Blessed Solstice

Blessed Solstice! In commemoration of this ancient holiday, now under siege from cultural elitists, we provide the following guest editorial from Charles Krauthammer of The Washington Post.

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It is Winter Solstice, and what would Solstice be without the usual platoon of annoying pettifoggers rising annually to infuse Solstice with Christian content? With some success:

School districts in New Jersey and Florida ban Solstice carols, even going so far as to replace the traditional Solstice lyrics of the "Scheydryk," with inane, Christianized lyrics about bells, bells, bells. The mayor of Somerville, Mass., apologizes for "mistakenly" referring to the traditional 12-day revelry in praise of Marduk as "the Twelve Days of Christmas." Shopping malls across South Florida have erected "Christmas trees" with no mention of the custom's Druidic origins. The manager of one of the malls explains: the tree represents Christmas, and that's a Christian holiday, though he hastens to add, "I really don't know a lot about it." He does not. The tree represents the midwinter hope for the rebirth of the sun, and there is nothing more pre-Christian than that.

The attempts to Christianize, or Christmas-ize Solstice are as absurd as they are relentless. The examples I have provided -- a handful of school districts, a small-city mayor and a few shopping malls -- demonstrate just how very relentless and pervasive this crisis is.

Some Americans get angry at parents who want to celebrate Saturnalia because they tremble that their kids might feel "different" and "uncomfortable" should they hear anything other than majority Christian music sung at their school. I feel pity. What kind of fragile religious identity have they bequeathed their children that it should be threatened by exposure to the ancient celebrations of the Unconquered Sun?

I'm struck by the fact that you almost never find genuine Christians clamoring for a Christmas creche in the public square. That is because their children, steeped in the richness of their own religious tradition, know who they are and do not need to impose their religion on the rest of the public.

It is the thewless members of religious majorities -- brought up largely ignorant of their own traditions except for in their hegemonic, assimilated, civil-religious forms -- whose religious identity is so tenuous that they think that the solution to their predicament is to insist on the extravagant and public display of official support for their religion.

It is time that members of religious (and civil-religious) majorities, as full citizens of this miraculous republic, transcend petty defensiveness.

Blessed Solstice. To all.

Comments

[Dave Lartigue]

The last line rules. I always like it when some pundit says, "Would you all please stop being selfish and just give me what I want?"

[Erik V.]

If you buy Luke's account of Christ's birth, Jesus was probably born in the spring. I wonder why we celebrate Christmas so close to the Winter Solstice. . . . I say we blame Gregory the Great.

[Chris]

The terrible thing is I bet Chuck thinks he's funny. A sure sign of pure delusion.

[cjmr]

thewless???

[Sumana]

Saturnalia lives on at e-sheep.

[Daddy-O]

Back in 1991, I saw a fabulous local gay musical called "Some Of My Best Friends Are..." In the first and second acts, it had a running skit with a heterosexual couple being discriminated against in a homosexual world.

At first, I laughed at all the jokes, and it was easy to understand. But in the second act, I had a hard time following the nuances and trying to figure out the exact point being made. Same here with this piece.

It's probably just a faulty wire in my brain somehow, but after a while it simply stops understanding which side is up in these satires. I have to stop reading, concentrate harder, and go back. Anybody else have this problem?

I'm a very intelligent person whose love is communication. But for some examples of satire, where the world becomes topsy-turvy for the sake of making a point, it just gets hard to follow. Then again, I'm sure those skits weren't hard to follow for gays and lesbians in the audience.

[Scott]

http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa122397b.htm

But the actual choice of December 25 for Christmas was made under the Emperor Aurelian because this was the date of the Winter Solstice and was the day devotees of Mithras celebrated the dies natalis solis invicti (birthday of the invincible sun).

Mithraism, like Christianity, offers salvation to its adherents. Mithras was born into the world to save humanity from evil. Both figures ascended in human form, Mithras to wield the sun chariot, Christ to Heaven. The following summarizes the aspects of Mithraism that are also found in Christianity.

“Mithras, the sun-god, was born of a virgin in a cave on December 25, and worshipped on Sunday, the day of the conquering sun. He was a savior-god who rivaled Jesus in popularity. He died and was resurrected in order to become a messenger god, an intermediary between man and the good god of light, and the leader of the forces of righteousness against the dark forces of the god evil.”
- Pagan Origins of Christmas

[Eve]

It's funny. I live in the Czech Republic, a place where successive Nazi and Communist regimes have pretty much done for religious faith. 80% of Czechs describe themselves as atheists, and yet Christmas is everywhere, especially in state-owned public places. We have a Christmas tree in every square, Christmas markets selling hand-made tree decorations and knitted hats and mulled wine, and a beautiful carved nativity scene in Old Town Square, with a little stable petting zoo (a donkey, a calf and two geese) for the children.

I suppose it's because nobody takes religion very seriously that so much Christmas display is present. Which is rather sad, but then again Christmas in Prague is so pretty.

[Shag from Brookline]

Commensality abounds during the Christmas/New Year holiday season, sort of universally at least in the western world. Some families enjoy commensality year-round, especially at meal times. It's a shame that more people do not seek commensality year-round. It isn't necessarily people needing people, it's people loving and respecting people, whether sectarian or secular.

[Miss Authoritiva]

Krauthammer's rankled about those uppity religious minorities commiting the sin of "profound ungenerosity toward a majority of fellow citizens who have shown such generosity of spirit toward minority religions." Where are their manners?! That's gratitude for you.

Apparently from now until the turkey's done, Fox News and Friends is doing a daily run-down of locales whose Christmas celebrations are Christ-deficient. E.D. Hill gets especially angel-dusted for these readings. It would be more efficient but less fun if they just scrolled these at the bottom of the screen, like school closings.

[spygirl]

hee. My home town has a Winter Solstice celebration around a public art installation; it's these two pyramid-type ... things, aligned so that the sun will rise exactly between them on the morning of the solstice.
I wonder what Fox News would make of that church-state problem?

[sophia8]

Spygirl, if anyone is offended by that, then they had better not visit Milton Keynes here in the UK. That town was built in the 1970s and 80s and the main street was deliberately aligned with the Midsummer Solstice sunrise.

[Dave]

Your parody actually reinforces Krauthammer's point, as in fact Christmas ended up replacing Saturnalia and other pagan solstice festivals as Christianity triumphed.

Presumably he fears that secularism will replace Christianity.