What is Christmas anyway?

Art Conrad, in protest of the commercialism of the Christmas season, nailed a Santa to the cross.

It begs the question.....
What is Christmas in the 21st century anyway?

Christmas is an annual holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus (not actual birthday), but is intertwined with non-religious (pagan) customs. In the 21st century, religion is all but lost in the celebrations and Santa reins.

Winter-holiday festivals pre-date the Christian calendar, including celebrating pagan gods and the winter solstice on 25 December. Great feasts, as we have with family and friends, were a very important part of these festivals.

The Catholic church introduced the "12 days of Christmas, " (26 December, ending on January 6th) around 400 BCE to coincide with the pagan celebrations, but celebrating the baptism of Christ. We do not celebrate this here in the US, but numerous countries celebrate on Jan 6- the day the Magi arrived.

It was during the Middle Ages when the organization of the season was solidified and gift giving became an important part of Christmas, becoming the be-all end-all of the season. Of course, festivities lead to excess and eventually, there was a ban on the holiday (1600s) because the celebrations no longer focused on Jesus. In the US colonies, some banned the holiday as being "too English," later to follow the more-conservative view.

It was not until the publication of "A Christmas Carol" and "Twas the Night Before Christmas" during the 1800s when Christmas returned, rather reinvented with the romantic notions of the "spirit of Christmas," the fantastic St. Nick (Santa Clause), and a plethora of gifts for children. Christmas was declared a federal holiday in 1870 (Pres. Grant).

In the 21st century, this underlying current of tradition creates an ideal Christimas: family gatherings, decorating the tree (a pagan tradition- nature worship), and children fast asleep to wake to gifts from Santa (the Santa icon standardized in the 1920s; an actual Saint (Greek and German), as a gift-giver: origins in the 15th century).

In reality, the season is so-highly commercialized. I've heard what my students are asking for and it is really ridiculous. Soon after Halloween, the Christmas decorations pop up in stores, nearly disregarding Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving, "Black Friday," is a notorious shopping day- feeding the frenzy of the season. This weekend is another hallmark, marking the final shopping days- big sales all around. And then, of course, the day after Christmas- huge sales. The national, if not world, economic end-of-year picture depends upon these holiday sales.

Christmas is no longer about family or tradition, rather it is about what is given and the economic-vitality of the season.