perhaps we encounter reduced religious expression in the public square because people have become uncomfortable with displays of superstition.
Buster G.
Posted Mon, Dec 20, 4:52 p.m. Inappropriate
What is totally ridiculous is that "Christmas Trees" are a Druid tradition that was taken over by modern Christians.
It's the holiday of light for f's sake. It's dark out, the harvest is over in the Northern Hemisphere, it's time for a party to drive away the dark and the cold. It's been going on for thousand's of years, way before the Christians co-oped.
Besides, Christ wasn't born in the middle of the winter. Shepherds don't tend sheep in the middle of the winter... He's a fall baby.
http://www.christiananswers.net/christmas/mythsaboutchristmas.html
Posted Mon, Dec 20, 10:47 p.m. Inappropriate
I was hoping to get through another week without seeing the words "war" and "Christmas" combined.
Mr. Robinson, can't you celebrate Christmas without expecting, or even hoping, to see it reflected in store windows? Why would that be "awkward"? Have your tree, string your green and red lights, sing your carols, organize a flash mob singing the Hallelujah Chorus in your neighborhood, do whatever you want--but don't sound so deprived.
Posted Tue, Dec 21, 12:05 a.m. Inappropriate
Speaking of Hallelujah Chorus flash mobs, this one could have turned out badly:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-12-21-flash-mob-evacuation-california_N.htm (http://goo.gl/GTBWj for short)
Posted Tue, Dec 21, 8:54 a.m. Inappropriate
For "flash mobs" & Christmas this bit was very well done by a small group.
http://improveverywhere.com/2010/11/29/handbell-choir-surprise/
Posted Wed, Dec 22, 9 a.m. Inappropriate
And many of the other traditions we associate with Christmas, such as partying, giving gifts and decorating homes, come from Saturnalia. I always get a laugh when some rather pompous bible-thumper admonishes us to remember "The Reason for the Season." Their slogan should be "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
Posted Wed, Dec 22, 6:55 p.m. Inappropriate
Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
KD
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