America has a unique way of celebrating the holidays in that we wish each other good cheer and then bicker like little girls on which is the best way to say it. It’s most uncomfortable. You know it’s the season to be jolly when an oblivious news anchor wishes you a Merry Christmas and gets busted for her insensitivity to our pluralist disestablishmentarian society.
The guy ringing up my cart at Target turns a little purple before he mumbles a “Merry … Holidays?” in my general direction. Even our capitalists get a little awkward – Old Navy markets a carefully secular ad campaign, flashing an occasional jingle bell and dearly hoping no one noticed. It is a pretty far-reaching effort to censor the holiday-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken in a country where most people want to celebrate it.
Christmas has two meanings. One revolves around church and the birth of Christ. The other is a set of gushy, secular values spoon-fed to consumers by Madison Avenue. The Supreme Court agrees. The 1999 verdict for Ganulin v. United States declared that Christmas Day “does not violate the Establishment Clause because it has a valid secular purpose.” Macy’s sells Christmas with television ads of Santa Claus and impossibly chipper families decorating trees – not solemnly observing the nativity scene. Corporate greed is another story, but the result is that the holidays are for everyone.
The Middle East seems to get it. Last month, Washington Post blogger Bashir Goth praised the United Arab Emirates where “Christmas and Indian Diwali are celebrated with Muslim Eids” in shopping malls. Goth describes the rule of thumb there: “You have your religion and I have mine.” There’s no pussyfooting, just a glorious coexistence of faith and culture. They’ve got it right – it’s truly a season of love.
In our own society, the holiday is attacked and suppressed in the name of democracy. Are we trying to eradicate one celebration to fit in all the other ones? Christmas is the reason the holiday season exists; it is unfair and offensive to deny that. To rename the National Christmas Tree the “Holiday Tree” would be rejecting where it came from in the first place. That is an affront to the Christmas tradition that has been part of our country’s fabric for a long time. Like it or not, the majority observes Christmas, and that’s something to be respected.
This reasoning, however, does not extend to the Ten Commandments on public property or teaching intelligent design in schools – those are explicit religious beliefs that lead to fundamental value clashes. Darwin is definitely incompatible with Genesis. Christmas and the holiday tradition stems from religion too, but it’s always been an inoffensive part of American tradition. It represents generosity, warmth and snowflakes. We can let this one slide.
I was raised Hindu in the Bible Belt, so I’m hardly evangelizing. But baking cookies for Santa every year made me feel in-sync as a kid living there. Hindus can only twiddle their thumbs come December because there’s no convenient fuzzy December holiday to keep us occupied. Celebrating the holiday season and the secular Christmas tradition is a great way to feel involved.
Still, it can get hard for someone who does have something else lined up for the season. So how should the minority reply when greeted with a Christian reference? Smile and wish them back a Happy Hannukah, Happy Holidays or a Jolly Festivus. Say whatever you feel comfortable with, as long as you mean well. Whatever the religion or belief set, you can still share in the collective cup of hot cocoa. This is a big country. I promise we can handle it.
Nandini Jammi is a freshman English major. She can be reached at jammin@umd.edu.
