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Happy Advent Reader!
Hope you're doing well. If you didn't know, I'm Catholic. I'm not a very good Catholic, but I am Catholic. Catholics, like many other Christians (as far as I know), celebrate Advent, which is a season observed as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of Christmas and the return of Christ in the Second Coming. Many of you have probably seen Advent calendars that count down the days to Christmas. Maybe a few of you have seen Advent wreaths, which symbolizes the passage of the four weeks of Advent.
Unfortunately, Advent has been overshadowed in many ways by a consumerist and secular view of Christmas. Before Advent even begins, Christmas music is playing, Christmas trees are up and decorated in stores, and people are already wishing each other a "Merry Christmas." This has led, in my experience, to a diluted Christmas. Anyone who works in retail knows how quickly you experience the burnout of the Christmas Season.
First a fact about Christmas- Christmas is twelve days long. It starts December 25th and ends January 5th. This period on the calendar is known as Twelvetide. In the Roman Catholic Rite, Christmastide is even longer, as it is expanded (for reasons I won't get into) to the Sunday following the Epiphany (January 6th). So Christmastide will be 14 days long this year and into the next. Unfortunately, in our modern secularist culture, people will give you a strange look if you wish the a Merry Christmas after New Years Day. Many people for some reason thing Christmas Day is the last day of the Twelve days of Christmas. This myth places most of Christmas in late fall. This is, in my opinion, a tragedy.
The above is only a single battle over the war on Christmas. Perhaps at a later date I'll go into some of the myths about the pagan origins of Christmas. I could also go into the silly insistence on using the phrase "Happy Holidays." All these I will cover, but I will do so when it's Christmas!
"Every year we celebrate the holy season of Advent, O God. Every year we pray those beautiful prayers of longing and waiting, and sing those lovely songs of hope and promise." ~ Karl Rahner
Sincerely,
Krieger
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Marshmallow_Fluff
Well, I always reflect on the beautiful humility of Christ entering humanity as an infant, thus it maintains me to view all interactions with others as opportunities for inspiring a smile in wholesome aid, never loosing the awe of Christmas.
"For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself." ~A Christmas Carol
Ina
I agree. Even though we don't really celebrate the Advent in my country, Christmas season is always very tiring and exhausting. It doesn't feel authentic, so I mostly keep thing very within the family.
Where I live, there are regional, ancestral traditions and rituals people engage in that are not necessarily related to Christmas, but they are celebrated in the months of winter. I like them better because they were not completly engulfed in the corporate world.
Nonetheless, I hope you have a nice season.
I a very happy Advent to you! I think most traditions should be upheld, and each country will have there own traditions. I just think some traditions are more important than others. I think a clear separation between the American Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas would be healthy for all societies and would make Christmas more like what it was in the old stories written by Charles Dickens and such. Stay Warm!
by Krieger Mutigeleute; ; Report