State of Protest

The Holiday Season is upon us! In the United States, people have woken from their post-prandial naps and decided to go shopping. People gleefully rush to participate in the wildly varied winter bouquet of the oldest social memes in Western Civilization: trees decorated with lights, giving gifts, having parties, singing songs, drinking too much and seeking out the mistletoe that gives revelers temporary allowance for otherwise inappropriate kissing. Then there are those who display T-Shirts, bumper stickers, and pins advertising “Jesus is the Reason for the Season”, and Bill O’Reilly’s face turns blotchy and mottled as he complains that retail outlets aren’t acknowledging his Lord and Savior while the teeming masses line up to spend, spend, spend. What these people don’t know is that The Yule log, the mistletoe, the drinking and the debauchery—all these things are far older than Christianity.

For those who wish to spread the good news of rational thought (and still enjoy the parties with no lingering feelings of hypocrisy), Stephen Nissenbaum’s The Battle for Christmas (Vintage, 1997) is not only a highly acclaimed scholarly work on the history of Solstice Holidays, but a rollicking good read. While there are many books on the history of Yuletide, this has been a perennial favorite in the book industry for ten years, and deserves to be. Nissenbaum is my kind of historian- the kind who revels in all aspects of history, not shirking from the strange or sexual (or strangely sexual), but also capable of providing the thorough scholarship which makes this book a guiltless pleasure for serious readers. The work is also accessible for the general public, which makes this paperback an excellent stocking stuffer for the irrational and rational alike.

Nissenbaum covers a lot of ground for a relatively compact 400 pages- spanning the subject from the pagan origins of Yule, Saturnalia, and other various Winter Solstice holidays through the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock, who Bill O’Reilly might be shocked to find out refused to celebrate the holiday which doesn’t appear in the bible, but was a modified version of the festivities that the early Christian church simply couldn’t convince converts to give up. The book also delves fascinatingly into the social significance of these festivities, specifically with regard to Roman, pre-Christian and Medieval power structures through centuries of cultural shifting, to slavery in the Southern United States and the Industrial age. With a thorough reading of this book, many lyrics to Christmas carols, such as the sudden ransom of your doorstep for figgy pudding become less mysterious. Nissenbaum reveals how these holidays have always been a deliberate temporary relief from poverty and powerlessness, a reward for obedience and labor during the rest of the year.

Armed with this book, Rational Activists can not only enjoy the parties without feeling sheepish about religious views, but also take the opportunity to pass on some historical perspective. Wassail!