| Keeping Christmas; An Atheist’s Choice
By Georgina Roberts
Dust down your Bauble earrings and get your tinsel out. Christmas is here.
It’s not enough to decorate our streets, houses and trees – we have to decorate ourselves if we are to enter into the ‘true’ spirit of Christmas. It is December, which means we are fully entitled, never mind expected, to embrace tinsel angel wings and novelty socks. And if you don’t own the latter, it is pretty much a safe bet that you will, come the 25th.
Like a lot of people who live in London, I was not born here. I am from a small town, not so far away, considered with affection, as the back end of nowhere. Come Christmas Eve I will head back home and no doubt to the local pub, where men are men and women are Mama Santa. Forget any visions of spectacles and red bonnets; in 2006, Mama Santa wears white knee-high boots and red hot pants with white fur trim.
It is the kind of town where growing up you didn’t really question Christmas. Let’s face it – it’s not in a child’s mentality to question being given toys. So, until I moved to London and met people of religions other than Christianity I hadn’t really considered why as an atheist I even celebrated Christmas. My family of atheists, however alternative their views, had not avoided the religious tradition so staunchly part of British society’s calendar. And why would they – it’s one of the good ones. So we continue to have our vegetarian Christmas dinner, complete with nut roast, and do Christmas in our own way, stocking complete with an apple and orange (a guaranteed disappointment to any child).
Now that I am older, and family rows and overspending have partly taken the place of chocolate coins and toys, it seems liberating that as an atheist, I could just not celebrate Christmas. But what would I have then? Nothing to distract me from six months of crap weather. I’m not ready to ditch Santa hats and Christmas trees yet. I’m a seasonal saddo; I still get a warm feeling when I hear Christmas carols and get teary over It’s a wonderful life. So, despite the panic and stress, which ultimately leads to the biggest anti-climax of the year, I have decided that I am keeping Christmas.
 I imagine it is the eager impartiality of people like me that encourages the dominance of Christian festivals in this country. With a 72% majority, according to the last Census, of Christians in Great Britain, our bank holidays are centered around the Christian calendar. The bias towards Christmas in our multi-cultural cities is, perhaps, a dated one. In Hackney only 47% of people are Christian. But Christmas reaches further than the Christian community. You need look no further than at the letters than come through your door with this year’s festive themed stamps. Royal Mail alternates between religious and non-religious themes each year. This year’s reindeer, snowman, Christmas tree and jolly Santa have met with the public disappointment of the Church of England.
Christmas is arguably somewhat of a spiritual jumble sale, with references from all over. From the pagan winter solstice, which gave us Christmas trees, to the Roman festival of Saturnalia, which gave us seasonal overindulgence otherwise known as hangovers and indigestion. The winter season has always been celebrated and many religions have important festivals this time of year, so should there be more of an inclusive approach? I asked Jennette Arnold, Labour London Assembly Member for North East London her view ‘I constantly receive cards wishing me Happy Hanika, Happy Eid, Happy Nevroz etc, and they all remind me that we live in a country where people are free to believe or not, and most importantly free to celebrate their faith or not.’ But whilst Americans embrace phrases such as ‘Season’s Greetings’ and ‘Happy Holidays’ as inclusive terms for the winter holiday, it seems the British prefer to use the correct term for each individual religious festival. ‘Seasons Greetings is OK, but cannot be seen as a substitute as it would not suit the majority of those people for whom Christmas is a very special and religious time’ explained Arnold. And that makes sense for a society that celebrates diversity whilst the United States ultimately stands for unity. But how do you include a nation in winter celebrations in a non-religious way? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to bastardise anyone’s religion –I just want a piece of the festive action. I want more than the time off work and a family get together – I want to be a part of all of it. I am a Christmas junkie – I want peace and goodwill to all men. And women.
Just as I am about to resign myself to being a Christmas desperado jumping on the religion bandwagon to be part of the celebrations, I am reminded of the tribe of Mama Santas and realise that everyone is entitled to celebrate Christmas – the religious festival, the social phenomenon – in their own special way. |
(9.4Mb)
