2008 Woodie Awards
...and a Merry Christmas to all
Ryan Boehm
Issue date: 12/8/04 Section: Opinion
In the mid-1800s, American Christians began celebrating Christmas; something European Christians had been doing for some time. Alabama became the first state to grant legal recognition to Christmas in 1836. But by 1893, all states and territories recognized the holiday.
The practice of celebrating Christ's birth on Dec. 25 originated with Roman Catholics, but over time many Protestants joined in as well. Today, the question is not who celebrates Christmas and when, but rather, why a politically correct Gestapo is telling Christians that Christ no longer belongs in Christmas?
While Christmas has always been celebrated as both a secular and religious holiday in America, the word holiday is derived from the words "Holy day." When the government declared Dec. 25 a national holiday, they were referring to the Christian celebration. But recently, "Merry Christmas," "Christmas Break," and "Christmas Dance" have been replaced with "Happy Holidays," "Winter Break" and "Snow Ball." The former items are all considered insensitive and inappropriate today.
The phrase "Happy Chanukah" means something to Jews. The greeting "Merry Christmas" means something to Christians. To whom exactly does "Season's Greetings" mean anything?
Many "holiday" concerts in public schools have featured songs that celebrate the diverse celebrations and religious holidays that happen to fall during the month of December. People attending these concerts would hear songs about Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights, the secular African-American celebration Kwanzaa and songs celebrating the secular Christmas holiday featuring Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus and his reindeer. Some schools even dared to still sing an occasional traditional Christmas carol.
The inclusion of all songs was and should have been, encouraged. But unlike even just a few years ago, it is not about inclusion anymore, but exclusion.
School systems in New Jersey made headlines last month when their efforts to censor Christmas went even further. In the South Orange/Maplewood School District, the singing of Christmas carols had been prohibited since the early 1990s, but due to an enforcement error, instrumental groups had been allowed to continue to play these banned songs. How insensitive it was of school officials to allow these bands to play these lyric-less carols. The 'error' has since been corrected.