2008 Woodie Awards
Letter: Don't want to use 'Christmas'? Just fill in the following blanks
Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Editorial/Opinion
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12/06/07 - To the Cigar,
As I was reading the Cigar and enjoying a thoroughly merry combination of eggnog and cookies, while admiring a freshly ornamented tree in close proximity, I couldn't help but notice a letter about the substitution of "Happy Holidays" for "Merry Christmas" by Joe LiVolsi.
First of all, Mr. LiVolsi, Christmas itself has many other historical origins that you seem to blatantly ignore.
You omit the fact that the Romans held Saturnalia, a massive commemorative feast and festival to the god Saturn for a week following Dec. 17. During the festival, it was normal for citizens to make and give presents and wear colorful clothing, and to drink and be merry.
Nowhere in your letter do you mention that the Winter Solstice just happens to fall around the same time as Christmas, or the fact that pagan societies had various ceremonies and reverent celebrations for this reason hundreds of years before the appearance of Christ.
It is hard for me to believe that Christmas exists to solely praise the birth and advent of Jesus Christ or that "Christmas" is censored as to avoid offending anyone who is not Christian.
I have friends of many different cultural backgrounds and ideologies who are more apt to say "Christmas" than "Holiday" in their salutations. How can you be offended at the "copious attendance" of holly branches and snowflakes around Christmas?
Snowmen, Mr. LiVolsi! I have never met anyone who would rather build the sacred nativity from snow, than a snowman. Snowmen are far easier to construct than three wisemen, animals of mild importance, a virgin mother, various observers, an angel and an entire inn. You ask, "Since when has the birth ... been equal to a Douglas fir?"
Patron trees were revered for centuries by Norse tribes in present-day Germany and Scandinavia, and here used in ceremonies long before Christ was born. A tree is a natural symbol of fertility, solemnness, and the color green, all of which Jesus Christ would have agreed are important, I am sure.
As I was reading the Cigar and enjoying a thoroughly merry combination of eggnog and cookies, while admiring a freshly ornamented tree in close proximity, I couldn't help but notice a letter about the substitution of "Happy Holidays" for "Merry Christmas" by Joe LiVolsi.
First of all, Mr. LiVolsi, Christmas itself has many other historical origins that you seem to blatantly ignore.
You omit the fact that the Romans held Saturnalia, a massive commemorative feast and festival to the god Saturn for a week following Dec. 17. During the festival, it was normal for citizens to make and give presents and wear colorful clothing, and to drink and be merry.
Nowhere in your letter do you mention that the Winter Solstice just happens to fall around the same time as Christmas, or the fact that pagan societies had various ceremonies and reverent celebrations for this reason hundreds of years before the appearance of Christ.
It is hard for me to believe that Christmas exists to solely praise the birth and advent of Jesus Christ or that "Christmas" is censored as to avoid offending anyone who is not Christian.
I have friends of many different cultural backgrounds and ideologies who are more apt to say "Christmas" than "Holiday" in their salutations. How can you be offended at the "copious attendance" of holly branches and snowflakes around Christmas?
Snowmen, Mr. LiVolsi! I have never met anyone who would rather build the sacred nativity from snow, than a snowman. Snowmen are far easier to construct than three wisemen, animals of mild importance, a virgin mother, various observers, an angel and an entire inn. You ask, "Since when has the birth ... been equal to a Douglas fir?"
Patron trees were revered for centuries by Norse tribes in present-day Germany and Scandinavia, and here used in ceremonies long before Christ was born. A tree is a natural symbol of fertility, solemnness, and the color green, all of which Jesus Christ would have agreed are important, I am sure.