hanukkah and big america
Last night, NPR ran the usual handwringing editorial by a Jewish person, about Christmas. Jewish editorialists, at least, feel cowed by Christmas, jealously wanted it as children, couldn't understand why they couldn't have it, don't want to deprive their own children but don't want to sell out. It's sometimes mentioned, as it was last night, that trying to match it by making Hanukkah into a glowing winter celebration is a bit of a stretch because Hanukkah really isn't a major thing in the Jewish faith. It just doesn't occupy the central place that Christmas does for Christians.
Except that's not true.
I suppose that most Jewish people don't really realize that in making Christmas itself a glowing winter celebration we're making exactly the same stretch. We've completely blasted Advent, the hushed season of anticipation, out of the water, and replaced it with capitalism's favorite month.
The real holiday for Christianity is Easter. For centuries it was (and is still, in other cultures) central. Holy Week is our High Holy Days, our time of reflection, penitence, deep joy, trumpet-blaring jubilation. Christmas, on the other hand, was mostly seen as a mass day with some gift-giving attached, leading up to Epiphany. In Spanish-speaking lands, Epiphany (Three Kings' Day) is still the biggie.
So, if you were George Friedrich Handel, you'd write a beautiful and glorious Gloria for the Christmas section of your masterpiece The Messiah, but you'd save the Hallelujah Chorus — the pinnacle of all jubilation-music — for the Easter Section. Yep, look it up: it's an Easter song. We append it to the Christmas section because we're like that.
So I say blow up Hanukkah: inflate it all out of proportion. Make it into the gleaming bejeweled feast America wants it to be. Make it into what we've made of Christmas. That's not necessarily bad: it can be a wonderful thing if the individual is able to keep focus. The real trick is to keep from distorting it into merely a capitalist gorge. Celebrate the comings, first and second, of the Messiah; celebrate the sustaining miracle of God's provision for his people in besieged times. It's good for you.
Except that's not true.
I suppose that most Jewish people don't really realize that in making Christmas itself a glowing winter celebration we're making exactly the same stretch. We've completely blasted Advent, the hushed season of anticipation, out of the water, and replaced it with capitalism's favorite month.
The real holiday for Christianity is Easter. For centuries it was (and is still, in other cultures) central. Holy Week is our High Holy Days, our time of reflection, penitence, deep joy, trumpet-blaring jubilation. Christmas, on the other hand, was mostly seen as a mass day with some gift-giving attached, leading up to Epiphany. In Spanish-speaking lands, Epiphany (Three Kings' Day) is still the biggie.
So, if you were George Friedrich Handel, you'd write a beautiful and glorious Gloria for the Christmas section of your masterpiece The Messiah, but you'd save the Hallelujah Chorus — the pinnacle of all jubilation-music — for the Easter Section. Yep, look it up: it's an Easter song. We append it to the Christmas section because we're like that.
So I say blow up Hanukkah: inflate it all out of proportion. Make it into the gleaming bejeweled feast America wants it to be. Make it into what we've made of Christmas. That's not necessarily bad: it can be a wonderful thing if the individual is able to keep focus. The real trick is to keep from distorting it into merely a capitalist gorge. Celebrate the comings, first and second, of the Messiah; celebrate the sustaining miracle of God's provision for his people in besieged times. It's good for you.
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