It is at this time of year that whenever I hear Happy Holidays, I get mad. I know that it is an attempt at corporations to squeeze as much money out of us exploiting our religious beliefs while making it generic enough not to offend people who don’t think/believe the same as me. Ass. Everyone knows that Happy Holidays is an assault on Christians everywhere! Christmas is the pinnacle of our faith and is universally recognized by true believers!
SCM Staff: Uh PSBE, actually the most strict religious sect in the history of the United States the Puritans were opposed to celebrating Christmas, in fact they outlawed it (I.e. it was illegal to celebrate). They said there was no scriptural justification for the holiday and it was a paganism and Idolatry. It wasn’t until the federal government made it a national holiday that the most Christian of Christians acquiesced.
UH, Well it still isn’t right. we have moved on from that and it wasn’t until the nogoodnic Perry Como started singing that song Happy Holidays in the 50’s hat the phrase started to take hold. And that album Season’s Greetings from Perry Como, How secular can you get? Don’t even get me started on season’s greetings!
SCM Staff: Actually, that song was written by Irving Berlin…
PSBE: HAH! Berlin! Told you! NAZIS!
SCM Staff: Uh Huh, anyway, It was written for Bing Crosby in 1942 for the movie Holiday Inn
PSBE: Bing?
SCM Staff: Yes. Furthermore, Happy Holidays was first seen in print in 1890 in Good Housekeeping…
PSBE: Liberal Media!
SCM Staff: Yeah…also Season’s Greetings goes back a long ways as well and has been used by many U.S Presidents as the main holiday greeting to encompass Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Even Dwight D Eisenhower used it.
PSBE: IKE?!
SCM Staff: Indeed. Season’s Greetings became popular in Victorian England as a less bawdy and offensive way to wish someone a Merry Christmas, you know as public merriment was considered lewd behavior. In Fact many religious groups over the years have proclaimed that using the term Christmas was blasphemy as the feel that it is taking the lords name in vain.
PSBE: Saying Merry Christmas breaks a commandment?
SCM Staff: Maybe. Additionally if you got rid of Season’s Greetings and Happy Holidays. You might as well get rid of most other Christmas traditions as well.
PSBE: No, no, no. It is in the bible that we have to celebrate the birth of Jesus by sitting around a tree in our house that is mimicking being on fire while we chant songs and hope a man will come bearing gifts to reward us for good behavior.
SCM Staff: Um, PSBE its not in there.
PSBE: Its not?
SCM Staff: No, in fact the church moved the Christmas date to December to encompass those very pagan ceremonies you just described, hoping more people would convert if they got to keep there rituals. Like the Yule log.
PSBE: What do you mean?
SCM Staff: The Yule celebration was a tradition of Anglo-Saxon Paganism. The ancient Nords would burn a giant log (the Yule Log) and celebrate for days until the fire was extinguished, signifying the start of winter.
PSBE: So what you are saying is that Happy Holidays has been around a long time and has never been an attempt to secularize a quasi pagan celebration, and that Season’s Greeting is a much more conservative and restrictive season’s blessing. And that maybe its not such a bad thing to have a greeting that is inclusive and doesn’t cause people to be separated at a wonderful time of year and that maybe by being inclusive instead of confrontational about what we believe others may be swayed to becoming interested as to why when we say Happy Holidays we really mean it and there is power in the words?
SCM Staff: Sure, Merry X-Mas PSBE
PSBE: Happy Boxing Day staff!
