The war of Christmas is older than you think

Happy New Year! I'm back from a week in Texas visiting my brother's family and attending my nephew's wedding. While I enjoy hanging out with my nieces and nephews (I stayed with another nephew and his family), this is the brother who is the reason why I don't give much identifying information in this blog.

Another rant about the secular society reducing Christmas to just another Happy Holiday produced a commentary about how the date for Christmas was chosen. If shepherds "watched their flocks by night," which they only need to do in lambing season, then Jesus was born in the spring. So why December 25? Archaeologists now say that the Basilica of St. Anastasia in Rome was the first to celebrate the birth of Christ on the date we know. The Basilica was built next to the grotto where Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, were supposedly nursed by a wolf, and the date had commemorated the birth of the sun god (Apollo?). It is also the date of the birth of the god Mithras. Who can throw a better party?

But Christians seem to be missing the point, and I don't mean the ones about freedom of speech and separation of church and state (though they miss those points too). The Christmas they seem to be defending these days, the one about "holiday trees" and stores accommodating pagans, is the Christmas of secular consumerism. Advent, the time leading up to Christmas, was originally set by the Church as a time of intense prayer and reflection about the theological implications of Christmas. It has become a marathon of pointless shopping. By the time the actual Christmas season (12/25 to 1/6) arrives we're sick of the whole thing. So why aren't Christians who are fearful of the dilution of their sacred day joining up with anti-consumerism progressives?

The comic strip Candorville has a Dec. 30 strip appropriate to the topic.