Leaving For Another Year

[plumtreeblossom]

Last night in RiteAid they were taking down all the Christmas stuff and making a Valentines's display. I hate it when Christmas goes away. It's always been my favorite time of year, and it doesn't feel right that it all leads up to only one day. I wish it was a twelve day festival as it was in medieval times, as well as in many of its pre-Christian incarnations. At the onset of winter in temperate climates, it's human nature to crave light and warmth, and its coming also fosters the longing for a period in the year when norms are relaxed, and something can be celebrated. Hanukkah is over, too, but it does get the multi-day thing right. It is winter. I still want more winter festival.

Comments

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

See, I so don't get this. Christmas is not over. It is a twelve-day thing, from Christmas Day to Epiphany. My family has always celebrated it that way, and that's the way Christian churches I've attended (Catholic and Protestant) have celebrated it. Has it become so secularized??? But I supposed there really isn't a buck to be made from Three Kings Day, so why should retail bother!

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Most Americans don't know what Epiphany is, or Advent. I'm secular myself, but did get some Christian education from my maternal grandmother, which is why I know about them. They are nice, and they draw out the period well. Also, I read a lot about winter festival history.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

Do they not know what Epiphany is, or do they simply know it as Three Kings' Day or Day of the Magi or something?

[ron_newman]

Being raised Jewish, I never learned about it at all. If you're mostly surrounded by other Jews when you grow up, it's quite possible to stay ignorant of most Christian (and pre-Christian pagan) traditions beyond Christmas and Easter.

[beowabbit]

I had to look up Epiphany. I had heard the term, but figured it was one of those obscure mediaeval holidays; I didn’t realize it had anything to do with the story of the Nativity, or when it occurred. (I didn’t grow up Christian, but I did grow up celebrating Christmas.)

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

Huh, I never celebrated 12 days of Christmas growing up, and the churches my family went to didn't either.

I see Christmas as a very secular thing, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. And certainly, I don't think that shrinking Christmas to a single day is because retailers can't make a buck! Dude, 12 *days* of giving gifts? That's a goldmine if you can hit it!