#next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Ottawa in December is beautiful and during the hectic weeks of exams and final essays, festive decorations can be a comforting reminder that Christmas break is approaching. While the uOttawa campus is free of decorations that are indicative of any specific religion, the grounds and classrooms are full of ‘Merry Christmas’s, talks of Christmas parties, and questions about what our peers are doing during the break. I, personally, can’t get enough of trees and balconies strewn with lights, the smell of real pine Christmas trees, Christmas songs, cookies, buying gifts for my friends and family, and George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life… However, what some students tend to forget or take for granted is the fact that the bombardment of Christmas paraphernalia, which many people do view as heart-warming, is not something that the whole student body or population of Canada in general relates to.
Many are confused by the idea that there are people who feel excluded by Christmas. Signs of Christmas are everywhere and the opportunities for people to partake in festivities are abundant. Many are also confused by the idea that people could feel excluded during the holidays, due to a cultural difference, because they personally do not celebrate Christmas or the holiday season with Christianity or any specific religion in mind. Instead they celebrate the themes of Christmas in a more secularized way, and therefore they feel it is a holiday anyone can join in. However, while the people who argue that “Christmas is for everybody” may be well-intentioned, not everyone wishes to be included in Christmas. When it comes down to it, Christmas was initially a celebration of the birth of Jesus, and so many non-Christians are simply uncomfortable with partaking in a holiday that does not reflect their religious values. Therefore the issue is not that people feel left out at Christmas-time because they feel they are not included in the festivities. The issue has nothing to do with people being Scrooges or Grinch’s, and taking offense to Christmas lights or trees purely out of malice. The real issue is that our society is not more inclusive of the holidays of other cultures.
In December alone, there are a number of major holidays celebrated by various cultures, for instance Hanukkah which is an 8-day Jewish holiday, Kwanzaa which is a week-long holiday celebrated by the African Diaspora, and Bodhi day which is the day Buddhists celebrate the enlightenment of Siddhartha Gautama. These three are just a few in a number of holidays that are relatively absent in terms of societal recognition in Canada, especially compared to Christmas.
Christmas does traditionally stem from a historically religious event, and for many people today that is the most important part of the holidays. However, as is the case with all traditions, Christmas has evolved and today the most important part of the holidays for many people no longer involves religion, but involves family, gifts and good food. One of the downfalls of this ‘modernization’ of Christmas is that it has also become hugely a commercialized celebration for many. Once Thanksgiving has ended, the Christmas advertisements rev up and seem to bombard people with the command to indulge in huge amounts of shopping for the sake of the season.
But Christmas does, and has the potential to, represent much more than the exchange of material gifts. Whether one is devoutly religious, Christian or otherwise, or entirely secular, the celebrations that occur during Christmas-time are ultimately meant to represent universal values. Spending time with friends and family, peace, joy, merriment, and helping those who are struggling are among the main themes of the Christmas holidays. One of the most important values underlying Christmas-time is generosity, and not just in the sense of how much money you can spend, though gift-giving is definitely a fun tradition. The real importance of generosity comes from the extension of understanding and kindness. In this way, a thread of commonality runs through various religions that are otherwise thought to contrast one another through difference in beliefs: they represent a universal celebration of positive values.
This is not to say that because Christmas embodies values that other religions or cultures share, everyone should just be happy to celebrate Christmas and forget the holidays of their own cultures. The point is that if Christmas can receive such attention from institutions such as the media, school, government, etc. why can’t other holidays that include just as positive values for other cultures receive their due attention too? Those who take much joy from participating in various Christmas-like traditions during the holidays should not feel under scrutiny. Christianity is the majority religion of Canada, and Christmas is a holiday that is celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike. Therefore it is logical that Christmas receives the most widespread attention from the population, because it is the holiday most widely celebrated. However this is no reason for the major holidays of other cultures to not also receive accommodation and understanding.
In a country that prides itself on being multicultural, the message that Christmas, or any cultural holidays with positive values, should be censored seems backwards. Instead, the message and the progressive way of approaching this emotionally sensitive topic, is to move towards inclusion rather than exclusion. If the holidays of other cultures were given more recognition, then perhaps people who feel underrepresented would feel more comfortable partaking in cultural practices that are not part of their own. And vice versa, if the holidays of cultures outside of the mainstream in Canada were given more recognition, perhaps people would feel more inclined to appreciate cultural festivities that are foreign to them. More importantly, this would create an avenue for people of different cultures to understand that amongst their differences are many similarities. Often times the values that our cultures are celebrating are the same, we just call them by different names.
Though not all people feel that Christmas is a “holiday for everyone”, the time off that comes with the ‘holidays’ is intended to be a time that people can enjoy whether or not they are celebrating Christmas. Having more time to be with family or friends, and striving to live joyously and generously are values not exclusive to Christmas. They are values promoted by the holidays of many cultures. The more inclusive we can be, and the more times a year we can celebrate these values and different cultures, the better.
So to my fellow students, during the beautiful and festive month that is December, I’d like to wish you a Merry St. Nicholas Day, Bodhi Day, Hanukkah, Santa Lucia Day, Las Posadas, Kwanzaa, Christmas, or whatever you holiday you may be celebrating. And if you are like George Costanza from Seinfeld, have a Merry “Festivus-for-the-Rest-of-Us”.
Photo Credits:
http://irinahudson.tumblr.com/
www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org