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T
HE SEASON lO
be jolly is nea rly
upon us agai n. With it will
come pa rties. g ifts, family
get- togethers - and family break–
ups - a ll with the slern reminder
not lo fo rget the " rea l meaning of
Christma ."
Admonitions lo promo te peace.
!ove, joy. goodwill a nd hope stem
from a since re desire
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circumvent
the overwhe lming commercialism o f
t he season. Bu l as usua l, the admo–
n iti ons will be a lmost lota lly ig–
nored. a nd understa ndably so. Tbe
" rea l meaning ' ' of the ho liday has
a lways bee n annoyingly vague.
T o confusc ma tters further, the
a ll egcd birthday of Christ has come
to be inescapably associa led with a
j o lly Nord ic sa int ecre tly beari ng
g ifts in the night. With a Santa on
eve ry s treet com er. mo t children
fo rget t ha t Chrislmas is somehow
s up posed to be a billion-d o ll a r
birthday pa rty fo r Ch rist.
A closcr look a t the h is tory of
Ch ris tmas should clea r up the mys–
tery. lronically enough. it will show
tha t today's genera lly irreverent cel–
cbra lion of December 25 comes far
close r lo l he " rea l meaning" o f
C hri stmas lh a n mos l Chri s ti an s
da re lo admit.
How Modern Christmas Began
Commercia l Christmas is on ly
a bout 50 yca rs old. James H. Barn–
e tt o f the Un ivers ity of Connecticut
exp lai n s t he or igi n of "Gree n
Christmas" in his book
The Ameri–
can Christmas: A Study in National
Culture.
"T he s ludied explo ita tion o f the
festi va l d id no t develop fu lly un til
the third decade in the presenl cen–
tury." he wril es. "At the close of the
wa r in
1918.
th e American economy
was geared to a high level of output
a nd a host of new produc ts were
ready to be sold. However. con–
sumer demands were shrinking. and
there was serious danger o f a stag–
nant ma rke t. "
Postwa r reta ilers a nd manufac–
turers, it seems, were faced with a
dilemma. T he assembly lines we re
roll ing, bu t consumer cash was not.
PLAIN TRUTH December 1974
T he fl ash depression o f 1920 struck.
ma ki ng bus in essmen eve n mo re
despera te.
" In t hi s dil emma ." contin ues
Barne tt, " business leaders sought
sorne means o f increasing no rmal.
peace time buy ing. a nd turned to
promotion a nd high-pressure sales
methods. Bo th mercha nts a nd ad–
vertising agencies recognized the
commercia l poss ibili ti es of folk festi–
vals. and began to explo it these oc–
casions sho rt ly a ft er 1920 . T h is was
immed ia tely success ful a nd has con–
linued una ba ted to t he present."
Now we fi nd Christmas busine s
domina ting the en tire second half o f
th e ca le nd a r yea r. The busiest
month in ra ilroad freight ya rds is
August, prima ri ly because ma nufac–
turer a re shi pping goods lo reta il
th eir business. and more g ifts are
exchanged on Decembe r 25 than on
a ll the other
364
days combined!
Just about every imaginable kind
of obj ect has been a Christmas gift ,
a nd j ust about everyone has re–
ceived his sha re o f thc bounty. But
iron ica lly, th e chu rches - actively
expounding the Chr istmas spirit -
suffer mone tary reverses. In fact,
easonal Chrislmas spending con–
sistently excecds all relig ious contri–
butions given to all chu rches fo r the
entire yea r ! And g ifts to religions
consislen tly decl in e during Decem–
be r.
Wouldn ' t il be incongruous if you
a ttended a bi rthday party where
everyone excha nged g ifts with the
guests, whil e the host was igno red -
honored wilh no gift a t a ll? Fig-
8oth merchants and advertising agencies
recognized the commercia/ possibilities
of folk festivals and began to exploit these
occasions shortly aher 1920. This was
immediately successful and has continued
unabated to the present.
out le ts in prepa ra tion fo r the Christ–
mas gift tra ffi c. Ch ristmas sa les be–
g in a ro und La b o r D ay (ea r ly
September), ra lher than early De–
cember.
Reta ilers look a l it th is way: "T be
mo re shopping days befo re Christ–
mas, lhe mo re poten lial sales. T he
who le approach to selli ng is to ge t
stu ff out as early as possible. You
need plenty of time for reo rders."
Jt 's now q uite commo n to see
Ch ristmas advertisemen ts in ea rly
October!
Gifts for Everyone?
Since
1965
t he American p ub lic
has spenl over
JO
billion
dolla rs on
Christmas gifts each year. o r a bout
$ 125 billion between the years 1965-
1974.
In just
JO
percent o f the yea r's
shopping days - the period from
Tha nksgiving to Christmas - most
shops do mo re tha n 20 percent o f
ura tively speaking, tha t
is
wha t hap–
pens on Jesus Ch risl's supposed
" birthday."
Ye t this is only one of the Christ–
mas "opposites" - those customs
a nd practices which wo rk in opposi–
tion to wha t a despera te huma ni ty
wishes Christmas would be. Com–
pa re a few o f the o ther Christmas
practices to the tex tbook tha t most
Chr istians pro fess to read.
Christmas " Opposites"
• lsn' t it a li ttle hypocritica l to
teach our ch ildren a fa ntastic web of
fal sehoods a bout Santa Claus. the
reindeer. and even th e time and
cir–
cumstances of Christ's birth, while
we a re supposedly honoring the one
who said. "Thou shalt not bea r false
witness"? (Ma tthew
19: 18.)
• Th ere are mo re murders and
acciden ta l dea ths a t Christmas time
tha n a t any o ther t ime of year: yet
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