Why Christmas Should Be More Commercial
Christmas should celebrate reason, selfishness and capitalism.
By Leonard Peikoff
Christmas in America is an exuberant display of human ingenuity, capitalist productivity, and the enjoyment of life. Yet all of these are castigated as “materialistic”; the real meaning of the holiday, we are told, is assorted Nativity tales and altruist injunctions (e.g., love thy neighbor) that no one takes seriously.
In fact, Christmas as we celebrate it today is a 19th-century American invention. The freedom and prosperity of post Civil War America created the happiest nation in history. The result was the desire to celebrate, to revel in the goods and pleasures of life on earth. Christmas (which was not a federal holiday until 1870) became the leading American outlet for this feeling.
Historically, people have always celebrated the winter solstice as the time when the days begin to lengthen, indicating the earth’s return to life. Ancient Romans feasted and reveled during the festival of Saturnalia. Early Christians condemned these Roman celebrations--they were waiting for the end of the world and had only scorn for earthly pleasures. By the fourth century the pagans were worshipping the god of the sun on December 25, and the Christians came to a decision: if you can’t stop ’em, join ’em. They claimed (contrary to known fact) that the date was Jesus’ birthday, and usurped the solstice holiday for their Church.
Even after the Christians stole Christmas, they were ambivalent about it. The holiday was inherently a pro-life festival of earthly renewal, but the Christians preached renunciation, sacrifice, and concern for the next world, not this one. As Cotton Mather, an 18th-century clergyman, put it: “Can you in your consciences think that our Holy Savior is honored by mirth? . . . Shall it be said that at the birth of our Savior . . . we take time . . . to do actions that have much more of hell than of heaven in them?”
Then came the major developments of 19th-century capitalism: industrialization, urbanization, the triumph of science--all of it leading to easy transportation, efficient mail delivery, the widespread publishing of books and magazines, new inventions making life comfortable and exciting, and the rise of entrepreneurs who understood that the way to make a profit was to produce something good and sell it to a mass market.
For the first time, the giving of gifts became a major feature of Christmas. Early Christians denounced gift-giving as a Roman practice, and Puritans called it diabolical. But Americans were not to be deterred. Thanks to capitalism, there was enough wealth to make gifts possible, a great productive apparatus to advertise them and make them available cheaply, and a country so content that men wanted to reach out to their friends and express their enjoyment of life. The whole country took with glee to giving gifts on an unprecedented scale.
Santa Claus is a thoroughly American invention. There was a St. Nicholas long ago and a feeble holiday connected with him (on December 5). In 1822, an American named Clement Clarke Moore wrote a poem about a visit from St. Nick. It was Moore (and a few other New Yorkers) who invented St. Nick’s physical appearance and personality, came up with the idea that Santa travels on Christmas Eve in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, comes down the chimney, stuffs toys in the kids’ stockings, then goes back to the North Pole.
Of course, the Puritans denounced Santa as the Anti-Christ, because he pushed Jesus to the background. Furthermore, Santa implicitly rejected the whole Christian ethics. He did not denounce the rich and demand that they give everything to the poor; on the contrary, he gave gifts to rich and poor children alike. Nor is Santa a champion of Christian mercy or unconditional love. On the contrary, he is for justice--Santa gives only to good children, not to bad ones.
All the best customs of Christmas, from carols to trees to spectacular decorations, have their root in pagan ideas and practices. These customs were greatly amplified by American culture, as the product of reason, science, business, worldliness, and egoism, i.e., the pursuit of happiness.
America’s tragedy is that its intellectual leaders have typically tried to replace happiness with guilt by insisting that the spiritual meaning of Christmas is religion and self-sacrifice for Tiny Tim or his equivalent. But the spiritual must start with recognizing reality. Life requires reason, selfishness, capitalism; that is what Christmas should celebrate--and really, underneath all the pretense, that is what it does celebrate. It is time to take the Christ out of Christmas, and turn the holiday into a guiltlessly egoistic, pro-reason, this-worldly, commercial celebration.
Dr. Leonard Peikoff is the foremost authority on Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. The Ayn Rand Center is a division of the Ayn Rand Institute and promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.”
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There's noticeably a bundle to learn about this. I assume you made certain nice factors in features also. Butalbital overpoweringly
Christmas should be more commercial? We have to put up with Christmas ads for about a quarter of the year already. How much more commercial could it get?
To Preesi:
Your arguments are very odd and historically doubtful. Here are some questions for you:
Why is money bad? What reasons can you give for your assertion that buying things is equivalent to "worshiping" the dollar? Why do you presume that buying gifts doesn't make people happy? Wouldn't people stop buying gifts if they felt "dirty" in doing so? Why do you think buying a vacation to Hawaii is different, on principle, than buying individual gifts? Are not both these actions forms of so-called "commercialism", in that they involve "buying"?
To TB3:
Why do you feel the need to link gift-buying during Christmas to houses foreclosing? By this logic, shouldn't we convert society to be entirely anti-capitalist, in that you've linked small elements of commercialism (gift-buying) to large purported "failures" of capitalism ? What is good about Christ?
Take the Christ out of Christmas...that already happened. We ended up with X-mas. But, of course, that wasnt enough. Now all we have is Winter Solstice or Winter break. That means a whole lot, doesnt it, since you dubbed it to mean nothing?
'Christmas' should be more commercial...like people need to run up the debt on their credit cards . And where has that gotten this nation to? How many houses have been foreclosed? Ahhh...'if they are going to die then they had better do it, and decrease the surplus poplulation'?
And I suppose that Tiny Tim died of whatever ailed him...so there is no need to fund Cancer research, or AIDS research?
If, after all, there is going to be some Peace on Earth, Good will towards men, then we need some men to stand up for it rather than wish it away. As for me, I put the Christ back in to Christmas in my own heart. Perfect I am not, but neither is this nation or its many people. Tell you what, you 'celebrate' 'Christmas' in your own way; let me celebrate it in mine.
A few years ago on a Womens Board on the internet there was a poster that happily proclaimed that she had told everyone she knew that they "werent getting anything from her and her family this year for Christmas and instead she had booked a luxury Christmas Vacation to Hawai'i for her and her hubby and 3 kids "
I remember some of the other posters being offended at the thought that SOMEONE would actually not give gifts to their extended family, friends and co- workers at Christmas...
"That isnt CHRISTIAN!"
"You need to buy them something!"
"That is selfish!"
"Dont you want anything in return?"
It was as if a sacred cow was slaughtered in the middle of Mumbai and fried up right there and eaten.
Secretly I think they were all jealous at such a radical stand against such a supposedly spiritual tradition.
Years earlier I had bought a book called "Hundred Dollar Holiday" By Bill McKibben where the author details that all of the symbols of Christs Birthday that we hold dear are actually Pagan symbols. During the crusades when the Christians stormed through Europe and the UK raping and killing and pillaging to convert the then Pagan populace to the new Christian religion , they decided that it would be easier to convert them if they chose December 25th for Christs birthday AND rename and Christianize their Pagan symbols. December 25th is the same day as the Pagan holiday of Yule or Winter Solstice. Christs real birthday was sometime in the spring.
Aside from the fact that its offensive to know that a supposedly peaceful religion has raped, pillaged and killed to bring people into the flock. It is also offensive to realize that Christians are celebrating Gods son 's birthday on the wrong day and with another religions symbols (breaking the 1st & 2nd Commandments at once) and have made it the most evil of all holidays in the supposed Christian Calendar by worshipping the dollar and making CHRISTS Birthday all about MONEY and COMMERCIALSM!
Anyway after the woman on the Womans Board said she was going to Hawai'i for Christmas eschewing gift giving and after the others were offended I applauded the Hawai'i goers decision. I told her that she was celebrating the correct way by being minimalistic and Joyful just to be with her husband and kids.
I then told them about the book I read (above) and that I made a few other comments they suddenly ganged up on me over, such as:
1) How are you celebrating Christs birthday by going to your office's Christmas party and getting drunk and Xeroxing your ass?
2) How are you celebrating Christs birthday by stampeding and trampling over other people for a stupid 40 inch LCD TV?
3) How are you celebrating Christs birthday by buying your kids the latest Grand Theft Auto or Doom or Halo shoot em up game for the Xbox 360?
4) How are you celebrating Christs birthday by FORCING youself to buy a stale readymade "cheese/crackers/summersausage gift pak from the "gift aisle" at Walmart for your friend Hal, just so HE buys YOU something?
It was then that I was heavily attacked...
"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK CHRISTMAS!?"
I think Christmas has been under attack by money hungry companies for years! Even back in the days of the Crusades. You dont think ALL those Crusaders wanted to CONVERT ALLLL those Pagans to Christianity just to save their souls do you? NO! The fact was that the Crusaders lusted after all the FUTURE Tithings they could get from all the NEW Christian converts! Converting the Pagans holidays to the most commercial holiday on earth was the icing on the cake for them.
Food for thought and some questions:
Do you REALLY enjoy the stuff you get from people?
Does gift giving, other than to your kids, not make you happy or does it leave you feeling dirty?
Does it feel meaningless?
Do you do it just cause you have to?
Do you really like the people you give gifts to or do you just feel obligated to do it?
Do you feel let down after Christmas?
What could YOU do as a person that would give you happiness and sustain it year round?