The Battle for Christmas

In the course of a few decades, Christmas was turned into a family holiday, taking place indoors, within the secure limits of the family circle. After a period of hard work, the Christmas season was a time to relax and unwind, in other words, to "party.

In summary, Christmas has historically been as much a secular holiday as a religious one. For a season of nights, the poor, working class men of a community could enter the homes of the wealthiest and demand food, wine, and money. " Nissenbaum says, "It was a time of heavy drinking when the rules that governed people’s public behavior were momentarily abandoned in favor of an unrestrained ‘carnival,’ a kind of December Mardi Gras. "

Nissenbaum challenges many modern day conceptions of where this holiday came from and what it meant.

Since the wife and kids already got to eat and drink the best of the household, the notion of the Christmas present came about. Nissenbaum confirms that, as most of us understand, the date of Jesus’ birth is found nowhere in the Bible, and was chosen by the Church in an effort to co-opt pagan holidays that were traditionally held at the end of the year to coincide with the winter solstice. ricultural societies, late December was a time of leisure and bountiful food. Whereas once landowners gave food and drink to the peasants who lived on their land on Christmas; now the changing times and the domestication led to people giving to their family. ” Although Christmas didn’t originate as a Christian holiday, and is at times not observed as a Christian holiday today (Christmas spelled out X-MAS), Christmas still remains to be a symbol, to Christians, of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Puritans shunned Christmas and preached against it because they felt it was an “unchristian” holiday – one with uncomfortable connections with the pagan past, and one that turned society upside down. The harvest was in, meat was fresh, and beer was in surplus. This packet taught me about the origin of Christmas, why we carol, and the root of “imaginary gift givers.