From The Wanderer
By Donald DeMarco
The current attempts to downplay Christmas range from the ineffectual to the ludicrous. In many circles “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” replaces “Merry Christmas,” although President Trump, himself, has vowed to say “Merry Christmas” often. Starbucks, not wanting to offend anyone, came up with a coffee cup design that emphasizes winter weather and social harmony over Christmas greetings.
Coloring cookies green and red at “Mid-winter” parties has been prohibited in certain places. A parish assistant was rebuked by her minister for selecting Away in a Manger for the choir to sing. The dreaded prefix — “man” — was forbidden even though it had no gender implication but referred to a place of eating. A principal of an elementary school in Connecticut instructed his students to wish each other a “Happy winter” and avoid using the potentially offensive “Merry Christmas.” Why not? The United States has already effaced George Washington’s and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays under the generic “Presidents Day.” Soon we may be exchanging Columbus Day for Navigation Day or Queen Victoria Day for Royalty Day. Once the generic takes over, we begin to lost sight of any real reason to celebrate.
Our ancestors were more zealously committed putting an end to Christmas celebrations. After defeating Catholics on the battlefield in 1559, Calvinist reformers enacted legislation than included a ban on celebrating Christmas. A Puritan-controlled Parliament in England under Oliver Cromwell passed legislation forbidding church services and civic festivities on Christmas Day and decreed that Christmas be abandoned altogether under pain of punishment. In some cities and hamlets, December 24 was marked by town criers who went around shouting “No Christmas!” “No Saint Nicholas!” Cromwell also made it a criminal offense to eat mince pie since this delicacy was shaped like a crib and often displayed a pastry baby on top.
In 1659 the Puritan government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony banned Christmas: “Whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way, upon such accountants as aforesaid, every person so offending shall pay of every such offence five shillings, as a fine to the county.”
In his book, Puritans at Play, Bruce Colin Daniels informs us that “Christmas occupied a special place in the ideological religious warfare of Reformation Europe.” Most Anabaptists, Quakers, and Congregational and Presbyterian Puritans,” he points out, saw Christmas as an abomination while Anglicans, Lutherans, and the Dutch Reformed celebrated the day as did Roman Catholics.
From 1558 until 1829 Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. During that era someone wrote The Twelve Days of Christmas as a veiled way of catechizing young Catholics. The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ. The brace of doves referred to the Old and New Testaments. The three French hens stood for the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The four calling birds represented the four Gospel writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The five golden rings recalled the first five books of the Old Testament, or the Torah. And so on.
Christmas is insuppressible. It not only survives; it prevails. In fact, it dominates the scene in late December. It will far outlast political correctness. Christmas carols will fill the air in shopping marts and in the hearts of its consumers. Bing Crosby will croon White Christmas for the zillionth time.
Silent Night will bring comfort, hope, and reassurance to hospital patients. I’ll Be Home for Christmas will warm hearts and hearths. Churches will be packed on Christmas Day and children will rush to see what presents await them under the Christmas tree. Twas the Night Before Christmas (originally titled by the author as A Visit From St. Nicholas) will be recited to rapt audiences of young and old throughout the land. The Wise Men will once again be honored on Christmas cards. House parties will be filled with good cheer and no one will believe he is celebrating the pagan god of winter. The doors of private homes will be adorned with welcoming Christmas wreaths while lawns will display the Nativity scene. Candy canes, symbolic of the shepherds’ crook, will be freely distributed.
Theater audiences throughout the world will be inspired by performances of Handel’s Messiah. As expected, Ebenezer Scrooge will undergo his annual dramatic conversion and embrace the Christmas spirit. A new altruism will replace his old cynicism. From the radio we will hear an endless stream of Christmas carols. Television will entertain lovers of the Christmas Season by showing vintage Christmas movies. Once again, George Bailey, the hero of It’s a Wonderful Life, will hold Zuzu in his arms next to the Christmas tree and thank God for his dear friends and the supernatural work of his guardian angel, Clarence Oddbody (formerly angel second class).
We can rejoice and be glad. Christmas will always be with us to enjoy and share and give us hope that the Savior who was born into this world will continue to provide us with His light and His love.
“But I heard him exclaim ere he drove out of sight, happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!” And these words include my wishes, too, to all faithful readers of The Wanderer.
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