I am not Christian, but I am an agnostic humanist that unapologetically loves Christmastime.  I love all the feel-good Christmas movies, the decorations, the gift giving, and the overall good cheer that goes with it.  I even love the chaos and craze of all the holiday shoppers.  I love that my kids near and far are more active on our family group chat, texting and sharing links to ideas and gifts they daydream about, and asking for mine.  I love the idea of Santa Claus, a jolly old man whose entire purpose is to remind others to give a gift to those you care for, and everyone else for that matter. Sure, there is a monetary incentive for Hallmark and the malls that employ the many Santas, but who cares, we’re free to interpret and act on the gift giving reminder any way we wish.  There is a lot of good cheer and goodwill to be had, and a jovial guy like Santa, who travels by way of a flying reindeer-drawn sleigh can’t be all bad.

As a gen-X marketing professional I cannot help but notice, and honestly enjoy, many of the commercials this time of year.  My favorite this season so far is for a child’s drum kit, featuring what must be a youngish, gen-X dad, jamming with his daughter to the Simple Minds song, Don’t You Forget About Me.  Check it out by googling “Simple Minds Argos drum ad,” you won’t be sorry. If you’re a gen-Xer and didn’t listen to Simple Minds in the 80s you will undoubtedly know this song from the Breakfast Club. Guaranteed anybody from generation X watching this nostalgic commercial will be transported back to a time, pre-iPhones, and dominated by Molly Ringwald movies!  All good stuff.

Although the word Christmas comes from the Old English term Cristes-messe, literally meaning Christ’s Mass, I personally do not think of Christmastime as limited to Christianity, or exclusively synonymous with the Christian Savior.  I do respect that many of my friends and family do, and there is a lot to love about that too.  I grew up in a Methodist family going to candlelight service on Christmas Eve, and love the traditions and symbolic warmth of a vigil reminding us that there is love lighting our way. I also love that my Jewish friends have Hanukkah, and my Buddhist friends have a month following Bodhi Day, and my Hindu friends have Pancha Ganapati. All celebrated during this same time of year, known to me as Christmastime. To me Christmastime is simply the holiday season, the only season of universal goodwill no matter where you are, where you come from, the traditions you have, or religion you practice or don’t practice. 

Truth is, before there was Christmas, there were many versions of midwinter festival celebrations that occurred sometime during or near the month of December. Some religious, and some celebrating one or more deities, and some not so much. It is believed that humans may have observed the winter solstice as early as the Neolithic period—the last part of the Stone Age, beginning about 10,200 BC.  Apparently, it is human nature to seek a good reason to gather together and celebrate.  Everybody loves a party.  Everybody benefits from a feast, love and good cheer.

The Bible does not declare a specific birth date for Jesus. However, in the year 273, the Roman Christian church selected December 25th to represent the birthday of the Christian savior, Jesus Christ. This was based on the belief that the conception of Jesus took place 9 months earlier at the spring equinox on March 25th. While Christian mythology is interwoven with contemporary observances of this holiday time, the multicultural, Pagan and even secular nature is also strong and apparent in the symbols we use during this season to decorate. 

Prior to Christmas, the Roman festival of Sol Invictus (‘the Unconquered Sun’ who at Midwinter begins his triumphal return), was also celebrated on December 25. The evergreen tree was an ancient symbol of life in the midst of winter. Early Romans decorated their houses with evergreen branches during the New Year.  Ancient inhabitants of northern Europe cut evergreen trees and planted them in boxes inside their homes as a symbol of fertility, and new life in the darkness of wintertime. According to Dr. Dominique Wilson from the University of Sydney, “that’s also where the ideas of the holly and the ivy and the mistletoe come from.  They were the few flowering plants at winter. The idea of bringing evergreens into the house started there and eventually that evolved into the Christmas tree.”

The Feast of Juul was a pre-Christian festival observed in Scandinavia also at the time of the December solstice. Fires were lit to symbolize the heat, light and life-giving properties of the returning sun. In recognition of the return of the sun, a Yule or Juul log was brought in and burned on the hearth.  The people would feast until the log burned out.  The ashes were then collected and either strewn on the fields as fertilizer every night until “Twelfth Night” (January 5^th), or kept as a charm and or as medicine.  

The Jewish festival of Lights, Hanukkah, starts on the 25th of Kislev (the month in the Jewish calendar that generally coincides with December). Beginning sometime during second century BC, Hanukkah (or Chanukah) celebrates when the Jewish people were able to re-dedicate and worship in their Temple in Jerusalem.  At the heart of the festival is the nightly menorah lighting.  By the eighth night of Hanukkah  all the candles in the menorah are lit.  Hanukkah customs include playing with four-sided spinning tops called dreidels and exchanging gifts. It is tradition to give children Chanukah gelt, or the gift of money to celebrate good behavior and the devotion to Torah study, also giving the children the opportunity to give tzedakah (charity).

Kwanzaa is a more recent holiday, celebrated December 26 through January 1. It is a holiday to commemorate African heritage, during which participants gather with family and friends to exchange gifts and to light a series of black, red, and green candles. These candles symbolize the seven basic values of African American family life: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. A whole lot of goodness.

Some Hindus also celebrate in December with a five-day holiday called Pancha Ganapati. The celebration begins on December 21st to celebrate the elephant-headed lord of culture and new beginnings. Festivities include outings, picnics, gift giving, feasts, decorating their homes with pine boughs or durva grass, and putting up lights and ornaments. The major portion of the celebration is putting up a statue of Ganesha in the home and dressing the statue for each day of the celebration in colors of yellow, blue, red, green, and orange.

The Buddhist holiday on December 8^th, known as Bodhi Day, celebrates the day that the historic Buddha, Siddartha Gautauma, achieved enlightenment around 596 BC.  Buddhists decorate a Bodhi Tree with multicolor decorations.  Buddhism is also about accepting other religions, so using a Christmas tree is considered acceptable and often used in Western Buddhist homes.  The traditional Christmas message, “Peace to Earth – Goodwill to All,” shares the common message of peace, love, kindness and care for others that Buddhists practice.  Many Buddhists light candles for 30 days following Bodhi Day and celebrate the holidays by hanging up decorations in their temples, sending cards to loved ones, holding late night vigils, and occasionally listening to Christmas music.  So, generally Buddhists celebrate Christmas but not in a Christian way. Christmastime for Buddhists is simply a time of gift giving and practicing peace and goodwill toward mankind.

Thanks to the Enlightenment, colonialism, Charles Dickens, Coke’s art department, various commercial imperatives around the world, and human nature, the Midwinter Festivals are alive and well all over the globe around Christmastime.  Today these celebrations go by many names, kicking off somewhere towards the end of November and late December, and all of them are celebrated by fellow humans gathering together.

For me it’s a season filled with both secular and religious friends of all faiths. Filled with cards and greetings, of hospitality, parties and excesses, of gifts, of rituals ranging from trees, stars, menorahs, nativity scenes, sleighs, mixing the cake, clogs by the fire, chocolate coins, and hanging the stockings to name a few that come to mind.  It’s filled with hugs and laughter, sometimes an argument here and there, often hot chocolate with or without Baileys, but always the intent of love and good tidings.  

It’s a time for family to come home, friends to congregate, and humans all over the world to recognize each other with warmth and good cheer. To me it really doesn’t matter if that love and goodwill is spurred by Jesus’s birth, the eight days of Hanukkah, Kwanza or a Sun God: it’s frankly just nice to be with, and laugh with, all the humans you love.

So, the day after Thanksgiving I start practicing holiday tunes on my piano and begin my search for the perfect Christmas tree.  Dig out my Disney themed Christmas decorations, and begin preparing for my kids, our friends, and extended family to come home, and everyone else I care about to join in. Celebrating with the people I care about most, the end of one year and the rebirth of another.

In the words of another anonymous humanist: “What on earth has anybody to gain by opposing, or carping at the forms of, or the name of, the one great international festival celebrating all of us?” 

Who cares what our family, friends and neighbors call this holiday, which deities are involved in their celebrations if any, as long as we continue to get together, to laugh together, and to share together! 

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas, to all, and good cheer!!