"Dar gave me a picture of what ought to be this season, how we should behave. Regardless of religious belief or affiliation, this winter will be cold and lonely, metaphorically and literally, and if people can come together like in the song, "finding faith and common ground the best that they were able," then maybe, just maybe, there's some hope left for us all. And I am ever grateful that there are people like Dar out there coming up with beautiful reminders like this, because thanks to them will be even more who will hear and think twice about what it is they're celebrating this season and with whom and why."
--Si ["http://josiah.blogware.com/"]
I rarely do multiple-part posts on the same topic. [It might explain all those long posts I've written over the last few months.] But I couldn't leave last post hanging without a crucial point, one that I felt might do better separated from the seemingly anti-Christmas sentiment; and I felt it would better serve this post's particular topic to separate it, since it does contrast that of the previous post. I took the above quote from a friend of mine (you can see his blog entry here ["http://josiah.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2008/12/7/4011318.html"]), which focuses on two things: the lyrics behind Dar Williams' song "The Christians and the Pagans," ["http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/thechris.htm"] and his reflections from having heard that song at that point in time. The last sentence in his quote (the one I highlighted) is what I want to delve into further detail, as well as it being the driving force for this post and the previous one.
What are we celebrating? In the previous post, I've hopefully established the truth about Christmas, that it is in reality a pagan holiday mixed with a religion that suddenly looks quite hypocritical in condemning paganism. [N.B. I am saying neither that paganism is good or bad: this is not the purpose of debate; rather, that for one to criticize or condemn a different set of beliefs one must be pure; in this case Christians are not.] But, negativity aside, in our examinations we discover that we celebrate family, togetherness, love, and [fill in other positive adjectives]. And ultimately, isn't that the important thing?
With whom are we celebrating? What I found beautiful from Williams' song is how a Solstice-celebrating niece calls up her Christ-loving uncle and tells him she wants to spend the holiday with him. Before, she was celebrating with her friend/partner/whatever classification fits the two.
Why are we celebrating? We've established the coming together of a pagan and some Christians. And one takes the initiative to call the other up, someone they haven't talked to in a some time, and asks to celebrate together in spite of a separation of their beliefs. In other words, screw philosophical and religious differences; we're family, and I miss you: a recognition and an acting-upon basic human emotions. Our similarities outweigh petty differences. So what (and with whom) are we celebrating? How about each other? And why? Because we (somehow) care about each other. Ultimately, that should be it.
[Postscript: I've been reading more on SimpleToRemember.com's ["http://SimpleToRemember.com/"] entry about Christmas. I won't say too much, but merely reiterate my comment about its Jewish bias. Down towards the bottom of the article, it talks about how the Jews in ancient Rome were victimized at the derisive pleasure of the pagans and/or the Christians, and how each element of Christmas can be tied to this humiliation. Scary, indeed.]