“The True Purpose of Christmas” by JN Chaney

This Christmas season, I’ve decided to do something a little different. I’ve invited 24 authors to share some of their favorite things about the holidays. I hope you enjoy the 24 days of Christmas countdown with “These are a few of my Favorite Things.” Enjoy! ~Casey Hays

*Be sure to look for a GIVEWAY at the end of each segment.*

 

“The True Purpose of Christmas”

 

I’ll admit, I’ve never been a huge Christmas person (or holidays in general), but there’s no denying the fact that once a year the entire modern world completely changes. For better or worse, we’re all struck by the season and our lives are drastically altered for a few weeks and nobody understands why.

I mean, have you ever really thought about what Christmas even is or why we have the traditions we have? Where did the Christmas tree even originate from? Here’s a hint: Vikings. The same goes for pretty much every ritual you see during the holiday season: Christmas presents came from Roman pagans, mistletoes were used by Druids to promote fertility, and early Christian churches (as well as the Puritans) hated the holiday. But still, despite its absolutely insane history of mishmashed global traditions, the holiday has come to symbolize something greater than the sum of its parts.

Originally, Christmas wasn’t about religion at all. It was just a celebration of the winter solstice where families would get together before the hard winter came around. They held a special party to celebrate their togetherness, exchanging small tokens of affection and feasting. They did this because they didn’t know which of them would survive the coming months, so this was their last stretch of time together. It was a day of love and celebration of life, forgetting the impending trouble that would soon be upon them and instead focusing on the good year they had just had together. This was eventually adopted by the Catholic Church (originally the major Christian holiday was Easter). Over the centuries, it has adopted various other traditions from across multiple parts of the world into its celebration, allowing it to morph into a global phenomenon that spans multiple religions (over two dozen). However, through all of this, the actual purpose of the celebration hasn’t actually changed. Today, at its core, Christmas (and most other winter holidays) is still about visiting the people you care the most about and spending time with them, sitting and laughing together, because you value them and appreciate their presence in your life. Through all the shopping blitzes, Santa Claus movies, and holiday extravaganzas, that sentiment hasn’t changed at all, despite the thousands of years that have passed since its earliest inception.

We aren’t hunter-gatherers huddling together in preparation for the winter storm anymore, but that doesn’t stop us from celebrating what it means to be a family. That should tell you something about how powerful Christmas is—that something as simple as love and togetherness can create a worldwide holiday with real staying power, something that spans multiple religions and touches every corner of the Earth.

This season, try to ignore all the noise and focus on the importance of what Christmas represents and why it even exists. Forget the Starbucks cup dramas, the debates over using “Happy Holidays” versus “Merry Christmas,” and the decorating extravaganzas that always serve as stressful distractions. Instead, remember what actually matters: your family and the people closest to you. At the end of the day, that’s the whole point of this holiday. Everything else is just background noise.

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J. N. Chaney has a Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and fancies himself quite the Super Mario Bros. fan. When he isn’t writing or gaming, you can find him online at www.jnchaney.com
He migrates often, but was last seen in Avon Park, FL. Any sightings should be reported, as they are rare.

The Variant Saga includes:

The Amber Project

The Variant Saga Book 1

Transient Echoes

The Variant Saga Book 2

Hope Everlasting

The Variant Saga Book 3

The Vernal Memory

The Variant Saga Book 4 (Coming March 2017)