Christmas in a Non-Christian culture
As Christmas fast approaches it seems that everyone is swept up in the celebration of a holiday that for the majority of us holds little, or for some, no meaning at all.
Everyone is more than happy to have time off but if questioned about whether the birth of Jesus actually meant anything to them, I suspect that the answer would be no.
So why do we celebrate Christmas – if we remove Jesus are we really just celebrating the existence of some guy called St Nicholas who purportedly made wooden toys and distributed them around his village?
Of course that story has grown into a man on a sleigh with magic reindeer who can fly around the world at more than the speed of light giving toys to everyone and fitting his not so athletic frame down people’s chimneys!
Not to sound like scrooge but it really isn’t much better than superstition.
A friend of mine made the observation that regardless of people’s religious views department stores still play Christmas carols on loop for the month of December and surprisingly we hum along or in some cases even mouth the words.
So at this time of the year when we all put up Christmas trees and the like – I wonder whether we have lost sight of our duplicity. We turn our backs on Christ but are happy to indulge in the by-products of a day celebrating his birth.
Some of us will even watch The Nativity with our very own Keisha Castle-Hughes as Mary. Statistically more of us will attend church on Christmas Day than any other day of the year – even Easter. So what drives us to this religious (?) fervour?
Are we just caught up in it all or do we truly believe that something momentous happened that causes us to celebrate Christmas.
For me I am looking forward to my favourite Christmas pastime which isn’t eating but watching yet another rerun of Merry Christmas Mr Bean!
Merry Christmas to you all and have a great holiday.
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