‘Merry Christmas’ needs common sense
The holiday’s vast appeal is rich, but that can go unappreciated when religion gets whitewashed
Do you know anyone who knows anyone who celebrates HumanLight? Seasons Greetings to them. To some of you, Happy Hanukkah. To the vast majority of you, Merry Christmas. And to all of you, Happy Holidays.
This could be called a common-sense approach, except too many people still bicker about greetings at this time of year.
I wish my friends Happy Diwali on social media not to exclude those who don’t celebrate it, but to have them join my celebration.
I receive a Merry Christmas greeting in that same spirit.
It’s different for businesses and government, though.
Brands and retailers are guided by their market and local cultures on whether to go with the all-encompassing Happy Holidays or whether inclusivity itself would offend their consumer base.
It’s a simpler decision for public schools, hospitals and government institutions — as secular spaces, they could celebrate cultural aspects of all holidays, but keep religion out. In other words, Christmas tree in, Bible out.
At an individual level, though, raking people over the coals for wishing each other Merry Christmas, when an overwhelming majority celebrates it, is unnecessary.
A white Christmas can be magical, with snow flakes drifting down, weaving a lush carpet around plushly decorated homes, chandeliers of ice on trees reflecting the twinkling lights from within, where — oh, what fun — a happy family unwraps gifts over pancakes and hot cocoa, with the sounds of pealing bells and Santa’s Ho Ho Ho still echoing in the distance.
Sure, that was a heavy dose of Hollywood imagery, but even pared down to reality, there is no denying the prettiness of a white Christmas and the excitement it heralds in millions of Canadian homes.
And if the families within those homes were, say, Asian (which you don’t see if you Google “Christmas family”), and Santa was, say, black (as opposed to blackface — Netherlands, I’m looking at you) that picture would remain undisturbed, right? Or would it?
Ah, if only life were red and green instead of black and white and all those shades of brown. Especially brown. Perhaps we need to see our prophets and makers in our own likeness, which would explain why the Middle-Eastern Christ became a blueeyed, white man for some, or why others insist the fictional Santa must be Caucasian.
There is a richness to the vast appeal of Christmas that can go unappreciated when racial hegemony crops up in religion. The Shack, an upcoming film based William P. Young’s book, is already stirring controversy, as the book did, for its depiction of God as a black woman.
Earlier in December, when Minnesota’s Mall of America hired a black Santa to greet customers, the local Star Tribune wrote a glowing piece about “Santa Larry,” a retired U.S. vet who fought in the Gulf War, his real white beard and his joyous spirit. The inexplicable abuse it elicited was such that it forced the news organization to shut down online comments on the story.
However, this is a season of good tidings, and a Canadian story offers just that.
A10-year-old Edmonton bakery apologized this month for the annual appearance of a costumed Black Pete at the store. The Dutch character called Zwarte Piet is Santa’s sidekick and appears in blackface, black curls and big red lips. It’s a tradition that began in the Netherlands, said to date to the 1850s. His appearance in the Netherlands routinely provokes protests around the world. It also created discomfort in Edmonton. The bakery apologized after hearing the concerns.
“We do realize that we have offended people with our Zwarte Piet character,” Dutch Delicious Bakery said in a Facebook post. “So to those we have offended, it was done very unintentionally, and we are sorry for causing hurt. That is why we have decided to change our festivities in the coming years to incorporate a Chimney Piet who will have soot streaks on his face and lose the curly hair and red lips.”
It’s not clear if Black Pete continues to appear this year, but yay for openness to change.
Not everyone celebrates the religious side of festivals. Some focus on the cultural and spiritual facets to them. Christmas is easily the world’s most widely celebrated holiday, marked by Christians and nonChristians, but you wouldn’t know that if you looked up stock images.
An advertising consultant in Britain wanted to change that. Nadya Powell teamed up with an established modelling agency, and a photographer captured images of diverse black families unwrapping gifts, kissing under the mistletoe or decorating trees. The photos are available online.
“Many of the parents who are part of #ChristmasSOwhite have experienced their children asking if they can have white skin like the girls on TV and in magazines,” says Powell. “This is not a future we want for any child. #ChristmasSOwhite seeks to end the lack of representation.”
Next in their sights: #easterSOwhite.