That old adage came to mind when I was deep in thought a few days ago. It is the holiday season, and most of the civilized world celebrates Christmas. I did not have to come to the US to know of this festival. Its celebrate with as much, if not more enthusiasm back in India, and most people there aren't the least interested in Christianity or Christ (So there, fuck you Republicans).
I personally never cared too much for festivities. I treated Christmas like I treat any other occasion back then, just a day to enjoy while the religious do their thing. After coming to the US and noticing the fervent religiosity made me interested in the subject of theism. As noted in my previous posts, up to a few years ago, I never really considered the idea of God as anything but a harmless human construct used as a source of inspiration by most. But the intensity of belief in the majority of the population of this so-called most developed country in the world made me examine this construct more. One of the aspects of this is this so-called "War on Christmas". Now I tend to single out the Republicans on most religious issues, at the risk of being accused of generalization. But it is no secret that the religious extremists align themselves with that political party, so the line that distinguishes them is pretty blurry. Anyway, they go through great pains this time of the year to put "Christ back in Christmas". That brought me to the most obvious counter-argument: was there ever a Christ in Christmas? Firstly, the subject in this case, is mostly likely completely fictional or just partially based on one or more people that existed back in that period. Also, the birth of that fictional character as described in the bible does not even fall in this season, let alone the date. So why this date? The answer to this question brought me to the more sinister aspects. This date, December 25th, falls around the time most of the ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean and the Middle East used to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Even the idea of making your favorite deity's birthday happen to fall on this day is not an original. Horus, Mithra all share the same fictional birthday & predate Christianity by over a millennium. So far, its merely plagiarism. Now, moving on to the "traditions" of Christmas, they're original right? Well no, nothing is original. The Christmas tree in reality is the Saturnalia tree, celebrating the ancient festival of Saturnalia, a pagan tradition. The mistletoe, the wreaths and the holly are all Wiccan traditions. The concept of an anonymous gift-giver comes from Thor and Odin. Christmas carols? The stories are plagiarized from old legends. The idea of carols comes from the Scandinavian God Yule.
Now, these things I wrote are nothing new. I'm sure a lot of my friends know these things as I found out over the last few years. I just thought of it this way: these traditions are actually ancient traditions that were initially criminalized by Christianity. Alexandria was burned down to wipe out the existence of paganism. Witch-hunting was responsible for the extermination of Druids and Wiccans. One could be executed for having a decorated tree at home during the middle ages. This oh-so-favorite tradition only became accepted in the 16th century. All this makes me think of Christmas celebrations as a cruel joke. They wiped out all the rich ancient philosophies, and replaced it with their dogmatic monotheism. Then, they assimilated the traditions that came from those philosophies to make it look like they belong to Christianity. Now, the argument can be made that this is not what most Christians see it as. But the truth remains. I feel this is propagating the same cruel joke. Its a lot like Thanksgiving, what people celebrate as a moment of gratitude & good nature, is actually the harbinger for the annihilation of an entire race. Another cruel joke to celebrate it as such, isn't it?
Given my disinterest in festivities and my disdain for Abrahamic religions, it doesn't change much for me. But a lot like many atheists do around this time (perhaps not with the same purpose) I will join along to bring out the true roots of these fake traditions. I guess this is like a "War on Christmas", to help remember to old philosophies. I feel a certain affinity towards them, since I come from a culture which dates back to the same time. Though Hinduism has been corrupted from within and through the effect of the invasion of forces affiliated with the Abrahamic religions, it still survives. It is a painful thought to place it in the shoes of those other more-or-less concurrent philosophies. This new realization has changed my feelings towards the celebrations at this time. Initially, it seemed the phrase "Ignorance is bliss" rang true. But I guess I'm happier knowing these things than be in so-called blissful ignorance.
