By: Michaela Gonzalez, Staff Writer
Christmas is a broken record meant to empty your pockets and blind you from the product you are becoming in this capitalistic world. Yes, this might sound like a Grinch-like statement, but deep down, we all know how true this is. Annually, the unlocking of winter is accompanied with productions of thousands of wrapping paper, toys, food, decorations, deforestation, cars, and covers of the same songs are produced. As singer songwriter Sufjan Stevens (yes, the Call Me By Your Name, Mystery of Love Sufjan Stevens) claimed, “By now, it’s no mystery that Christmas has become an incalculable commodity in our material world—an annual exploitation of wealth, a festival of consumerism, and a vast playing field for the voyages of capitalism.” In other words, do we even remember why we celebrate Christmas?
This annual mindless consumerism never truly began with Christmas, it’s the entirety of it. Think about: imagine a Christmas without paying for or buying anything. No tree, no ornaments, no holiday movies, no baking, and no eggnog, no shelter to even celebrate! On the materialistic side of an average American Christmas (which is almost every side of Christmas), you just have to have money. If you don’t have a disposable income to buy decorations, which many of us and our neighbors do, you are only left with the “jolly”. Andrea Filler defines a common thought for families living in poverty on Talk Poverty by stating, “When people say that the holidays are stressful, I want to say, ‘Define stress.’ For me and many others, the fullest meaning of peace and joy is simply this: not having to worry about how we will provide food, shelter, and heat for our loved ones.” Especially in 2021, 42.8 million Americans have classified as impoverished, the Salvation Army is also bracing for a holiday season similar to that after the 2008 financial crisis. Last year, as many as 12 million Americans lost their unemployment benefits on Dec. 26. Imagine spending Christmas not knowing how rent will be paid or food warm on the table? Families in situations like this will see Christmas in a non-consumerist point of view, which was how it was believed to be celebrated long before the triumphs of capitalism took on a hold.
The first celebrations of this Christian holiday are believed to include food, drinks, and loving people. How this holiday came to be: we don’t truly know. Although December 25th is the believed date of birth of Jesus Christ, the origins of this chosen day appear unclear. Christian historians and writers have argued that recognizing birthdays of martyrs is disrespectful, while others insist December 25 was a Christianized Roman Winter Solstice holiday dies solis invicti nati (“day of the birth of the unconquered sun”). This could possibly be the root of the fuzzy reasons of this day, birth of the son and birth of the sun being very similar. With that, none of the traditions we know today derive from the birth of Christ, the first recorded custom of putting fir trees inside arrived in 1494, and the first commercial advent calendars were first produced in Germany in 1851. As for good ol’ Kris Kringle, he was a marketing tool Coca-Cola created in 1931 for their Taste Knows No Season campaign. These facts, along with the extracting of Pagan winter solstice traditions, shows how we don’t celebrate the Christmas we thought we did. It’s a fusion of cultures and knowledge.
Although western civilization has grown to consumerism, other non-Christian cultures and religions all around the world tend to celebrate the winter solstice, also known as the longest night of the year, or the end-of-year harvest. In Toji, Japan, residents there believe bathing in yuzu citrus fruits that will bless you with a refreshment of body, spirit and smooth winter skin. In Iran, residents celebrate Shab-e Yalda. “Yalda” meaning birth, occasion is marked with a feast of special nuts and fruits, as well as poetry readings.
To contradict everything I just mentioned, I still willingly believe in the joy and spirit of spending time with friends and family during the holidays. We, as consumers, have the power to change the entire market if we can simply realize Christmas is a representation of white capitalism, and nothing of what America should represent. Celebrate these holidays how you want your culture. Decorate your house with black or gender neutral Santas, eat some Vietnamese or African food, exchange some lovely handmade gifts, and help those in need. You just have to believe!
