Thee Incredible Weirdness of Being
Created | Updated Dec 16, 2004
At some point, we have all seen some disgustingly cute, friendly Disney film telling us all some bull**** about how the True Meaning Of Christmas™ is spending time with your family, being good to each other, and all kinds of crap like that. This is one of the reasons I hate Disney so much. In their rush to be uncontroversial, they refuse to admit the actual meaning of Christmas and, instead, turn it into a secular celebration of gifts. They then try to endear themselves to harried parents by insisting that the day's real meaning has nothing to do with presents and crass consumerism. This is correct, but not in the way they present it (no pun intended).
Similarly, there is that perennial Budweiser ad with the horses running through the snow in a village of log cabins, in a very Christmassy and nostalgic atmosphere. They then say 'The people who bring you Budweiser™ would like to wish you and your the very best of everything this holiday season', in a very warm voice as of a favourite uncle sitting by the fire with a pipe in his lips. This just makes me want to punch the wall, because these people simply cannot accept the fact that Christmas is specifically a Christian and Muslim
celebration, though I believe that the Jews do something as well. 1
Yes, that's right, the true True Meaning of Christmas is a celebration of the reincarnation of Horus in the guise of Jesus Christ, hence the name: Christmas, from Christ's Mass. The Christians can't avoid is, since without it, their religion is pretty much invalid. Similarly, the Muslims must have Christmas, since Jesus is their second
greatest prophet. However, Muslims are theoretically somewhat more austere in their celebrations and, for that, I salute them. To be honest, however, I don't really know what goes on in the homes of my Muslim friends come December 25th.
Jesus is also pretty big for the Jews, since he was a major prophet and healer, though not the Messiah as he claimed to be. As far as I know, Christmas is not that big a deal for Jews, partly becase they have more important poeple than Jesus to honour, and partly because
Christmas follows hot on the heels of Channukah. Atheists frequently celebrate the material side of Christmas and, for them, it is no big deal that they are being incredibly hypocritical, because no-one is going to punish them in the hereafter. Wiccans present a problem, since many of them refuse to believe in Jesus, or even in the masculine element at all 2. These women will have difficulties with Christmas later on but, in truth, I doubt these people are all that serious about their faith.
Proper Wiccans, ie those who do acknowledge the male element, face no such problems. They have no difficulty believing in Jesus and no reason to think that he may not have, indeed, been who he said he was. Wicca, however, seems to be a rather cosmopolitan religion at times,
so a great number of practitioners will simply buy into the whole competition element, where the sole point of the festival becomes to outdo everyone else when it comes to buying presents. There are many Christians who do this too, however.
Jesus was a very generous person, and placed great emphasis on giving to the poor. Paradoxically, when Christmas comes round, people get very stingy and often refuse to give other people money, since they need it to buy presents. This Christmas, I have been selling fake holly badges for the ISPCC 3 and, rather annoyingly, most people just walk past you without even noticing that you have asked them to help beaten children. Others shake their heads, say 'No thanks', or simply 'No'. However, once in a while, you get someone who really does want to help and gives you the €2 in exchange for the cheap badge that shows they care. Some others just drop money in but do not take any badges, and then you occasionally get someone who ends up paying €4.50 for just one. In a lot of cases, people do not initially want them,
but when one person in a group buys one, suddenly they all want one. When an event such as one of these happens, it really restores your faith in humanity, and makes you think that perhaps the next few decades might not be a total loss after all. Then the next person you
ask just ignores you.
Until we meet again, my friend, that is Hussassan, saying Merry Christmas!
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