(The one that won’t be heard in Sarah Palin’s War on Christmas speech on Friday, December 4, 2015. The GOP prefers fake history.)
Historically, Christmas only became prominent as a religious and social festivity in the High Middle Ages. The centerpiece being “Christ’s Mass.” That took a hit with the reformation, but mostly among the Puritans, Quakers, Anabaptists, and was discouraged by Congregationalists and Presbyterians. (Banned in Boston 1659-81).
Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom. George Washington attacked Hessian (German) mercenaries on the day after Christmas during the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time.
In the United States, the wars on Christ-mass and Christmas was effectively over by 1776 and both lost, but people were free to celebrate both in the privacy of their churches and homes. Separation of church and state was a smashingly good idea.
Then came the stealth invasion by the UK German Royal family and Charles Dickens. Envy and saccharin sentiment. Two human impulses that US profit seekers have long known how to exploit. They called it Christmas and relegated Christ to a peripheral and unnecessary role. Appropriating any and all pagan, religious, and secular symbols for the day.
And it grew and grew and grew. As did St. Nicholas from a skinny figure into a rotund, jolly old guy with a Mrs. Claus (also fat and jolly), a toy sweatshop of worker elves, and flying reindeer with the red-nosed Rudolph in the lead.
From a single White House Christmas tree sometime and intermittently in the 19th century to the first official WH Christmas tree in 1929 (interesting date). That grew.
The record for the number of trees in the White House was held for many years by the Eisenhower administration when 26 trees filled every floor of the house. That mark has been eclipsed on several occasions in recent times, including the Clinton administration’s 36 trees in the 1997 theme of “Santa’s Workshop,” and the 2008 White House Christmas decorations of the Bush administration that included 27 trees as part of a theme of “A Red, White and Blue Christmas.”
(Only 26 Christmas trees in the WH in 2014. Did the rightwingers view that as a sign that the Obama’s were leading a War on Christmas?)
It was an exceedingly clever ruse for US businesses and corporations to enlist Christians as the guardians of the business and profit of Christmas and make it grow and grow. That “war” was mostly complete over fifty years ago and Christmas won. But not by enough that business can stop fretting every year over Christmas sales volume (it’s the season that puts retail businesses in the black). Children “deserve” more. Parents, grandparents, spouses, relatives, friends, co-workers all “deserve” more. More leads to happiness. Priceless, even if the more is crap made in China, etc. and assault weapons and purchased on credit.
The “Christian” guardians of excessive consumerism and consumption that is called Christmas are everywhere and on the lookout for subversives. Beware. Like Starbucks, you could break one of the rules that has yet to be written. (Helpful hint: anything that hints at ecology or environmentally less destructive is automatically an attack on Christmas.)
When a real war on this monstrosity called Christmas begins, sign me up. Until then, I’ll do my best to ignore the defenders (and sore winners) of our annual homage to Capitalismas.
Update: 2015 White House Christmas decor
NPR – well hung snowflakes
The White House is decked out with 62 Christmas trees and more than 70,000 ornaments — ready for what will be tens of thousands of visitors in the coming weeks.
That’s 26 more WH C. trees than the prior record of 36 in 1997.
