Many people lament that Christmas has become so commercial, so from time to time we get organizations, books, movies, or sermons that remind us about the "true meaning of Christmas."
Usually, when people say that, they are referring to a religious meaning. And they are technically correct, since the term we now use clearly arises from the Christian tradition - the birth of Christ.
I have no problem with that but I like to go a little farther back. It's generally conceded that the date we now celebrate as Christmas was chosen rather arbitrarily by the church to coincide with a much older tradition, when people were already accustomed to special festivities.
That tradition was the winter solstice, the day on which we have the same number of hours of daylight as darkness in the northern hemisphere. And what a magical, yes, even religious, experience it must have been to mankind in the dark ages to observe the daylight dwindling every year, uncertain whether one day it might just continue to peter out into perpetual darkness. We will, of course, reach that point one day, if we don't blow ourselves up or deprive ourselves of breathable air first.
In the meantime, though, I like to think about our prehistoric ancestors. They celebrated the return of light, the renewable cycle of life - things about which we still should be amazed today. Literally, today, December 21, which IS our winter solstice.
Lobo Burgers. High protein. Low fat. McDonald's is howling at the moon.
Posted by: coach handbags | January 13, 2011 at 10:44 PM