"In the absence of the sacred, nothing is sacred. Everything is for sale." -Oren Lyons (Onondaga) 1992

If I can complain about Thanksgiving as a holiday, why not Christmas? My beef is with the pervasive present-giving expectations that drive our economic ship of state. While Christmas was originally a religious holiday, a visitor arriving from another planet would be forgiven if he/she/it missed this fact entirely. The current reality is that the Victorian-tradition fir tree, laden with ornaments and lights and attendant wrapped gifts underneath, has overtaken all other symbolic meanings for the day. Have you noticed as I have over the last five years, that most reporting on the Christmas holiday period revolves around how well the stores are doing with seasonal sales? And then there was the horror this year on Black Friday when crazed shoppers pushed their way into a Long Island Wal-Mart, leaving a store clerk dead in their wake…

The Library provides historical context for Christmas Past and Christmas Present, in its Digital Gallery holdings and related texts. The economic imperatives of Christmas unwrapped: consumerism, Christ, and culture are available for perusal, along with more conventional stories about the making of the modern Christmas. the library catalog has more than 353 entries for Christmas and its four related, narrower subject terms: Christmas service; Epiphany season; Jesus Christ Nativity; and Santa Claus. Nowadays, Santa Claus trumps everything else in the big media picture. Bring on those gifts, Santa, and boy they’d better be good value—reflecting all those deep cuts in prices consumers have been promised. 

If you want to dust off your nostalgia, try looking at something like Sharing Christmas. Maybe the problem lies in the fact that our society tries too hard to push the concept that everything old can be new again when it comes to holiday celebrations. Haven’t we all seen the myriad newsstand magazines that revive the “make your home festive” articles? C’mon, who really has time for that? But out they come every year. And don’t get me started about the secular “holiday season versus Christmas” name-calling controversy. I think I’ll go put on my coat and walk up to Rockefeller Center to see the tree. After all, that poor 72-foot-tall fir is not to blame for what humans choose to mess up. p.s. And, yes, I will feel much better after I see it, lights and all. Why, it might make me want to go shopping. Hmm… Saks is right across the street…