Christmas Unwrapped: Consumerism, Christ, and Culture

by James Tracy

A fascinating critique of the American Christmas from the perspectives of cultural studies, theology, and biblical studies.

Genres: Religion

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Sheryl]

I picked up this book based on review clips like, "Any Christian who is concerned about reclaiming Christmas as a celebration of Christ's birth will learn much from and be challenged by Christmas Unwrapped."—Christian Retailing, and "Christmas Unwrapped is an illumination and a challenge, a book that can change culture and rescue faith—in sum, a gift." — James Carroll. I'm now, I dunno, three or four chapters in (depending on whether you count the intro), and no one has so much as mentioned Advent, let alone the Nativity Fast practiced by the Orthodox.

The introduction claims, "there was absolutely no scriptural basis for celebrating the birth of Jesus," but when you get right down to it, what scriptural basis is there for ANY Christian celebration? Plenty of Christian groups throughout the ages have rejected any and all celebrations as unjustified; at the same time, plenty of other Christians felt free to celebrate any number of historic events, and another group of Christians celebrate the festivals as laid out in the Old Testament. It's pretty clear that the apostles and first Christians observed Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7-8) and Pentecost (Acts 20:16, 1 Corinthians 16:8), but at the same time there's no direct order to observe them and no description of how to go about it, as there is with the OT festivals.

It is also clear that Christians have considerable freedom in this area:

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:" Colossians 2:16

"One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. ...But why dost thou judge thy brother?" Romans 14:5, 6, & 10

That being the case, since this is a book grappling with Christmas from a supposedly Christian perspective, I'm surprised and disappointed that Advent and the Nativity Fast have not come up. It may yet, but I have my doubts, since it's not in the fairly extensive index! Certainly the discussion on how Christmas excludes black people (hence the creation of Kwanzaa) and Jewish people (hence the greater popularity of Hanukkah) made the exclusion of Christians who want to spend the so-called "Christmas season" in contemplation or outright mourning glaringly obvious. I certainly thought it worth mentioning when the writer mentioned that the people who celebrate Kwanzaa can take advantage of post-Christmas sale, that Christians who observe Advent and give modest gifts during the 12 days of Christmas, or who give gifts on Epiphany, can do the same. Which, in both cases, can be a rejection of the folly and frenzy of Christmas shopping. For that matter, some Advent-practicing Christians reject the whole idea of indulgent gifts, and if they give gifts, those gifts are either home-made, or practical, or meant to promote activity (tools, raw materials for crafts).

I'm not surprised that businesses and other consumerist organizations generally either ignore Advent or offer items not really in tune with the season (Advent calendars full of chocolate, for instance); they're trying to subsume Advent into commercialized Christmas. And obviously people who love consumerism aren't going to publish the existence of a Nativity Fast, which is a rejection of all they celebrate.

But in a book talking about consumerism clashing with Christ at Christmas, this neglect is egregious. I'm finding the book quite readable so far, and fairly interesting, however if I finish it and there's no discussion of Advent, then I'll have to conclude that this book is deeply flawed and a very poor examination of its subject.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A SERIES OF ACADEMIC ESSAYS ON VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION

Editor James Tracy wrote in the Introduction to this 2001 book, “For most Americans, the word ‘Christmas’ conjures up a collection of pleasant images … of family gathered around a decorated tree, of music and light and the comforting smell of a special dinner cooking on a snowy winter day… Memories shimmering with the sheen of childhood magic emerge of Santa Claus as the mysterious impish distributor of presents found on Christmas morn under the tree. These images are appealing---and powerful… But is this the Christmas we actually experience? How many people standing in line at the malls would say that their Christmas season is replete with warmth, affection, and neighborliness? In fact, Christmas is experienced by most adults as a time of intensified stress. They feel obliged to go through the motions of preparation for what they have been socialized to believe are Yuletide necessities, spending… long hours of increasingly limited leisure time fighting for parking spaces---in the process, piling up debt that may take months to repay… The result is often ‘holiday blues’ and even severe depression. Americans are bombarded with a flurry of marketing imagery that leads them on an annual consumerist chase after a chimera.

“It has become commonplace for religious and other pundits to decry what they consider the poisoning of the Christmas well with untoward commercialism. Such jeremiads usually call for a return to the ‘original meaning’ of Christmas, either as a Christian celebration of Jesus’ birth or as a special celebration of ‘family values… these critiques fall wide of the mark, in no small measure because they at least implicitly posit a golden age of Christmas observance from which we have fallen. In short, they assume that Christmas was once a religious holiday into which the marketplace has insinuated itself. This assumption is historically inaccurate… The fact is that the Christmas festival has never---since its inception---been particularly spiritual… it is certainly not the case that the marketplace has co-opted a Christian celebration to increase sales; it is far more accurate … to recognize Christmas today as the religious expression of consumer capitalism… the authors of these essays broaden, extend, and further apply [Stephen] Nissenbaum’s germinal work in explorative … ways. The intention is to … build upon his catalyzing work. It is hoped…. That this volume will contribute to a new appropriation of Christmas by Americans away from the commercial paradigm that so dominates toward a model that will foster more human and humanizing values.”

Elizabeth Pleck explains, “Kwanzaa is extremely unusual as a Christmas ritual… because it had a single inventor, Maulana Karenga (born Ronald Everett)… and a distinct date of origin... 1966. Karenga chose the Swahili word ‘kwanza,’ meaning first fruits, as the name for the seven-day holiday he proposed… The origins of Kwanzaa lie in the Black nationalist responses to the Watts riot of 1965… Karenga saw Kwanzaa as a Black alternative to Christmas… in the late 1960s Karenga was decidedly hostile to Christianity, which he then called ‘spookism.’ … Kwanzaa was a statement of belonging practiced within the Black nationalist community, rarely noticed by the larger culture… Karenga’s personality … also tended to keep Kwanzaa confined to this inner circle. The larger civil rights movement did not take note of Karenga’s invention… Black nationalist radicals… were engaged in frequent armed confrontations with the police… between 1969 and 1971… In this period Karenga became more paranoid, even lashing out at his own followers. Eventually he was sent to prison for four years for assaulting two women---members of [his organization] US---who he believed were trying to poison him… By the mid-1980s, Kwanzaa was celebrated in many Black homes and was beginning to be noticed in public schools…Kwanzaa was no longer seen as hostile to Christianity and came to be celebrated at Black churches.” (Pg. 22-24)

He also notes, “The first important Supreme Court test of the seasonal Christianization of public space was Allen C. Hickel (1970). The American Jewish Congress joined forces with the ACLU… to end the annual Christmas Pageant of Peace … with its life-size Nativity scene. The display consisted of lighted Christmas trees, a floodlit Nativity scene … a burning Yule log, and eight live reindeer… The court upheld the view that the display was legal and that the crèche was merely one symbol nested among several others. In1984, the… Supreme Court [took up]… Lynch v. Donnelly… because lower courts had begun to rule that such public displays were unconstitutional… the Court majority held that Christmas---even a Christmas display that included a Nativity scene---was a presentation of the symbols of a secular national holiday, not a Christian religious one… the Lynch decision … led many towns to erect a menorah alongside the public display of the crèche… [The decision] was significant … in redefining pluralism as both (or multiple) rather than none at all.” (Pg. 27-28)

Richard Horsley recounts, “Only in the twentieth century did most mainline churches embrace the holiday festival. Perhaps Americans… can take some consolation in knowing that the combination of Christ with the elaborate holiday festival … indeed has been ‘made in America.’ If and when Christians read Luke’s story of the child born in the manger because his parents had to register to pay tribute to Caesar, it would not be surprising if they questioned just how appropriate it is to ‘keep Christ in Christmas.’ The great American Christmas festival seems more appropriate to the gospel of the savior who decreed that all the rest of the world should render tribute to support the ‘bread and circuses’ in the imperial metropoles.” (Pg. 136)

Max A. Myers observes, “The rise of institutional charities meant that the wealthy… could simply give a contribution to ... the charity and stay home with a good conscience. Interestingly enough, the mystification of Santa Claus penetrated even this realm of charity, when organizations such as the Salvation Army began to use men dressed as Santa Claus to solicit contributions on the street. Indirectly, this fed into and reinforced the image of Santa Claus as the gift giver mediating between superior and inferior groups.” (Pg. 193)

Paula M. Cooey expanded on the Lynch decision, stating, “The majority opinion argued that the Nativity did not violate the Constitution does require complete separation of church and state; rather, it ‘affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance, of all religions, and forbids hostility toward any… the majority reasoned that had the founders intended complete separation, they would not have employed congressional chaplains to offer daily prayers, nor would they have established Thanksgiving and Christmas as official holidays…. In addition… the majority argued that the Nativity scene had a secular purpose… The city argued that it displayed the Nativity scene for the purposes of portraying the historical origins of the holiday and to establish good will. The majority concurred that… the intent was purely secular.” (Pg. 201-202)

This book will be of keen interest to those seriously studying Christmas.

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. Some of this I knew, but much of the history was new to me. Easy to read, and food for thought.