Favorite Traditions Keep the Meaning of Christmas Alive

For some, Christmas has become hopelessly commercialized. They see the original message and beauty of the season mired in greed and rampant consumerism, all meaning and substance lost in a seasonal flood of “very-latest” gadgets and “must-have” items. They descry the marketing ploys that constantly encourage us to seek out the holy grail of Christmas shoppers everywhere - the ”perfect gift” that every husband, wife, child, significant other, or doting grandparent must place under that tree to enliven the “festive season” for their loved ones.

For many, Christmas is a wonderful, secular holiday – a time for family; a time of gifts and gatherings; a time to celebrate being together; a time to share your bounty with those less fortunate.

For still others, Christmas is a time when the whole world rejoices for the birth of a tiny baby, a little stranger who came among us to teach us the true meaning of love.

The early Christian church was quick to transform pagan ritual into Christian rite. By adopting festivals and familiar traditions, and at the same time, molding their underlying values into Christian values, the newly emerging Christianity won many to the fold.

The age-old European tradition of a man decked in holly and a woman entwined in ivy to celebrate the winter solstice, was translated into decorating hearth and home with the newly Christianized symbols. The holly became a reminder of the crucifixion - its prickles symbolizing the crown of thorns, and the berries, Christ's blood. The ivy, green even in the winter, became a symbol of new life in Christ. Similarly, over time, the Yule log became our Christmas tree.

... but what is Christmas really all about? Why do we keep it from year to year? Whether we celebrate the secular holiday or the birth of a Savior, what are the favorite things we do, or try to do, every year - church traditions, family traditions, cultural traditions, that embody the meaning of the season, making it fresh and alive for us from one year to the next?

"Because of our traditions, we've kept our balance for many, many years..." That famous line from Fiddler on the Roof, sums up the feeling traditions give us. They support our sense of who we are, and what our place is in the universe.They afford us the opportunity to express our values in positive ways.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions, perhaps my absolute favorite, is singing Christmas carols. My sisters and I used to head up to the local hospital and sing for the various wards, especially the new mothers in the maternity ward, or in the children's ward.

The choir I sang with while attending university also "made the rounds" as part of our annual Christmas gathering at our conductor's house. For that one evening, his neighborhood was blessed with upwards of 30 students, bundled against the cold, trooping from house to house, and singing lustily on their doorsteps.

Although we learned many modern carols, everyone's favorite Christmas songs, and the ones most requested on our trek up and down the snowy streets were the old, familiar carols from childhood.

Styles of Christmas carols change with changing tastes, like any other kind of music.

They adapt to reflect the views and feelings of their time. Some feel that modern interpretations of that age-old story have lost the original intention.

As with any other form of music, some carols are more popular than others.

What one generation loves, the next may not find to their taste, however, the very best have a way of being "rediscovered" by a new generation of listeners and singers who will love them just as much as they were once loved before.

Many of the modern Christmas songs are as lovely an expression of joy and wonder as any of the familiar carols in those old, dusty hymnals.

Only time will tell which will be the new "old favorites" but here are a couple of mine...

To me, Christmas is a holiday that welcomes celebration, whether secular or religious. At no other time are we so kind to our fellow travelers; in no other season are our hearts so filled with joy and goodwill.

Like the Whos down in Whoville, who liked Christmas a lot, and loved their decorations, and presents, and feasting, I like Christmas a lot - and like the Whos, I, know that Christmas is bigger than all of that. Though I love to give and receive gifts, I do not believe that Christmas comes in a box. Christmas is much more meaningful than all of the trappings and the tinsel, regardless of how we choose to celebrate it.

...and that leads to another of my favorite Christmas traditions. From the first time my grandfather read us the story aloud on Christmas Eve - it was printed in its entirety in a special Christmas edition of the Vancouver Sun - to the lovely cartoon version narrated by Boris Karloff, the Grinch has had a place of honor in our celebrations as both student and teacher of the true message of Christmas - a message that teaches us the lesson of love and of loving others as ourselves.

© 2011 Text and Christmas Ornament spacer by Elle Fredine, All rights reserved

Original photos used in making Christmas Ornament spacer by Sean O'Flaherty CC-BY-SA-2.5, by Kris de Curtis CC-BY-2.0, and by KamrynsMom CC-BY-SA-3.0, all via Wikimedia Commons

Celestial Elf dropped by with a video you might also enjoy - youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9SBebs3A5I