I am writing this a couple days before the Winter Solstice. By the time you read it Christmas will be over and New Years too. Hopefully we have survived both events. I had a prioritized list for Christmas: write newsletter; get cards; print labels; buy stamps; send cards and newsletters; figure out gifts; get tree. Of course, there are many other line items in there like put up lights, actually buy gifts, wrap and send gifts etc. but you get the idea. Christmas is a self-imposed gauntlet of to-dos to add on top of getting in firewood, preparing to plow snow, getting snow tires on… How did we get to be this way?
There is not much to go on in the archeological record. Sure, everyone had observatories that pinpointed the exact shortest day of the year. Stonehenge, the pyramids, the Incas’ at Machu Picchu… The list goes on and on. What we are short on in archaeology are stories about what went on after people knew the days were getting longer.
The Seasonal section at Wal*Mart
Anthropology to the rescue. Dong Zhi, the “arrival of winter,” is celebrated in China by eating rice balls. The Hopi Indians celebrate Soyal with purifications and kachinas, protective spirits from the mountains. Scandinavians lit fires to ward off evil spirits. During the Roman festival of Saturnalia slaves were treated as equals (a little like Boxing Day in Britain where masters and servants trade places). Inti Raymi, an ancient Peruvian festival included feasts and sacrifices of animals and some sacrifices that well… Let’s say they went way beyond Santa Clauses naughty and nice list. The Persian festival Yalda, or Shab-e Yalda marks the victory of light over dark. Some Persians stay awake all night long to welcome the morning sun. (That sounds more like New Years.) At any rate, our Christmas festivities are not that new or unusual but they do tend to go over the top, especially on decorations.
Every year lighting competition gets more intense. LED lights are now ancient history. Software controlling them is where the action is. Lights now flash in many ways at many speeds possibly triggering seizures in individuals sensitive to light flicker, particularly those with epilepsy. How long until we have our own drone displays playing Santa and Reindeer in the air with sound and music?
Wow. The music. You can’t get away from the music. Not that it’s bad, it’s too good. Christmas music is persistent. It stays in your head. Old songs like Jingle Bells don’t bother me much but some others seem like brainwashing “The most wonderful time of the year”; “He knows when you’ve been sleeping”; “Up on the rooftop”. Often it just comes down to gifts. I used to make gifts for my kids. Now that they are middle-aged, not so much but usually food and drink which has very little environmental impact.
In our local Wal*Mart supercenter, whole sections are devoted to seasonal gifts and decorations. When looking at those displays, I have to ask myself “What is this stuff? Where did it come from? Where will it end up? From an environmental point of view, the answers are not encouraging. A lot of gifts use tag board packaging that is not recyclable. A lot of plastic inside is destined for the dump. A lot of colorful ink and wrapping is probably toxic. Many items are shipped on cargo ships running on bunker fuel then loaded on trains and diesel trucks coming from around the world and across the country. Everything with a bar code that measures what sells best and tracks who bought it. Does any of this stuff actually ward off evil spirits? That might be useful.
So, count me in as a Christmas curmudgeon. Interestingly, when you look that word up in the Oxford English Dictionary you get “a bad-tempered person, especially an old one.” Sure, they had to throw in the old person reference. Maybe it would be better to be considered a snob. At least that has a touch of class and wealth. Oh, wait a minute. The wealth part is not going to work out. I don’t have a big social security check or a car less than 20 years old. (But if you compare my resources to the income of the people who probably made these things, it’s giant.)
A snob would snub their nose at your run-of-the-mill Christmas gifts. But I can’t afford to do that either. The truth is. I buy lights and new gizmos. I send gifts made in China packed in cardboard made from newly harvested trees. I have a freshly cut tree that will end up as air pollution. I relish our display of cards from friends near and far and enjoy reading annual newsletters. I probably eat too many things that are not going to be part of a weight-watchers diet. I’m a Christmas hypocrite. I’ve been colonized by Christmas.
No reflective person examining their part in the whole Christmas parade can help feeling a little guilty for their part in it. But that’s where religion comes in. I was raised Catholic. I spent the first 20 years of life feeling guilty for one thing or another and going to confession to get over it. I’m totally prepared for Christmas guilt. Also, I have the Christmas newsletter routine down to a science. Careful journal entries, documenting pictures, consistent themes. Christmas newsletters are just practice for the new year and filing taxes.