Episode IV: The New Seasonal Message
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20190303030146im_/https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Fsf1OQ6tvc4/R26yIB3ZpKI/AAAAAAAAALo/pmg9SKlSrqE/s320/Christmas+Bush.jpg)
Normally my seasonal ramblings consist primarily of various musings on the "War on Christmas" which assorted right-wing nutjobs insist is being waged by a conspiracy of secular-lefty-liberal-PC-islamist-thugs. Invented by American "conservatives" as a stick to beat their political opponents with the concept has been hinted at by some of the nuttier elements of the British right, but has yet to exert any real influence on British political culture. The fact that there isn't and never has been such a conflict outside the paranoid delusions and well-honed persecution complexes of Rebekah Wade and Stephen Green is probably a crucial factor in this absence.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20190303030146im_/https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Fsf1OQ6tvc4/RY1Uqg4INiI/AAAAAAAAACc/zvv85OEQmnw/s320/Santanarchy.jpg)
For what it's worth I enjoy the festive season as much as anybody despite, or perhaps because of, my complete lack of faith. As I've suggested in the past, Christians have no monopoly over winter festivities. Indeed, they are a recurring theme in various cultures. This is hardly surprising. What better cure for the winter blues than a big party? Indeed winter festivities pre-date Christianity's emergence by some way. In fact, th Romans actually held a festival on December 25 which they called Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, "the birthday of the unconquered sun." (Note the parallels with Christianity's birth of the son of God.) Christianity settled on the date largely arbitrarily, although the available evidence (much of it derived directly from biblical accounts) suggests that Christ was most likely born in the autumn. Holding the festival in winter served as a sweetener to putative converts who wouldn't have to give up their traditional parties. This also helps to explain the co-option of pre-Christian symbols such as holly.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20190303030146im_/https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Fsf1OQ6tvc4/R26_sR3ZpLI/AAAAAAAAALw/fDpHpcDfckA/s320/Christmas+wall.jpg)
In my experience, radicals never turn up the opportunity for a party so why should this one be any different? I'll be tucking into my nut roast on Tuesday, supping the odd alcoholic beverage and foreshadowing the coming gift economy as I'm sure will most of you. Enjoy it.
Happy Christmas, Chrismukkah, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, Duckmass, Hannukah, Hogmany, Holidays, HumanLight, Koruchun, Kwanza, New Year, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice, Winterval, Yalda and/or Yule!
<< Home