The True Meaning of Xmas

I've been thinking about Christmas, or Xmas as it's sometimes known.

I've come to like the word Xmas, and I think people should use it more (I'm glad that by the year 3000 it will be official vocabulary). People who are annoyed about the use of that word represent two different (though related) misguided schools of thought.

The first is linguistic pedants. They're annoyed about its use because it's 'bastardising' the language. It's like text-speak: a symbol of the degradation of values that epitomises the modern world, with all its video games and baggy jeans and guns. It's enough to cause a ripple of shudders throughout Middle-England (or at least it would if Middle-England existed).

It's silly to complain about the evolution of language. Stephen Fry explains why in more eloquent terms than I could muster.

Also, as Lucy is keen to point out (sometimes it's useful going out with someone who works on the OED), the best dictionary in the world has entries for 'Xmas' going back to the seventeenth century (or something like that - I'll check). So it's not exactly a new invention.

The second school of misplaced indignation is those that are concerned with the devaluing of Christmas. We mustn't forget the true meaning of the event, they say.

This is really annoying. The idea of there being a 'true meaning' of such an old and multi-faceted festival is almost incoherent. (Of course, I'm not sure if there can be a 'true meaning' of anything, but that's a point for another entry).

Christians stress the importance of the nativity story. And of course it's an important part of the ritual. But there are so many different aspects of this celebration, that it seems like fighting a losing battle to claim absolute ownership of it. Xmas rituals were tacked onto pagan ones. There are winter festivals in all kinds of cultures. Each civilisation and generation is able to apply their own customs and traditions and attitudes as time goes on. That's what makes it so brilliant!

Some Christians may complain about us hijacking their festival. But (in addition to them having hijacked older festivals) we're not stealing it. We're just weaving it into the tapestry of our own holiday. If you believe the nativity actually happened, it's not going to become false just because we play Scalextric instead of going to church.

It's not just Christians that complain, but also general Conservative reactionaries.

"We're straying from family values. Everything that happened in the past was more pure and good! We're losing our moral fabric!"

But tradition is in a constant state of flux. The story of Jesus is an integral part of this ritual. But so is Santa Claus. So is Rudolph the Reindeer. So is Frosty the Snowman. (I've written before about the complex cocktail of Xmas iconography).

[The commercialisation and consumerism that dominates Xmas is sometimes unpleasant. But that's got nothing to do with moral decline. It's just capitalism. And these same reactionaries always seem to be the biggest advocates of capitalism. They can't have it both ways...]

That's the beauty of culture. It's also one of the problems I have with organised religion. Why aren't we taking credit for this?! We act like we're earnestly commemorating history, when really we created everything! We're responsible for these grand narratives and the weird morality and the cast of characters. We can take pleasure in the customs, the songs, the aesthetics. Xmas is wonderful, and it's because of us, not baby JC. It may sound arrogant, but it's true (and me thinking I know 'the truth' really is arrogant!).

We create the 'true meaning of Christmas'. Everything we do adds to it, modifies it, takes it in a new direction. It's always changing. Realising that doesn't take away from the magic. In fact, that's the most magical thing of all. We made the magic. We created mince pies and The Fairytale of New York and kissing under the mistletoe and The Snowman and Rudolph and the Wise Men and Home Alone.

We created Jesus, for Christ's sake!

Now that's magic.