Preview

Christmas In An Increasingly Secular And Globalized World Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1882 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Christmas In An Increasingly Secular And Globalized World Analysis
What is the meaning of Christmas in an increasingly secular and globalized world?

Christmas is traditionally observed as the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ. In the bible there are two accounts of this birth, the gospel of Mathew and the gospel of Luke. Our current narrative contains elements of both and draws from outside the synoptic gospels. The historical accuracy is arbitrary. The French anthropologist Leevi Strauss, a student of tribal myths and cultures, asserts that myths are an unconscious reflection of the values that are held by a culture. Therefore the importance lies in a narrative that is accepted and embedded in our understanding of Christmas. Through the narrative meaning is revealed. The two gospels claiming to be …show more content…
Illustrator, Haddon Sundblom defined Santa Claus in his 1931 advertisement. The unanimously recognized image of Santa Claus has become of a rotund, bearded, old man dressed in a red suit, stripped of all religious attire. Saint Nikolas has been repackaged and commoditized to meet the needs of 20th century advertisers; used to sell everything from fizzy drinks to health insurance. The function of Santa Claus in folk tale is as the bearer of gifts. He encourages good behavior in children year round by rewarding them with presents; as stated in the popular Christmas song, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, ‘he knows if you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake’. Not withstanding his commercial activities, it is still a significant shift from the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, ‘our Savior’. The narrative as constructed by Mathew and Luke is disintegrating and being replaced by the imagery of elves in assembly lines and mall Santa’s; a narrative that is controlled by corporations. Nevertheless a message of generosity pervades as it conveniently aligns itself with the mindset of
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    How Did Reverend Challis Characterize The Hypocrisy Of The Church?
    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages

    How Did Reverend Challis Characterize The Hypocrisy Of The Church?

    As time passed, Christmas became ever more depraved, even good Christian folk were corrupted by folklore and all of England knew the shame that follows false ceremony. The day of judgement would surely come, in the meantime the reverend's modest Yorkshire church would stand betwixt the moor as a chapel of virtue. The dreaded Yuletide had arrived once again, only Reverend Challis had finally lost patience with compromise. He determined there would be no more blasphemous displays of holly and the like to satisfy his Pagan congregation.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Kris Kringle Research Paper
    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Kris Kringle Research Paper

    Santa is a man that represents the Spirit of Christmas. Kris Kringle believed himself to be Santa Claus, and the courts even ruled he is not crazy. It really comes down to perception. I can deeply believe I am an angel and even convince others I am an angel. Does that mean I am crazy or are we not agreed on what that really means? Kris Kringle is Santa Claus, but we have to decide what that means. Does he have reindeer that fly and pull a sleigh with all the children of the world’s presents? Does he have time to go to every obedient child's house and fit through the chimney? Does he have magic? Is he all knowing? Of course not, but he is still Santa Claus. For one thing, Kris Kringle didn’t disagree when the parents of the children flat out said they needed to go and buy their children the gift Santa just said they would receive. For example, the lawyer putting Santa on trial even admitted that he was the one who purchased the gifts for his son.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Did St. Nicholas Came To The New World
    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How Did St. Nicholas Came To The New World

    The English did not speak Dutch, so rather than call St. Nicholas Sinter Klaas; they began to call him Santa Claus. In 1822, Clement C. Moore wrote a poem for his children about a Christmas visit from St. Nicholas. In this poem, he talked about a jolly old elf that came down the chimney and filled the children’s stockings. Many of Mr. Moore’s friends asked for copies of his poem and in 1823, one of these friends published the poem anonymously in the Troy, New York Sentinel.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Wael Alromaih assignmrnt 1
    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Wael Alromaih assignmrnt 1

    Faye Moskowitz writes about a traditional Jewish Christmas as she was taking up in Michigan in the thirties. The theme of religious tradition is reflected in this piece. She starts by saying “Jewish Christmas-that’s what my gentle friend calls Chanukah.” It indicates how as a young child she understands her religion and knows that those who are not Jewish are gentiles. Her experience of Christmas was miserable because they were the minority and everyone else celebrated it with excitement and delight.…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    REL134 ModernChallenges
    • 1335 Words
    • 4 Pages

    REL134 ModernChallenges

    We are all familiar with the Christmas story: the child in the manger, the young mother, Mary, and her husband, Joseph, seeking shelter in the stable where they warmed by the breath of the beast. The word “epiphany” is used to commemorate the event of the wise men coming to the child; it means a showing forth, an unveiling. But what the “gospel depicted is not the revelation of a powerful king surrounded by a splendid court, or of any such symbol of power, which the world might recognize and respect. What is shown is a child, a week, and helpless infant in his mother’s arms. Christians are asked to look upon this infant, to believe he is the Son of God, the very image of God’s splendor, to recognize him as the Lord of history, the Messiah, the Savior, the Truth, the Way, the Life.” (Lott, B. (2010).…

    • 1335 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Yes Virginia Analysis
    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Yes Virginia Analysis

    The paragraph goes on explaining that Santa is the feeling of, "...love and generosity and devotion..." and that without them, and in connection Santa, humans wouldn't be able to battle life. That the, "... external light with which childhood fills the world would be…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Literary Analysis Essay - Alistair MacLeod's short story, "To Everything There Is a Season"
    • 851 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Literary Analysis Essay - Alistair MacLeod's short story, "To Everything There Is a Season"

    The narrator of the story is troubled at his questioning on the nature of Santa Claus, as he realizes that he may be losing his childhood innocence and stability in his life. In the story, Santa Claus is symbolic of the author 's only connection with his slowly fading childhood. This is shown on page 340, paragraph 2, he said, "For without him, as without the man 's ship, it seems our fragile lives would be so much…

    • 851 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Analysis: The Sacralization Of Christmas
    • 2401 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Analysis: The Sacralization Of Christmas

    At the same time that Santa permeated magazines and overshadowed Christmas, other famous figures appeared to promote the holiday. In January 1939, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created by Robert May of Chicago. At this time, the United States still struggled to climb out of the Great Depression, and businesses scrambled to turn a profit in a floppy economy. May’s company, Montgomery Ward, commissioned him to write a quick Christmas-themed book that could cheaply and effectively win the hearts of children. With this thought in mind, May created a small book, only 89 couplets, that included borrowed lines from Clement Clarke Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas” and theme’s from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Ugly Duckling”. Rudolph’s 32 page tale became a gimmick for children; a promotional gift awarded to children who visited any of the department’s 620 locations. The store gimmick worked; the department store handed out 2.4 million books in 1939 and 3.6 million in 1946. (Klein) With six million books indirectly promoting the department store, Christmas became a bigger brand in the market, at least for Montgomery Ward. The 32 page book has since been stripped and modified into a short film. Added characters in the film, like the Abominable Snowman and Hermy the Elf have altered the content of the children’s story and have added more labels for commercial markets in future years. These…

    • 2401 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    From John Winthrop To Charles Darwin: The Evolution Of American Charity
    • 927 Words
    • 4 Pages

    From John Winthrop To Charles Darwin: The Evolution Of American Charity

    Christmas is a holiday celebrated around the world. Children wait all night the evening before for santa to place their gifts beneath the tree. Excitement rages from them the morning of December twenty-fifth; pretty wrapping paper and shiny bows glisten under the christmas tree lights while the bulbs upon it sparkle so elegantly. However, Christmas is not about all these aspects that it is displayed as. Christmas has more meaning than pretty gifts and how many gifts each child has under the tree. This holiday is above the amount of money one kid gets while the next gets so little. Though some see Christmas as a materialistic holiday, it has far more depth than so little meaning. The Holiday of Christmas contrasts greatly with celebrations…

    • 927 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Persuasive Essay On Christmas Research Paper
    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Persuasive Essay On Christmas Research Paper

    American families derive pleasure in viewing Christmas movies, and the hyperbolized plots give children and adolescents, the most influential individuals in society, unreasonable expectations, which affect their practicality. According to the website, “Problems with Christmas Curriculum,” published by Steven A. Gelb, the standard formula used to create the plot of hundreds of holiday movies, shows the same fantasized version of Christmas, which makes one’s choice of how they would want their holiday to take place, difficult. Although several individuals would like the reality of a holiday to more closely resemble the television-version, visual settings, reasons for celebrating, and the holiday’s ending make individual unrealistically expect a more romanticized version of Christmas.…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Evolution Of Christmas
    • 1609 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Evolution Of Christmas

    Winston Churchill once said, “Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection.” As the big day draws near, it is important to reflect on the roots of the global holiday as well as the direction in which it is heading. Christmas is a tradition rooted deep in the history of western society. It has undergone many changes since it’s earliest celebrations. Even today, the holiday is constantly changing. Each year brings new innovations to Christmas. In the dawn of the holiday, it was minor and focused on the birth of Jesus, the light of the world. In the 19th century, Christmas was a time of family and goodwill to mankind. Today, though there still remains aspects of religion and selflessness, more than ever it has become a holiday consumed by commercialism. It is a development that is not likely to go way any time soon.…

    • 1609 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Abolish Christmas Essay
    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Abolish Christmas Essay

    September 18th is a wonderful day for the Chileans. This is the day that they celebrate their Independence. This day was chosen because in 1810 that was the day that they started down the road for Independence, though that dream was not fulfilled till February 1818. Parades, which include their traditional cowboys, dances, drinking,traditional food and music are all part of their celebrations. Their cowboys wear flat top hats, colorful ponchos or manta, as well as shiny high heeled boots with spurs. The celebrations take place under a ramadas. A ramadas has a thatched roof made with tree branches and is a temporary open building.…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    War On Christmas Research Paper
    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages

    War On Christmas Research Paper

    In the United States, strange things are happening during the holiday season. A jolly “Merry Christmas” is met with offense, nativity scenes illicit anger, and people are fighting over tradition! People have named this “The War on Christmas”, which is a tad dramatic, but there is a ridiculous amount of unnecessary conflict surrounding the holiday season. These conflicts primarily began to arise in the 1950s, due to a growing diversity in the United States. For example, during that time Minnesota dealt with a series of church-state controversies in public schools, including the question of student involvement in Christmas activities in school (Dierenfield). However, it was also in the 1950s…

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Personal Narrative: A Day At Christmas In America
    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Personal Narrative: A Day At Christmas In America

    Over 81 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas. This illustrates how the majority of Americans, including myself, love Christmas. As a child, I always looked forward to the gifts, but as I matured, I learned that there is more to Christmas than gifts. The cheerful people, amazing baked goods, and Christmas songs makes the holiday of Christmas what I look forward to every year.…

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    How My Faith Changed Drastically
    • 1480 Words
    • 6 Pages

    How My Faith Changed Drastically

    The nativity chronicles are perhaps some of the most widely read stories in all of Scripture. However, while similarities in regards to the Matthian and Lukan depictions of Christ’s birth exist, the multiple differences between Matthew and Luke’s infancy accounts are striking when one closely compares these noteworthy segments of the New Testament. The various purposes with which the two Gospel texts approach the story influence the way in which Christ’s birth is communicated. Because both authors are primarily interested in establishing the divinity of Christ, they both call Jesus’s birth miraculous, and cite God alone as the Creator of Jesus’s life as a human being in the flesh. But Matthew, who is drawn to the Jewish lineage of Christ and the relationship between Christ’s…

    • 1480 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics