Christmas: Is it about Christ or consumerism?

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SOLVEIG BOUR says CHRIST

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he first thing to point out is: should Christmas be about Christ? The Bible does not ask their followers to celebrate Christmas; Christ’s date of birth is not even mentioned. Christmas takes its roots in Pagan religious rites to celebrate the winter solstice, and the church chose this date to coincide with Pagan festivals. Christmas does not need therefore to be celebrated through religious rites but the absence of rite is not a synonym for absence of Jesus. A Christian believer told me recently that religion is something inside but not outside oneself. It is not what you do but how you feel and what you believe in.

Going to Church at midnight in Christmas eve or every Sunday is not needed at all to be with the Christ, and to a larger extend being with the Christ is even possible for non believers. Christ is not just a person; he also represents a bunch of values and beliefs as love and kindness. The gathering for a meal at Christmas illustrates love, and kindness is well-represented by the gift-sharing traditions. This goes, however, beyond the family sphere; charities exist to give a bit of “Christmas spirit” to the underprivileged by offering gifts, shelter and dinner to the homeless or sharing a Christmas table with a lonely person. This is an opportunity to spend time with the one you love, an opportunity to show your gratitude and share community with others, even strangers.

One might reply, what about the advertisement galore and stressed people rushing in the street in the quest of the perfect gift? Where are the Christmas spirit and the values of Jesus here?

If you consider Christmas as the birth of Jesus, we should explore the meaning of this birth. Jesus is seen as an appearance of God in physical form; it symbolises the fusion between the spiritual and physical world. Consumerism stems from human physical behaviour and so combining Christ values with consumerism is a perfect illustration of the fusion between these two worlds. If consumerism exists during Christmas, it does not mean that Christ cannot simultaneously exist. Of course, Christmas is the time where people are valued by their ability to consume; where gifts are bought for the sake of buying gifts and where extravagant dinners and decoration depends on how much you can show.

Yes, we are human and this is the physical imperfect world in which we live. The entrance of Jesus in this world aims to upend the evil within the human world and to promote good forever. Bad behaviour and selfishness do not disappear with the entrance of Christ and how we remember this at Christmas; however, goodness, kindness and joy are promoted and that is why Christmas, even in a consumerist culture, is all about Christ’s values of sharing and valuing those gifts which cannot be bought or consumed – love, compassion and community.

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TAMSIN PATERNOSTER says CONSUMERISM

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s video footage of throngs of customers fighting each other for the best deal on TVs reaches our news channels, it’s hard not to see Black Friday as symbolic of what British Christmas has become. Fighting your way through aisles of shiny good labelled explicitly for the holiday season, the motivation is clear: buy, wear, eat, drink and most importantly: indulge. What happened to the Christmas values that find their roots in Christianity?

Well, without coming across as a Marxist Scrooge who discovered coal in his stocking this year, they’ve been manipulated in order to provide impetus to consumerism. The idea that a family must gather around the table for a heart-warming Christmas dinner is no longer simply an expression of love and community. Rather, it has given retailers the inspiration for a never ending list of products. Christmas dinner? Let’s provide endless amounts of different foods, cutlery and decorations, all available to be bought and consumed.

As we find ourselves trapped in a perpetual state of longing for the latest bargains there exists a direct exploitation of the Christian value of giving. Giving becomes increasingly associated to the plethora of goods that break the seams of shop windows and less an expression of genuine kindness. The primary message is that in order to show affection for your loved friends and family, you must select from a range of carefully marketed goods that are actually completely irrelevant to any form of emotion.

What about Christmas joy? Here is what is so desperate about this situation of never-ending mass greed. Our internet-fuelled short attention spans mean that the thrill of getting is greater than the enjoyment of having. It’s not getting rather than giving, receiving triumphs over offering. This is not to say that we are all invariably brainwashed to feel enjoyment solely on the premises of obtaining material goods. However it is deeply ingrained in our memories as children that Christmas morning should be characterised by a lounge bursting with gifts that take the whole morning to open. The adrenaline felt upon opening gift after gift leaves us in a state of buzzing elation. This happiness however, has nothing to do with your surrounding community, but is a product of your relationship to a manufactured good.

I am not arguing that around the holiday season we all suddenly emerge as capitalist robots, only capable of bargain hunting. However, the way that the retail industry has made a profit out of the entire concept of Christmas shows that we have come a long way from the traditional values of Christ. Christianity’s definition of joy is precarious, but the one that is tied up with traditional views of Christmas is touching the lives of others in a positive way, why should this impact on the lives of others take the form of the latest Xbox?

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Header photo: flickr /angelsofsweetbitter2009 + sethrader