Websites: December 2005 Archives
This is an interesting rant on how Christians stole Christmas. He has sharp words for those who complain that stores are removing the "Christmas" from the holiday season. The basic premise is, what's happening now is the final attempt to extirpate all the Christians feasts from civil life. Basically, this has been going on steadily over the last 500 years, we shouldn't be surprised that it's come to this.
I'm not sure I agree with his premise but it makes for an interesting read. What's going on now is happening for radically different reasons that Christian feasts have been deprecated, at least from a human standpoint. Before, feasts were eliminated because it was felt they (in many cases) detracted from Christ; the charge was not true, but what the perpetrators thought they were doing was at least noble if misguided. I'm less sure why other feasts were eliminated (say those that observed events in the Bible); it would be an interesting study to determine why Christmas and Easter, alone of all events, survived as a feast celebrated by Protestants. For example, what's wrong with celebrating the Presentation in the Temple? How about the Ascension? Pentecost? Maybe I knew at one point why certain Protestants oppose celebrating feasts, but I've forgotten it now, unless it is strictly due to similarity to paganism (which undoubtedly plays a role).
Anyway I digress. The modern reasons for deprecating Christmas are "diversity" (how would those poor Jews feel if you wished them a Merry Christmas?) and secularization. The people pushing for it are different than the people who pushed to eliminate other Christian feasts. So I'm not sure I'm convinced this is the "logical conclusion" of what started with Martin Luther, except insofar if one group picks off the first hundred or so, leaving one or two, it's hard to protect those two from oblivion since you've destroyed the whole culture on which they were based. Maybe that's his argument, though.
If you were intrigued by Childermas, there are other obscure -mases:
- Hallowmas - All Saint's Day
Soulemas - All Soul's Day
Martinmas - St. Martin of Tours, 11 Nov
Petermas - presumably the feast of St. Peter.
Lukesmas - Presumably the feast of St. Luke.
Crouchmas - Corruption of Cross Mass, feast of Finding of the Cross, May 3.
Ellenmas - Feast of St. Helen, Equal to the Apostles, Aug 18
Uphalimas - Epiphany.
Lammas - loaf-mass day - festival of the first wheat harvest of the year.
Cavalcade of bad nativity scenes.
