Oh, Reader, I've gone back and forth and back again on this holiday hit parade thing. I had a silly slapstick clip of an a capella choir and a sincere post on Frenetic Friday shopping all ready and written, but I think Ill kick off my little project of seasonal melodies with The Who instead. The Who? Yes, The Who. I won't comment, philosophize, or even apologize too much today, though I can't promise to refrain from doing so in the future. I'm not sure how this exploit I've taken on will unfold. I have a few clips in the line-up, some sincere, some absurd, some hopeful, others ironic. Let's look at it more as an exploration of the edges of ambivalence and yet attraction for this season of winter holidays. As an adult, comfortable with her choices, I still feel a sense of loss having shed some of the religious convictions of my childhood. I mean no disrespect to those who still have them. This will be an inquiry into what I can retain and what I can reclaim about the meaning and relevance of the season.
If you stumble across anything interesting you think might spur on an epiphany or even a mildly keen insight into how to celebrate or observe Christmas, I take requests. That's what the comment box is for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPmijD6jqHs
The music of Christmas, other than a FEW of the religious hymns which were written in the 1500-1800's, is made up mostly of modern compositions with little or no relationship to the holiday's Namesake. They focus on the SEASON, Family, Giving, SANTA, Shopping, Food, Bells, Snow, Sleighs, Chestnuts, Reindeer, and various references to the many TRAPPINGS of the day.
ReplyDeleteAny effort to avoid the Christian aspect of the day is easily done by avoiding those references that come specifically from the Bible or the Nativity. Nearly everything else about the holiday has a double meaning, and so can represent just about whatever those celebrating want them to mean. A Jewish friend of mine constantly reminds me that HE has a Christmas tree, and that I should have a Menorah. I have never understood some Athiests' aversion to any form of participation in what they perceive is "religious" celebration. We can give any meaning we want to any symbol we want, and it may even CHANGE for each of us as the years pass.
Many who are converted to Christianity in Asia, adopt the symbols of Christmas, even tho they have NO ties to them from childhood. And just as the word "bloody" has no vulgar meaning in the USA, in contrast to its crudeness in the UK...Their "meanings" for christmas are as sterile.
When My beliefs mutated from orthodox to heterodox I was initially unwilling to let past associations mar my new purity of thot. I was not long however, that I realized that the ONLY person who really gave a tinkers damn about what I believed was ME. Even fewer were concerned about the PURITY of those beliefs In word or practice, or my refusal to embrace any of the dogmas of my past. NOBODY CARES if I pray or not, drink Egg Nog or not, refuse to call SANTA, SAINT NICK or Name my sleigh horse Christian. So I simply choose those aspects of the season that give me joy and fond memories of whole life.
My personal consistency about such things...my personal integrity in my abandonment of what was once sweet but is now occasionally bitter....is important to only ONE person. ME No one cares if i want to sing Stille Nacht or Joy to the World, or even the reason for it…….... I may choose to do it to comfort those who need me to pretend for their traditons, it may only be out of a sense of nostalgia for the innocence of my youth. I might just like the music. For some it is sad that Christmas is not just about Christ any more. For others it is not sad at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwlFOx12Nzs&feature=related
EDIT...SO, I simply choose those aspects of the season that give me joy and fond memories of MY WHOLE LIFE.
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