Now is the time for screening. Variants, of course. But also our habits, our traditions, our background. Respect for elders and the past is weighed against the demands of the largest possible gathering.
This work of synthesis is delicate. Should we, in the name of the celebration of diversity, insert songs in English in the performances of the National Day, other than I’m a frog by Robert Charlebois? The presence of songs in the native language has long been permitted and Les Colocs had its verse in Wolof. But English?
Above all, what to do with Christmas? Isn’t the birthday of little Jesus the very symbol of religious withdrawal, of the exclusion of the other? Nay! Our screening now allows us to reassess things with a powerful tool: the hunt for cultural appropriation.
It turns out that Christian Christmas is probably the most gigantic cultural appropriation operation in history. First, nothing has ever indicated that the Virgin gave birth on December 25. We thought for a long time that it must be in the spring. It was not until 300 years after the alleged event that the Church decided it had happened on this day. Why ? To appropriate all the pre-existing pagan and religious festivals that were being held at that time.
The congestion at the end of December was no accident. Before TikTok, TV, movies, the only screen that was offered to humanity’s sight was the celestial web, the movements of the sun and the moon. Yes, there were lengths. But no one could ignore that the sun was shining less and less, until December 21. That it seemed to stand still for three days and that, it was certain, it shone a few more minutes from the 25th. So we began to celebrate the return of the light. The birth of the sun.
The word Christmas comes to us from a long evolution of the word ” Christmas Which means birth. The Romans used it to celebrate the birth of the “undefeated sun”. The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, which takes place in the first half of December, is based on a miraculous story that is said to have taken place at the time of the reconquest of the Temple. But historians also point to an appropriation of pagan solstice festivals for this Jewish holiday. In an earlier version, Adam himself, a keen observer, would have celebrated the return of the sun and established an eight-day feast.
When Muslims first appeared, in the VIIe century, Christians had already cannibalized on December 25. So they did not attempt to fix a party on this day. French imams, however, tell their flock to celebrate with their friends, simply refraining from going to mass (and drinking alcohol). In China, December 21 is an important date, with the lowest point of the sun being seen as the point of convergence between Yin and Yang. Tradition has it that ravioli were invented on this day.
In short, once the religious varnishes painted over the centuries have been stripped, the Christmas period appears to be one of the most unifying and, symbolically, both the simplest and the richest. The rebirth of the sun, of light, of hope.
We must say that Francophones are better able to reinvest the word Noël even with its original meaning. Hispanics too, who talk about ” Christmas », Therefore from birth. The task is more difficult for English speakers, who use the hyperconnoted word “Christmas”, which means Mass of Christ. Likewise, they call our Santa Claus ” Santa claus », A reference to Saint-Nicolas. But this generous Greek bishop of the IVe century even existed? His account does not appear until 300 years later and is perhaps just a reinterpretation of the life of a generous, but not Christian, Greek philosopher. We find everywhere, including recently in Italy, Catholic priests angry against the “lie” of a magical character giving gifts and thus making unfair competition with little Jesus. You should also know that the now universal character of Santa Claus is a marketing success, not of the Vatican, but of Coca-Cola in the 1930s. So, we are in the presence of a figure whose origin, probably , and the career, obviously, are religious.
No problem celebrating the Christmas tree either. The Egyptians, Chinese and early Hebrews worshiped trees which, like fir trees, keep their green even in the depths of winter. Fir branches were used to decorate houses during the solstice. It was probably the Germans, pagans who had become Christians, who had the idea to put decorations there. Then, in the XVIe century, by putting candles in it, Martin Luther more firmly associated it with light while dangerously increasing the risk of fire.
In short, believers can invest these dates with the faith of their choice, adding masses, cribs and candelabra. But there is no need to bring together believers of various gods and atheists to rename Christmas “feast of the solstice” or to deny the attributes of the feast. The word Christmas, the father and the tree form a trio that can be celebrated in oneself, without inhibition. Thanks to a powerful tool: cultural reappropriation! And above the tree, everything contributes to install the symbol of the undefeated sun, our solar star being, as everyone knows, a star!
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