The Holidays Have Names

In the parlance of the day, we are now officially into the "Holiday Season." People greet each other with such amorphous greetings as "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" to the point where it is almost impossible to make out the individual holidays underneath. If you are one of these people, here is a brief introduction to the holidays involved:

Thanksgiving
This is the one that just passed. The proclamation that authorizes it each year encourages us to give thanks to God for the many blessings of the past year. You may have heard stories about Pilgrims from England and Native Americans coming together for a feast in the early days of Plymouth Colony. That much is true. Investigate the rest carefully on your own.

Oh, if Benjamin Franklin had been in charge of the national mascot, we'd have a turkey on our Great Seal and serve bald eagle for Thanksgiving.

Hannukah (or however it's spelled this year)
This is a celebration of a miracle of Jewish deliverance. God allowed a small supply of oil to last for eight days in a time of need.

Some people try to integrate Hannukah and Christmas, but that makes everyone who tries look silly. If you're a practicing Jew, I expect to see a menorah (the candleholder that commemorates the eight-day affair) in your house, not a Christmas tree cleverly disguised as a "Hannukah Bush".

Christmas
This is when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ. (Christ is a title, synonymous with Messiah, and it was not his last name.) If you aren't a Christian, you can do what you want on that day, just leave us alone and let us celebrate. Like any tradition, there have been a few things added over the years that have little bearing to the original meaning, such as Christmas trees, wreaths, and eggnog. Even the date was chosen for political reasons (see Kwanzaa, below for more details).

There are plenty of non-religious items attached to this religious holiday, so if you want to celebrate just because we Christians are, you can attach yourself to them. Just bear in mind that we who are Christians have a specific purpose to our celebration. A spirit of toleration is in order here: I won't care if you don't pray on December 25th as long as you don't care if I do.

Kwanzaa
This is an attempt to instill African heritage into people who have been removed from their African roots. The dates are chosen specifically to overlap the time from Christmas to New Year's Day. I have no problem with that, given that the date for the Christmas Feast was specifically chosen to coincide with the Roman Saturnalia celebration.

New Year's Day
This has become less of a celebration in favor of New Year's Eve, during which people choose to stay up all night drinking so they don't feel ashamed kissing the nearest member of the opposite sex when the new year finally arrives at midnight. Also, people "resolve" to do things during the next year, such as giving up drinking, that never actually get completed.

The holidays have names. Please do everyone a favor and use them whenever appropriate.

[On a personal note, I don't believe in wishing anyone "Season's Greetings". The season is winter, and what winter greets you with is snow and bitter cold. Why would I wish that on anyone?]