A Christmas thought

However, it is also good to have continuity and traditions.

For almost as long as I can remember, people have bemoaned the commercialisation of Christmas, but it is reassuring that we have not abandoned this worldwide annual celebration of togetherness among all Christendom, ignoring the many contentions over its origin, correct time of year, and the word’s etymology.

Neither of the two other monotheistic religions, Islam and Judaism, deny the existence of Christ.

It is not surprising therefore that Christmas has survived, overcoming hurdles to become perhaps the biggest religio-cultural event in the world, even among Puritans.

This is not a small achievement.

It provides an excellent case study of how mass movements work and how the peripheral can eventually move to the centre if it is strategically beneficial for it to do so.

If you believe that every empire builds on the ruins and foundation of what preceded it, no one could argue with you because the physical proof of that is everywhere to be seen.

Many of us accept that the Holy Roman Empire cleverly took on all the pagan customs and traditions of the various tribes and nations it captured in the bid to increase its size. The job then was to make those beliefs and habits Christian by renaming and explaining them in the scriptures, spiritually transcending all borders.

The Prophet Muhammad was doing something very similar when in the process of building the Muslim faith he told the many nomadic tribes of what we now call Saudi Arabia to bring the effigies of their gods and place them in the Kaaba — then a pagan place of worship — and made that the focal point of a single religion and of one great God, Allah. From there that empire grew.

In Spain there are many examples of where the Catholic Spanish monarchs built churches using the very stones and foundation of Muslim places of worship, easing the conversion of subjects from Islam to Catholicism after 400 years of Muslim rule in Andalucia.

The popularity of Christmas may have waxed and waned but it was a useful tool to keep in the arsenal of empire and leaders because at the heart of the celebration of Christmas is a very affecting story of duty, sacrifice, transformation, belief, love and all the elements of what being a human being is about, from birth to death and beyond.

Christmas also has its universal symbol — the tree, and that very special sharing of gifts that we do not feel very compelled by during the rest of the year that also requires personal effort from all of us, but acting in unison, as the three kings did.

Of course, business has capitalised on this, as it must, and has reinforced Christmas as an event.

The writer who probably did most to popularise Christmas was Charles Dickens. His A Christmas Carol characters “Scrooge” and “Tiny Tim” have found their way into our lexicon. Although Dickens wrote it in the expectation of making some good money, the story stresses that Christmas is about the generosity of the human heart and not about being Scrooge-like about wealth.

The religious have given up protesting that Jesus Christ never did ask us to celebrate His birth, but rather His suffering and death in order to save us. Yet, people everywhere see this time of year as a symbol of salvation and hope that the legendary birth promises.

On Christmas morning when you open your presents and do all the same things that you have done before, be thankful for traditions and pity those who have none.

H a p p y Christmas to everyone