The holiday now called "Christmas" began as various pagan holidays honoring the winter solstice. This was the shortest day in the year, and after it the time of light would grow longer and the spring would return.
Recently, calling it "Christmas" vs. "Holiday Season" became the latest litmus test for the Christian Right. Jerry Falwell has launched a 'Friend or Foe' campaign, and Fox News' John Gibson is making big bucks off a book titled "The War on Christmas", which purports to explain how evil liberals are stealing Jesus out of a holiday where, frankly, He had to be inserted in the first place.
This has led to commentary on several Pagan blogs, which each have their own take on the subject:
In
The Pagan Temple, Patrick gives some history on the Pagan origins of the holiday, and then levels some just criticism of the demands people like Falwell are making:
The Pagan Temple: The Reason For The Season: "Christians are bad enough when they are confronted just with the facts of other religions, of the existence of them. They are bad enough when confronted with the simple reality that those of other religions have the rights to practice their religions in peace. This is enough to make them shout and moan and bitch about a so-called 'war on Christianity'. That and the fact a good many people just don't share their values. I know I don't always. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. So what!"
Sunfell comments on the 'war' in LiveJournal:
"WTF? I guess that their homeskuled, backwards eddykation never taught them that 'holiday' is HOLY Day. Basically, they've just cursed themselves, because Christmas, no matter how you slice it, is a Holy Day, placed at this particular time of the year by none other than the Roman Catholic Church, and picked up by the Protestants and the secular merchant class, once someone edited the Three Kings and their pricey gifts into the story. The '-mas' suffix of Christmas is an indicator of a great feast, of which there are several, mostly for saints, in the liturgical calendar."
Mary McCary gets in touch with her inner Scrooge in "MY War on Christmas".
"It seems somewhat hypocritical to me for anyone to complain that there is a war against the Christian religious holiday of Christmas by emphasizing the lack of Jesus in heavily commercial enterprises. Nor do I see how one can think that Christmas is essential to the American way of life. Christians who feel persecuted when they hear "happy holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas" should take a moment and walk through any store at any time of day where the incessant toning of Christmas carols hammer their way into our unconscious."
In my own blog, I made the following comment in The War on Yule - er, Christmas:
"I think it's pretty hypocritical, though, for large fundamentalist churches to complain about a liberal 'War on Christmas' when many of them will be closing their doors on Christmas Sunday. They claim that this is so worshippers, including their employees, can have 'family time' on this day, but I think I know the real reason: the kids will screech if they have to wait to open their toys."
Just thought I would inject a new perspective to the argument. After all, who has really had their holy-day stolen?
Sarah G