A Christmas Story
The three generic concepts of Christianity (faith - love - hope) are reflected in three major festivals:
Christmas, according to the old conception, is the festival of love, and not, as the imperialist trinity (power - consumption - hate) dictates, the festival of consumption. It is good that there is separation of church and state.
While Buddhists have a different idea of the concept of hope that seems dismissive of monotheistic communities, the major world religions defer to the celebration of the pagan winter solstice of the northern hemisphere even in the southern.
Although in Judaism Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, literally dedication or first day, celebrates the anniversary of a temple opening, in Islam the person of Jesus is regarded as a prophet that one does not need calendar tricks to be reasonably comfortable with the date.
The fact that it had to come to this point at all is once again thanks to Luther. For he thought that the tradition of St. Nicholas distributing gifts to the poor on 6 December was not in keeping with the spirit of the declining Middle Ages. It should stay in the family and not be remembered to the needy; and the incorrigible Saxons could also be helped by this to stop howling at the moon because winter has set in.
The tradition of decorating a tree to be sure of the gods' benevolence after winter also comes from the Germanic tribes. That one should cut down entire forests of conifers for this purpose, which one places in one's home to complain afterwards that the fire brigades or other organisations do not pick them up after days of marvelling at them plucked and thrown on the street (see last year's article 'The tree must go'), because the danger for those picking them up is too great to be infected with something that did not exist two years ago, was probably not originally planned.
At that time - i.e. with the Germanns, not two years ago - there was at least snow at the end of the year; some will remember who were not on holiday in the Mediterranean at the time.
And it is not Father Christmas, a Coca-Cola advertising figure sponsored by Pepsi, who comes to bring us presents, but the Christ Child. It is also evident from many US films that the reindeer sleigh driver flies off two and a half weeks too late to visit all the children who believe in him through the chimney in one night - which of course only works if the children also live in a house that has a chimney, i.e. in rich suburbs without Jewish residents, in this respect again a solvable task. Which brings us to the previous approach of not pleasing the homeless or those who think differently, but limiting oneself to conformities. Anyone who does not conform to the thought pattern, who talks back, who holds up witty posters at demonstrations, gets the rod.
Here, too, the true derivation instead of modern myths: St. Nicholas put a rod in the cleaned boot in front of the door. This was supposed to be a freshly cut Barbara branch (name day is 4 December). When it began to sprout and blossom, it augured a good year. So no more bad children - good children.
Of course, we still wish all our readers and non-binary readers, whatever they may or may not believe and celebrate, a pleasant end of the year and a prosperous new year.