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?
You forgot to cite the Christmas Resistance Movement as an example of the War on Christmas. I’m hurt. sniff
By going over to Christian friends’ homes for dinner parties with gifts in hand (and fruitcake dreams in my head – yes, I am probably the only person alive who LOVES fruitcake).
My mom’s best friend is Keralite Christian and, back when she was younger and celebrated Christmas in a big way, enjoyed receiving anything that had to do with The Last Supper. My mother would indulge her friend’s gift preferences never once thinking that by purchasing something Christian or Christmasy, it would somehow render us any less Hindu.
Accepting someone or something is not the same as condoning it/them or replacing/diluting your identity. It bothers me that more people can’t think or judge in terms of these nuances of daily life in a heterogeneous world.
I don’t think anybody has a problem giving Christian’s xmas presents. The problem arises for non-xtian parents when their kids want to celebrate xmas with everybody else.
Did you want a tree? Presents? How did your parents respond?
My parents wanted us to have a ‘normal’ American childhood, so we went out and bought a tree, put up lights, and generally practiced the secular aspects of Christmas based on some strange approximation of Western tradition (did anyone else leave shoes outside to be filled with presents??). Around 6th grade, we all realized that going through the motions was far more trouble than it was worth. Now it’s just about being around family, eating a big dinner, and passing out on the couch. It’s the American way.
See, the tradition in my neighborhood was to go to Chinatown on Christmas for a big meal, but that’s what comes of growing up in Jewish America 😉
Yeah, we put up a tree because I asked for it. Still do to this year. They gave me gifts, too (and my mom and I would spend hours shopping for the right tree ornaments – don’t ask, it was a bonding thing). We’ve always looked at Christmas as a secular holiday at which time to decorate the house and go shopping. Perhaps consumerism does have the power to do good!
I agree. If anything, I’d really like to see our culture put the ho in ho ho ho.
I think this religious love-in in Britain is just b/c the religious groups realize religion is, in the main, dying out there, so they’re trying to band together to keep some influence. Here, in the US, the situation is quite different. I find the idea that I would send out Christmas cards downright creepy–I sure don’t.
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?
my family are probably ‘moderate muslims.’ when i was little they didn’t do presents, but they took me to the mall to sit on santa’s lap. my younger siblings have trees, presents and the whole schtick.
btw, a lot of the xtian fundamentalist literature has good sourcing on all the pagan origins of the ‘secular’ xmas traditions. christmas cookies, the yule log (thor phallic symbol), gift giving, etc. were all attested pre-christian traditions and suppressed during the early medieval period on occasion.
at this point, in generally favor a national holiday of some sort where everyone shares the same values. expressed my view in the post the season needs no reason.
btw, the last few years i’ve really turned against gift giving. it makes it a lot less stressful and more joyous. we spent money on food and big meals.
My parents would go to my school and demand that all Christmas decorations be taken down and would demand that none of the kids at my school be allowed to celebrate Christmas because it would make me feel bad. Then they would sneak into houses on my block at night and set all the Christmas trees on fire. When we went to mall’s my father would sneak up on Santa Clause and choke him out by using a metal wire around Santa’s neck and would give all of the elves massive bear hugs until their backs broke. If a man ever wished my mom a “Merry Christmas” she would falsely accuse them of rape, so that they would spend Christmas in jail. Any snow men made on my block would have their heads cut off and the video of it sent to the family that made it. Any houses that had Christma lights on them that spelled “Merry Christmas” on them, my father would rearrange the words to spell “Santa is dead no Christmas this year!”
My family did love Easter though because finding hidden eggs is fun and bunnies are cute.
11–brilliant!
Celebrated the Santa Claus version of Christmas (4-ft plastic tree with ornaments and gifts), and the bunny version of Easter (chocolate rabbit). We used to have dinner on Christmas Eve with extended family, but that was stopped a few years ago out of cultural protest. It’s not like we have since eaten together on Diwali or Raksha Bandhan..
How do desis feel about christmas?
🙁 this desi had his heart stomped all over on a christmas [squished like a papad, and squashed like a kachumbar, and squirted like a chutney] so he’ll be doing his lupine routine in the tundra. that said…
SOME of us will be celebrating with pork vindaloo, garam masala cake (how cool is that). Who knows, they may even have some goan sausage (never been mule’d) on the table.
a 3ho to u2
I would say that my parents wanted me to have an “American” upbringing (despite being Punjabi Hindu), so when my siblings and I would get teased in our all-white neighborhood about not having a tree, they bought a plastic one that we would trot out every year and we’d exchange gifts. We pretty much stopped that though when I got to high school b/c it didn’t matter as much. Now, Christmas is a time when we just sit around eating and hanging out, although more so lately, it’s been a time to work b/c all the Christians want the day off.
I’m doing Christmas cards this year after a long hiatus. It’s a phase, I suppose.
My parents (we’re Hindu) never thought of Christmas as a Christian thing, they thought of it as a consumerist American tradition. When we were little we visited relatives and got gifts, once in a while we got a small plastic tree, now none of us really care enough to do anything… ah, the American way. 😉
Though families more active than ours do still celebrate, e.g. I have a friend who is organizing a secret santa thing with all of her cousins.
My parents’ insurance agent, who is brown, sends us greeting cards for every occasion of the year, and that includes a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays (can’t remember which it is, I think it alternates) one.
Can’t wait for Solstice! Oh the long wait for the days to turn longer 🙂 Darkness be gone, let there be more light..
For those aren’t feeling the Xmas spirit should wear this 🙂
Gurinder Chadha is feeling the spirit of the season more than I am:
My birthday is two days before Christmas, my sister’s two days after. As children, we thought this was massively unfai.
We still sort of pseudo-celebrate the secular aspects; we exchange presents and put up lights. The tree has come down this year due to protest from my mother that is far too much work and sheds fake plastic pine all over the living room.
I’m a liberal, (trying my best to be) faithful, active Christian. My family always embraced elements of American Christmas while maintaining elements of Indian Christmas; we play lots of western Christmas music and put up a tree, etc., but for example we also eat a huge Indian feast on Christmas (no glazed ham, or whatever traditional Christmas foods are?). We went to a a church that was predominantly white, but my mother would not be caught dead in anything but a sari at church.
The strongest idea in my home was that Christmas was about Christ, and God transcends country, color, and culture. So as long as the focus remained on understanding and appreciating Christ’s arrival, how we celebrated it took a backseat. So rather than the Christmas tree, the decoration that saw the most action was actually the Advent wreath, which was actually used in devotionals and “family together time” and such. With that said, there were no pictures of White Jesus to be found in my home as a kid, and there definitely won’t be in my home in the future…
My parents also emphasized the importance of living in a pluralist, multicultural society. My five best friends growing up (at different times in my childhood) were Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, Atheist, and Jewish, and my parents made a very conscious effort to teach us to wish others on their special days, to give mithai at Christmas, etc. My friends often did the same, even inviting me over for Passover and coming over for Easter dinner, etc. It was an education in mutual respect and understanding that was really beneficial to me and that I think would benefit a lot of other people too.
As a non-Christian DBD, we dealt with Christmas just like we dealt with any other religious holiday. Muslims have their Eid, Christians have their christmas. You wish “Eid Mubarak” to Muslims on Eid, “Merry Christmas” to Christians on Christmas, and they wish “Happy Diwali” to you on Diwali. You send sweets to them on Diwali, Christians send you some sweets on Christmas, and during Ramzan, Muslims send you a sample of their evening feast everyday. It’s all good fun, really.
non-xtian.. put lights outside.. did a small tree…. nothing even remotely religious AFAICT
My favorite “other” holiday tradition is the Hebrew Hammer. Ennis, you especially might enjoy it.
I saw a congressmen from Iowa on CNN last night who has introduced legislation recognizing Christmas. Did anyone else see this?
I enjoy the festivities wholeheartedly! Merry Xmas!
Punjabis have taken over Santa’s workshop at the North Pole. The Northern Lights are now Arora Borealis.
Sorry about that – the video is hiarious. Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings to all.
Growing up in a small town and arriving in Amerika during Xmas…our friends gave us presents the first year. I don’t think my brother and I understood what was going on or what Xmas was nor did my parents. Then over the year we learned more about Xmas and realized that Santa didn’t come to our house due to the lack of a chimney. (I was 9 and the only explanation I could come up with) So when we moved into a house with a chimney, we were SO excited that Santa could finally come visit us! Much to our disappointment, he never came. 🙁 [Since we hadn’t been in this country that long (less than 2 yrs), my parents weren’t aware they were to be Santa….alas] That was the year we stopped believing in Santa. For us Xmas was more of a secular holiday…we put up the tree and had presents but I never got the concept of waiting until the 25th to open them. 😛 Once we got older, the tradition of the tree, etc sorta died down. Now its more about getting together with family and friends than about the gifts, etc.
My parents gave me presents until I was about 10 or so but after that point I was told, “it’s not our holiday so we don’t celebrate it.” We never had a tree but the Diwali lights that were hung in Oct/Nov usually stayed up until New Year’s. Today, I give presents to my nieces (all under 10).
We buy cooler gifts (say Wii) on Diwali and not so cool gifts on Xmas. Manipulative? Yes. Effective? Yes. We enjoy the tree and put it up every year. The younger kid believes in Santa. The older kid is smart enough to hide his smirk.
Santa sez aho aho aho.
Finally! I was afraid nobody was watching it (or if they did, they just didn’t find it that funny).
While we never truly celebrated Christmas(although we had a tree), we did celebrate St. Nicholas along with all the other Dutchies. Since that is truly a children’s holiday. I remember the excitement of putting our shoes at the door with a carrot inside at night(for St. Nicholas’s horse you see) and then running down first thing in the morning to check if there were any presents. I think The Netherlands and Germany are the only countries to celebrate St. Nicholas. However Christmas is more overtly religious and since we are not Christians we never took part in the gift giving and the dinners, although of course we kids were allowed to go to our school dinners/breakfasts/balls.
Yeah, that passed: the vote Here is one place where the text of the resolution can be found; I haven’t found it on a .gov site though.
I found the last scenario especially astute — the bit about the Indian woman fleeing from her abusive husband and the pc woman not wanting to “culturally oppress” her by interfering. Wish I could get a clip of just that segment.
Meena: Is this Zwarte Pieter thing still going on in the Netherlands, who do Dutch PoC feel about it ?
There were years when we did everything, and I mean everything, you could possibly do to celebrate Christmas without actually going to church. My sister plays piano really well, and we would run through all the Christmas carols together—including the overtly Christian ones. I even got a nativity book once. It was kind of fun to have a holiday that seemed fairly blatantly materialistic and self-centered–no big donations to temple, no fasting, no working hard to serve others food, no late night abhisheks to prepare for all day–we were borrowing Christmas anyway, so we could sleep in, wear our pajamas and watch TV. We had a big plastic tree most years, and a small tree-in-a-pot some years, and stocking we decorated ourselves. It was an even bigger deal if my grandmother was around. Eventually we got more frugal and environmentalist ad now we mostly give each other stuff if we happen to find something good. Stores have ruined most Christmas carols for me, and even most Christmas decor.
23 – probably the best and most sensible statement I’ve ever read on this argument. It makes so much sense but the Sean Hannnity and Mike Gallagher wouldn’t have anything to fill their talk shows if they adopted a sensible multicultural approach.
My Hindu in-laws are setting up a tree in their house again this year for their Christian son-in-law. Happy Holidays, Happy Hannukah, and Merry Christmas ya’ll (Texas can’t help it).
Glad to see that Congress is officially recognizing Christmas. Now we can get to this subprime mortage business or the war in Iraq..oh wait, no steroids in baseball. Must prioritize….
Ah, finally I can comment after an unusually busy Friday.
Yes, a sorta funny story. Funny if you weren’t me. Which you aren’t. One of my early winters in the US, a chap in my department sends out an invite for a Holiday Party at his place: here’s the place, date and time (right about Dec 10-15 I recall). There was a postscript: “I don’t have too many CDs, so please bring your own party music”. I ask around about exactly what this party was for (as one of the very few desis, or for that matter non-whites), and all the answers I get are “Oh, for the [waving hands like toss an imaginary salad] holidays, you know…?”. So I go round to his place anyway, with some mixed CDs (with labels and track lists scrawled on illegibly by hand) that I thought should be good for any party for any age. As it happened, I was one of the early ones, and the music system wasn’t on yet. My host puts one in, and presses play, but gets called away immediately after, not realizing that the volume was set rather low. Several minutes later, a group of mild-mannered middle-aged white folk walks in (just picture the stereotypical caricature out of a Republican-heavy country club – it can’t get any worse given what was about to happen). A few more minutes later, after the conversation has grown in decibel level, my host realizes that nobody can hear the music at all, and without thinking, turns the knob way up, to catch Donna Summer in the middle of a fake orgasm.
“…baby. UUUHHHHHHHHHH! LUUUVE TO LOVE YOU BABYYYY. UUHHHHN..!”
Conversation stops.
Heads turn.
My host, now with a noticeably pink face, viciously stabs the Next button, to find himself being advised on the merits of the YMCA.
Laughter spreads.
My host pulls out the offending CD (which also had great contributions from Earth Wind and Fire, Giorgio Moroder and similar) marches up to me a few feet away, and asks whether I have any other music. This time, he reads the track listing on the second CD, which I admit was rather heavy on ZZ Top, Guns N Roses, Journey and AC/DC. Puts in one of his own CDs instead.
Apparently what he wanted all along for his “bring your own party music” was Christmas carols.
To this day, I don’t trust anyone who says “party music” or “holiday party” unless I have verified exactly what they mean. Also, most people I know don’t ask me for anything to do with music.
I don’t think it is so out of bounds to imagine one of the Magi to be desi. The Magi were probably Zoroastrian and Punjab was a Persian satrap around that time, no ? Maybe this is also the origin of the term “Indian Giver”. In the little known “Epistles of Rajeev The Pindu”, one of the Magi says unto Joseph “Here’s some frankincense….no wait I need that to freshen up my Camry chariot”
louiecypher:
Yep, still alive as ever. I don’t think people of colour have a problem with it. We certainly never did. People here are not as hung up about race as in America…than can have it’s positive and negative aspects…
Funny, but wrong Indian 😉
I think my parents grappled with XMas and tried different things. First we used to receive gifts until I was about 10 because “Santa visits all children, regardless of religion” (making it v. clear that we were not Christian, but that gift giving was ok). Then they switched to giving gifts on whatever gurpurab fell closest to XMas in a given year. Then they switched out of gift mode altogether and also (to our embarrassment) told our elementary school teachers we were not allowed to engage in XMas activities, including the making of XMas art/paraphernalia. By the time I got to middle school we had moved to the “chinese dim sum” version of XMas — a chance for everyone to eat out on a day we all had off, but nothing else really. XMas isn’t even as big for us as Thanksgiving.
Come on. There is plenty of dancing at funny-looking white folk Christmas. ^__^
Even though I am Hindu, I have been invited to my English friends’s house to have a traditional christmas dinner with his family. Besides I already have had a christmas party and dinner in the place that I work part time (Sainsburys). Merry Christmas to ya all.
I am a Christmas killer and proud of it. At Christmas the poor feel poorer and the lonely feel lonelier.
I was raised in Bombay in a fairly conservative Muslim household but like #23 we celebrated “our” festivals while enjoying/participating in “other” festivals. I went to Midnight Mass several times (what’s not to love about parentally sanctioned late night outing with friends – with libations involved 😉 and had a blast.
Now, living in the US and not being a religious family, my husband and I attend Eid, Diwali and Xmas celebrations. We do the tree and gifts thing because (a) its kinda cool and (b)my husband’s family is christian and we keep the tradition if not the faith. This year my kids want to celebrate Hanukkah as well so it might be time to invest in a Menorah and learn how to bake a flourless chocolate cake…;-)
My parents celebrated Christmas in the usual secular way. We had the tree, stockings, and stuff. But obviously being a Hindu family, no church related stuff or prayers. No midnight mass. I never believed in Santa but I liked the concept.
As an adult, I do not celebrate Christmas. I just lost interest in it as an adult. My mom likes to put up a tree. Quite frankly, I am on a Christmas burnout becuase of how overdone the whole Christmas season is in shopping malls. I will call my friends and wish them a merry christmas. If I am a relative’s place, I will go along with it and help with the decorations if their kids want to celebrate. I am pretty neutral at this point.
Christmas was Burra Din in South Calcutta when I was a kid, and i associate a Kolkata Christmas with smoke from chulas wafting about, and the fifty degrees air that allowed people to dress up, with marching bands playing Come September, and Rajasthani puppeteers and those dancers dressed as horses, and fruit cake with royal icing from Firpo’s, and a big potted balsam brought in to be a Christmas tree. There would be hundreds of cards around, but no presents, we’re Hindu. Instead there wa a sense of pageantry, and lots of animals, can’t remember why, and there were the races, where we kids would watch in the afternoon, sitting on the roof of the car parked by the starting post, eating Kwality ice creams in their terrible old flavors (all except mango, which was out of season) and then everyone seemed to be eating ham and goose, and drinking strange concoctions, although there were few English people left, the suppliers were still around. There was a custom of dalis left over from British days, where business associates would send ten baskets of fruit and booze and sometimes other stuff, like Alladdin”s wedding or something, but that was discouraged and soon faded out. There were daytime parties and nighhttime ones, but I ran away to my school chapel for Midnight Mass, which I’ve always loved. My family was just as much into Saraswati Puja and Holi, making our own fireworks for Diwali, going to all the pandals for Durga Puja, etc. — celebrated everything with as much steam.
My children were christened in the Lutheran church, but I’m more comfortable with Episcopalian, because I know the hymns, so even while I would do Swedish food and customs, the church part was always Anglo in New York– except one year in New Orleans– nothing like Christmas in the French Quarter! Climate like Kolkata, smell of plaster on old houses and the air of levity just the same, priests winking when they wish you Merry Christmas, jazz bands, poinsettias galore. I love Christmas where there’s no snow.
Christmas for my non-Christian family isn’t that amazing. Me and my brother don’t get presents, we dont do the “tree thing” and we basically treat the day as another Saturday. My parents, though they mean well, hurt my 12-year old brother ( he’s really sensitive) by thinking its pointless to even celebrate a holiday that’s been commercialized till its saturated point.My brother is hurt because his friends get presents…and he doesn’t. I think since he’s the youngest child, and a boy and therefore not needing the need to shop, he gets shafted a lot of the time.
But, I think I would agree with my parents, because they’re right! Christmas on so many levels just isn’t what I believe..I refuse to celebrate a holiday that I do not agree with, even though it hurts when all my other friends ( Indian and other-wise, Christian or not) all get presents for christmas, and I’m sitting there going…Um I didn’t get anything, when they turn and ask. They then proceed to exclaim how I’m such a sad little thing, and that my parents must like being grinches. Part of me agrees. I mean, I’m only human,and as a girl still living with her parents– I deserve all the coddling I can get! There will be plenty of time to scrimp and save and learn the true meaning of christmas until later. But then another part of me agree’s with my parents but I still cant help getting pissed at them. Why can’t they see it from our point of view? Forgive me if I sound really bratty right now. I probably do. It’s just a sore point with me around this time of year. I would be the happpiest girl, even if on Christmas day, we just sat in and had a small Christmas dinner, and I got a pair of 10$ pajamas. That would make me feel so glad, because it means so many things…not just the fact that we’re celebrating Christmas. It’s hard to explain, and I’m sorry if anyone got confused. This is just me explaining how it is to not celebrate any holidays–hindu or otherwise. Atleast a commercial holiday is okay then right? All the other Indian kids celebrate Diwali, Christmas,Dussehra, and countless other holidays that I have no knowledge about, even though I am a hindu, courtesy of my parents who didn’t believe in teaching my and my brother this stuff. My brother at this point doesn’t even know there are more than 14 major languages in India. Okay. So this was long.
I was lucky in that I grew up in area that was 98% white in Canada. So my parents did everything for us to fit in and that one of the reason I never felt different growing up there. And ever since I was little we had the tree and presents. Plus where I grew up it snowed around that time of year so christmas was and still is great time of the year.
My 9 year old daughter has been going christmas crazy for almost an month now. That all see care about now. We had the christmas tree up for almost month now. And we have a spent a few hundred dollars on decoration and christmas lights. She already been to 3 different malls to have picture taken with Santa Claus.