Tappress - The Stuff or the Spirit: What’s Most Important about the Holidays?

December 14, 2009

The Stuff or the Spirit: What’s Most Important about the Holidays?

By: Erin O’Brien  

Tappress

 

It seems to be a growing trend that we spend more time thinking about gifts and parties than we do about the true meaning of our holidays.  Have we forgotten the reasons why these holidays were so important to us in the first place, or do we simply no longer care? 

As the biggest holiday season of the year comes around again, we begin to get caught up in buying the perfect gift for everyone, sending out all the holiday cards, and decorating our houses from floor to ceiling.  We get distracted by the mayhem of the season and often seem unfazed by the fact that almost every commercial business is shamelessly raking in the dough, but in the process offend many people by, as they see it, making a mockery of both our beliefs and traditions.

This, apparently, means that every store we enter this season will no longer be saying “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Hanukah,” or whatever else the employees may celebrate, despite having “offended” only a small percentage of shoppers.  Stores realize that if they make the holidays as religiously and culturally ambiguous as humanly possible, they will sell more holiday items.  Some have gone as far as to start calling Christmas trees" Holiday Trees” and the Hanukkah Menorah a “Holiday Menorah.” 

Not only are the holiday seasons becoming more of a marketing strategy for big businesses, but they seem to be starting much earlier as well.  If you walk into any department store, starting the day after Halloween, they will already be decorated for Christmas and Hanukkah. 

But it’s not just the big holidays that are becoming commercialized.  St. Patrick’s Day, historically only an Irish holiday, is now celebrated by every ethnicity, as an excuse to be rowdy and drink all day long.  This is seen as an insult by many Irish people, who are infuriated by their traditional day of ethnic pride, being made into a joke. 

Valentine’s Day, which is one of the most popular holidays of the entire year, is considered by many to have been created entirely by the greeting card companies to generate a new stream of revenue.  However, few are aware that it was originally a day to celebrate the Christian martyrs of this name.  This, however, is disregarded because most devote their time to buying candy and flowers instead. 

“Turkey Day”, as it is commonly called, was and technically still is known as Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is intended to be a day to give thanks for the many blessings that we are fortunate enough to have.   Typically though, people spend the day watching football games and eating excessive amounts of turkey and pie. 

Last, but certainly not least, is the most over-commercialized holiday of the entire year, Christmas.  The purpose of this season is essentially giving back to those that are less fortunate than we are, spending time with our families, and focusing on the simpler things in life, not to mention the religious aspect of this holiday.  Nonetheless, people choose to spend the season shopping, decorating, and eating to an excess. 

Has our society become too apathetic to traditions or do we simply get too bombarded with the propaganda of the retail world to remember them?  If and when we ever try to get back to these customs, will it be so late that we have forgotten them for good?