Other Columns by Mike Bayham
Mike Bayham Bio

Printer-Friendly Version

Whose Day Is It Anyway?
By Mike Bayham
December 23, 2002

The month of December is truly the holiday season. There's the Hebrew military/religious celebration of Chanukah, which is unfortunately confused by strangers to Judaism as a Jewish version of Christmas. Followers of Mohammed observe the month long holy period of Ramadan, which ended in the first week of December. For persons of African descent there is the American invented festival of Kwanzaa, which is younger than both Strom Thurmond and Elvis Presley though it does possess the distinction of having its own official website. For Druids, wiccans and other quasi-pagan worshipers of nature there is the Winter Solstice.

Finally, not to be left out, for Christians there is December 25th also known by its proper though seemingly unmentionable name of Christmas.

While the other groups that celebrate their December holiday events have no problem stating the purpose and title of their festive occasion by name, Christmas for whatever reason has endured years of camouflage in advertisements, "holiday" cards, and other public oriented communications by the bland and generic name of "seasons greetings" or "happy holidays," which does to Jesus what President's Day did to George Washington.

You would think liberals would be tripping over themselves to give Jesus his due. He is the innovator of non-violent protest, martyred rebel against the social establishment and the original holistic healer. Regrettably, two thousand years later there is still no room at the Inn.

Christmas and Chanukah are both religious holidays through they represent different milestones for their respective faiths. In the case of Chanukah, it commemorates the preservation of Judaism while Christmas is about the birth of Jesus and thus Christianity.

In Washington and in municipal areas around the country, there are menorah lightings, the preeminent symbol of Chanukah, while the erection of a giant Fir tree decorated with glass balls and tinsel hanging from its limbs is the public misrepresentative of Christmas.

The connection between the menorah and Chanukah is that after the Jews had successfully rebelled against the Syrians, they went to rededicate the Temple, though unfortunately for the Maccabees there was only a small amount of oil to use for the rededication. Despite the lack of necessary oil, the lamp in the Temple miraculously burned for eight days, hence its moniker the "festival of lights." Because God is the source of the "lamp miracle" the menorah is obviously a religious symbol. Furthermore, God is also credited with making possible the improbable military victory over the oppressive forces of Antiochus.

What an evergreen has to do with the life or birth of Jesus is questionable with the tree itself having Germanic, not Christian, origins. The lack of clear identity with Christianity is probably one of the reasons why it is an "allowable" item to be displayed on public property. Obviously there is a double-standard in place with the religious aspects of Christmas getting the short end of the stick. Instead of evening things out by taking down the menorah, a nativity scene should be added as a true reminder of what the Christmas season is truly about.

The officially "godless" government of the United States has surprising company in their posturing for "denying Jesus before Santa ho ho's thrice." It appears that even the Catholic secondary school I attended has fallen under the same "sanitized" mentality of Christmas in which I received a "Happy Holidays" card from my high school alma mater this year. You would think a school named Holy Cross that is run by Catholic Brothers would not be so modest about using the word Christmas.

Now that I have come off as a puritanical Papist scrooge with "talibanistic" tendencies regarding the sanctity of Christmas, I would like to say that there is nothing wrong with the secular aspects of Christmas. I do not believe that Santa is the public face of Satan, the saturated presence of reindeer in holiday visuals is a clandestine attempt to resurrect ancient Nordic animal worship nor is the supernatural transformation of clumps of snow into a life a way to encourage children to develop an interest in black magic and wizardry. St. Nick, Frosty, Rudolph, and Mr. Bingle (it's a New Orleans thing) can all have a seat at the table at the Christmas Party so long as the guest of honor receives his due recognition

However, I do have a problem when these modern commercial and past mythical images almost totally supplant the man of the hour whose birthday should be the focus of attention. Christians should be mindful of the true meaning of Christmas while not watering it down in their celebrations and holiday greetings. All of the talk and caroling about peace, love and joy that are synonymous with this time of year are not based on the fact that the weather is colder; these are teachings that were espoused by the man who was born in Bethlehem two millennia ago. After all, if there were no Jesus, there would be no Christmas.

Happy birthday Jesus.