I know that everyone is gearing up for the birthday of Mithras (a birthday shared by a certain carpenter’s son) tomorrow, but that hasn’t stopped newspapers from getting a final word in before our celebrations for the return of the unconquered Sun. Todd Babiak of The Edmonton Journal interviews some psychics before the new year and uses that opportunity to meditate on the nature of the winter holidays.

“The darkest time of year might also be the dreariest and most frightening. Not for the ever-optimistic humans. Evidence shows that gathering to celebrate the rebirth of the sun, with song and drink and story, is an ancient compulsion. Festivals of light this time of year were common in Northern India, Tibet, Pakistan, Iran and China. What the holidays have always shared, for all these cultures and ours today, is a tension between anxiety and happiness. If all seems dark and hopeless, and nothing grows, let there be light.”

Bob Pondillo of the Murfreesboro Post wishes for an end to bickering about the “true” meaning of Christmas and instead wishes that all would see the commonalities between the different winter observances.

“The bigger picture is that the festivities and celebrations of this wonderful season cannot be contained in any singular religious tradition. In fact, they can’t be contained at all because they speak to certain spiritual yearnings of connectedness and identification that all of us experience in our hearts. And I think the four major themes of the holiday season – what our Protestant and Catholic friends call Advent – clearly transcend the Christian faith, and go to the realm of the Universal. The four themes are: Joy, Hope, Peace, and Love.”

Ian Bell of the Sunday Herald defends the (mythic) reality of Santa Claus, and wonders if us losing the “true meaning” of Christmas has lead us to find it on our own once more (with a little help from Santa of course).

“It is interesting, though, that the charge of mythical status [for Santa Claus] was regarded as conclusive. Few things are as real as a good myth. Carl Jung spent a very long time boring people to death on the subject. Humanity has lived and died for its mythology for millennia. Some people still swear by, and kill for, old myths for which the corroborating evidence is thin-to-invisible. In those stakes, the bearded one is better than harmless. He promises and, as often as not, he delivers. He counsels against antisocial behaviour. His cult meanwhile lacks the baggage typical of his competitors … I feel the ghost of Mr Dickens and sundry other cornballs. They say that the only meaning of Christmas is the meaning you make for yourself. It is personal, not dictated, whether by chain stores or chain churches. It has lost all definition, all ordained significance: I conceded that much a long time ago. Yet such, perversely, is the value of the thing. Choose any faith or none, any holy rite or daft little family tradition. The man in the beard smiles on all. He makes you a gift of it. Non-returnable, but real.”

I’d like to echo the sentiments expressed here, and I hope all my readers have a good time with family and friends no matter the holiday. Lets concentrate on the commonalities and not the differences for a couple days, at the very least it will make relations with the relatives a little easier.

Tags: Christmas, Paganism, Winter Solstice, Yule