Every year the media floods us with stories about the “war on Christmas.” On one side are liberal secularists, multicultarists and minority groups who wish to undermine this nation’s proud Christmas tradition by saying things like it’s really a pagan solstice festival, Christ wasn’t born in the winter, early Christians and early Protestants banned Christmas, St. Nick was a heretic, and modern Christmas is heavily influenced by Charles Dickens. On the other side are muscular Christian conservatives who grab their Christmas balls in sympathetic pain every time they hear the holiday being castrated by store clerks saying “Happy Holidays”.
Over in England, Christian conservatives are claiming a major victory – the support of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and even liberals for more Christ in Christmas:
Muslim leaders joined Britain’s equality watchdog Monday in urging Britons to enjoy Christmas without worrying about offending non-Christians… Muslim Council of Britain spokesman Shayk Ibrahim Mogra said, “To suggest celebrating Christmas and having decorations offends Muslims is absurd. Why can’t we have more nativity scenes in Britain?”…
Sikh spokesman Indarjit Singh said: “Every year I am asked ‘Do I object to the celebration of Christmas?’ It’s an absurd question. As ever, my family and I will send out our Christmas cards to our Christian friends and others.” [Link]
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p>What they’re missing here is that by making Christmas more Christian, religious minorities no longer need to worry about their youth being seduced away by Santa’s siren song. Uncles and Aunties want more Christ in Christmas because then it becomes the holiday of funny looking white folk who say things like “wassailing” and drink things called “eggnog” and spend all month listening to music you can’t even dance to. It becomes the holiday of other folk, but without the coolness of forbidden fruit.
Of course, not everyone agrees with me. GGM tells the story of some desis eager to reclaim the lost role that Punjabis played in the original Nativity:
If you’re a non-Christian desi, how did your family deal with the holiday? If you’re a Christian desi, did your family embrace American Christmas or distance itself from it?
Shallow thinker @ 11,
Ha Ha Ha…Your parents were indeed shallow 🙂
Clueless, if you don’t mind my asking…are there any aspects of desi culture or identity that you’re trying to pass on to your daughter? I mean, ANYTHING? You at least know what you’re rejecting for yourself personally; but the way you might be raising her (correct me if I’m wrong) she may know nothing of her own heritage and culture. If that’s true, you’re taking away her rightful identity from her, and not even giving her a chance to decide what she wants to keep and what she wants to reject. There may be certain aspects of desi/Punjabi culture that she would really enjoy or be proud of, or give her a sense of who she is or where she comes from…have you thought about these things?
Personally, I feel parents have an obligation to try to pass on whatever they can of their culture to their kids…then the kids can decide later what to do with it. Because our cultures are our heirlooms. And yes, I do realise that culture changes over time. Of course, if there are certain aspects that a parent has real philosophical difference with, or finds sexist or something, I can see why they wouldn’t want to pass that on…but don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
DP (#49): very poignant.
and of course, if amitabh had his way 😉 the reindeers would be runjit, devinder, and buljit singh and the conversation with one’s daughter would go down this path
i joke machang.
Khoofia, that was hilarious. When I have time I think I need to watch all the Goodness Gracious Me clips on youtube…
Once again, the superiority of desi life in the UK becomes apparent…
glad you liked it. 🙂
you’re a god man amitabh brown.
uh.. that’s good, not god… unless of course you’re planning to start an ashram and charge for darshan 🙂
I celebrate the commercial parts! Love presents, love parties, etc. Love the songs! I love the tree. Even non-Christians can enjoy Christmas!
Amitabh I leave that part to her mother, plus the fact my in-laws live near by and we live in apart of Vancouver that has alarge sikh/punjabi community so she is getting alot of expousure to the culture.
But there is still alot of sexism in the punjabi culture that I’ve seen in the Vancouver area that I don’t want her to deal with when she older.
My daughter is only 9 right now, but when she is a teenager she will have a father that will be different from then other punjabi fathers with girls the same age.
I got to play Mary in my school nativity play when I was 4 or so. I remember my teachers really wanted me for the role and wrote home to my parents for permission in case they found it offensive. They were cool with it, esp. seeing as my name is the arabicised version of Mary anyway, it was kinda apt. And I got to wear a big blue burkha while my friends played angels and donkeys around me. Still have the video evidence 😀
It’s a little sad to see christmas getting increasingly watered down, pulped into this bland, neutralised one-size-fits-all winter holiday. Most of my younger siblings/nephews/nieces’ schools don’t do Nativity plays or carols anymore, not for a long while. This has all been cordoned off to cold, gloomy churches that hardly anyone attends. I loved participating in this, even though religiously we were out of it and we didn’t do the tree etc at home, there was still lots of gift exchanging, parties and dinners with friends/ workmates(albeit with turkey-flavoured quorn, blech). I loved the tv – the traditional “Snowman”, and the plethora of cheesy family movies. I loved the lights, the tackier the better, the hot chestnut stalls, and the first time you heard “fairytale of new york” in a supermarket you knew Christmas was on its way. In many ways I “did” christmas more than Eid since that tends to revolve mainly on home and family, while xmas was infinitely more fun.
Now of course xmas starts getting bandied about by October, and you can see the marketing campaigns trying to stir comsumers into a frenzy of desperate gift purchasing. Come December and no one seems to give a toss about it much anymore.
festivus for the rest of us.
11 – Shallow Thinker, genius, pure genius!
Hindu house. Did the stockings & presents deal only. Believed in Santa, etc.
I just don’t see what’s wrong with Hindu, Muslim, Christian alike celebrating Santa’s birth.
If you have to pick a Goodness Gracious Me vid about x-mas, at least pick this
Those ggm videos were HILARIOUS. It reminded me so much of our indian culture.
On one side are liberal secularists, multicultarists and minority groups who wish to undermine ….On the other side are muscular Christian conservatives who ….
I totally disagree. On one side are Christian conservatives who want something to feel pissed off about. So they make up total shit about some fictional group of people who are crying “down with the Xtian stuff” (there is no such group). And they send out email forwards indignant about this imagined enemy, thus creating the necessary flames of passion within their own kind. They get their own feathers ruffled up so that they have something to feel self righteous about.
And on the other side are Liberal secularists (are there other kinds ?) who are baffled to think that there may be some amongst them (there are none of course) who are actually perpetrating senseless anti Xtian propoganda and trying to make Christmas into the holidays and other such.
Inbetween are the pandering fools who actually believe this game and try to fall in line with one side or the fictional other.
Secularism is not about wiping out religions. It’s about harmonious co-existance. That means I celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Pongal and Eid. As a friend aptly observed, “You pagans are always looking for a chance to party, aren’t you ?”
I didn’t even realize Christmas was a Christian holiday until college, hehe, and now I can’t get onto a subway without someone telling me Christ died for my sins. This is why I love New York. 🙂
we tried both the tree and nothing. in the end we went with jahl moori, hindi movies and candy canes. now i spend the holidays with my american partner, trees, ham (i’m veg), and gift exchange… i miss the jahl.
Growing up in small town america, my parents didn’t want us to feel weird so they celebrated Christmas, put up the tree, got us presents, stuffed the stockings and everything. Especially growing up in snowy Michigan, I really loved that time of year. of course then my siste came home one day saying she wanted to be Christian basically so she would fit in with everyone else. That pretty much put a stop to it. it’s all well and good to “celebrate other cultures and religions” until you find your kids abandoning yours for whatever everyone else believes in. Which is why I plan on not celebrating Christmas at all when I have kids.
But I will have the biggest Deepavali fireworks show around every year.