For this week's Christmas song, I've decided to go out on a limb a little bit. The song for this week is "Christmas Day," sung by Dido for one of the "Very Special Christmas" compilations. This is going a bit out on a limb b/c it is not a Christmas song in the strictest sense of the word. The Song is about a guy who meets a girl and promises he'll come back to take her away on Christmas day. The rest of the song is her talking about how she's waiting for him to return. Therefore, Christmas day is more a point of time than it is a holiday. However, the song got me thinking since it talks about waiting, something the Holiday seasons seem about.
For those of you who have offspring of a young age, I can imagine they look forward to Christmas for several weeks leading up to the date (Or at least I did, maybe I'm more maladjusted than I've given myself credit for). My Mom has talked about how I was a kid and just couldn't wait for Christmas to come (now there are years where I can't wait for it to be over, go figure). I do remember us getting up very early to open gifts and my parents would tell me I had to wait until it was a reasonable hour (i.e. the sun was at least starting to rise).
Incidents that probably screamed "Emancipated Minor" to my parents aside, the concept of waiting remains a integral part of the Holiday season. In the Christian tradition, the time leading up to Christmas is known as Advent, a time that is characterized by "expectant waiting and participation" for the coming of the Christ. Although Hanukkah is a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, it is a celebration of a wait being over. The holiday marks the re-dedication of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem after the Maccabean revolt was able to retake it and rededicated it after it was desecrated by the Syrians.
I find this holiday season's focus on waiting to be extremely interesting since waiting is something very few people want to do in this day and age. We want what we want and we want it NOW. Currently the political landscape comprises people who are promising to enact changes to help Americans sooner than their opponents. This is, of course, understandable since many Americans are in dire straits and anyone who could get them out of it faster should be in charge. Likewise, I can imagine Israel was getting a little tired of waiting around for God to send the messiah. They had to wander in the desert for 40 years, had been conquered many times, and the Romans had been added to the list of invading armies during the time of Jesus. Therefore, I can see how they appreciated God's love but still wanted to get the show on the road.
So if everyone hates waiting, why do we have to do it? I know it's a cliche, but perhaps we wait so we can "build character." A while back a preached a sermon at Spirit of Peace (and strangely enough it didn't start raining frogs) about how experiences both bad and good can shape us ways that make us a better person. The experience of waiting gives us a time to prepare ourselves for what lies ahead. If I had opted for instant gratification when I was a kid, would I have finally gotten it that the Holidays are not just about decorations and gifts but also about being together with those you love, about peace, and about hope? If we view God as a parental figure, the understanding that you can't have whatever you want whenever you want it is valuable life lesson. Furthermore, having to wait for something can make you value it even more. The current dedication to what is now the country if Israel I think, in part at least, comes from the memory that many times it had been taken away from the Jewish people or they had been without a nation of their own.
Getting back to the song by Dido, you will notice that she eagerly anticipates the arrival of her lover, but she doesn't chomp at the bit waiting for him to show up. Anticipation is a feeling we get around this time of year, but instead of holding out for what we're waiting for, enjoy the wait as well as the waiting to be over. So during this holiday season, enjoy the parties, the food, and all the other stuff that goes along with this time of year. However, realize that part of this season is about waiting so embrace the wait and look to see what you find along the way.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
The Christians and the Pagans (and an uber-liberal folk singer thrown in for good measure)
In the second installment in my series of "non-traditional Christmas songs" I have selected a Song by the Folk Singer Dar Williams: "The Christians and the Pagans." Those of you who grew up listening to college radio are probably familiar with this song already, it is a song about a pagan lesbian couple (Amber and Jane) who go to visit their Uncle (Tim) and his Family. Being devout Christians, they are a bit hesitant to have 2 pagans over for dinner, but the evening ends well and the general message is that we all have common needs as humans that one person can get from one personal faith as much as someone gets from another. I picked this as my second selection because it is one of the only songs I can think of that actually deals with two religions during the holiday season and not just various reinforcer to Christians reminding everyone how great the holiday is.
Before proceeding, I should qualify by saying I like Christmas as much as the next person and a little reminder of why we like it should not be scoffed at. However, I also find it kind of interesting that a holiday like Christmas which is admired for how it brings families together to share in a common joy can serve to divide since a person may have a different religious belief or hold the holiday in a different regard from someone else. For example, in the song Amber calls her uncle to see if they can stay with him for the evening and he expresses reservation because it is Christmas and "...Our life is not your style."
I also think this song is apt because the modern celebration of Christmas has roots in the original religious practices of indigenous European people (which many modern Pagans draw influence from). The evergreen (the traditional Christmas tree) is a Celtic symbol of enduring life during the winter in which everything dies. The "Yule Log" (before being made into a desert) was a popular Christmas tradition in 17th and 18th century Europe is believed to come from the traditional beliefs of Germanic peoples.
At my church, when we do communion the pastor notes we are different but a commonality among us is our need for food and (therefore) why the symbols of bread and wine were used by Jesus during the last supper. Therefore, it is my hope for this Christmas season that I focus on not who celebrates Christmas and who doesn't but on what is common among all people and our needs that cause us to seek fulfillment in whatever religion. This is also in the song as Jane tells Tim's son that they are not Christians, but they love the world, their friends, and many other things Christians do.
In closing, I would like to share the last lines as the song which serve to tie the two faiths together by the similarities rather than their differences as food for thought:
"So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways from the old, Making sense of history and drawing warmth out of the cold."
Before proceeding, I should qualify by saying I like Christmas as much as the next person and a little reminder of why we like it should not be scoffed at. However, I also find it kind of interesting that a holiday like Christmas which is admired for how it brings families together to share in a common joy can serve to divide since a person may have a different religious belief or hold the holiday in a different regard from someone else. For example, in the song Amber calls her uncle to see if they can stay with him for the evening and he expresses reservation because it is Christmas and "...Our life is not your style."
I also think this song is apt because the modern celebration of Christmas has roots in the original religious practices of indigenous European people (which many modern Pagans draw influence from). The evergreen (the traditional Christmas tree) is a Celtic symbol of enduring life during the winter in which everything dies. The "Yule Log" (before being made into a desert) was a popular Christmas tradition in 17th and 18th century Europe is believed to come from the traditional beliefs of Germanic peoples.
At my church, when we do communion the pastor notes we are different but a commonality among us is our need for food and (therefore) why the symbols of bread and wine were used by Jesus during the last supper. Therefore, it is my hope for this Christmas season that I focus on not who celebrates Christmas and who doesn't but on what is common among all people and our needs that cause us to seek fulfillment in whatever religion. This is also in the song as Jane tells Tim's son that they are not Christians, but they love the world, their friends, and many other things Christians do.
In closing, I would like to share the last lines as the song which serve to tie the two faiths together by the similarities rather than their differences as food for thought:
"So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways from the old, Making sense of history and drawing warmth out of the cold."
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Christmas Wrapping
In the first installment in my series on non-tradditional Christmas songs, I've decided to start with a song from the New Wave heyday: "Christmas Wrapping" by the Waitresses. For those of you unfamiliar with the song, the gist is that the singer is resolved to spend Christmas by herself recounting how busy the year has been and how all the things going on in the year have prevented her from getting together with a guy she met earlier the previous year. She fixes a Christmas dinner for one but realizes she forgot the cranberries so she goes to the all-night grocery and ends up seeing the guy who is also spending Christmas by himself. For those of you who want the full song lyrics, they can be found at this website: http://www.hardcafe.co.uk/waitresses/xmas_wrapping.htm.
This song is definitely different from ones you hear on the radio since it tells a story of someone who is not having the stereotypical Christmas with all the gatherings and celebrations and also it ends with her celebrating her Christmas in an unexpected way. Most traditional Christmas songs portray a certain way the season should be celebrated and anything that deviates from that norm is totally unacceptable. My mom has recounted one year we spent with our family in NC and now lives in family history as "the Infamous Flu Christmas" since everyone was sick. Although I don't wish to get sick around the holidays (or any other time for that matter), we made the best of it we could and now have a bit of family memories to share.
Many cherished songs are cherished because they've been around for a very long time and, therefore, portray a very different life. However, in the current day and age, we are often having to "think outside the box" in many aspects of our lives. The tough economic times have limited the amount of gift-giving a person can do, decisions to go elsewhere for the holidays are tempered by rising costs of gas and airline travel, and doing our holiday shopping must be timed just right for fear of crowds looking for that one gift everyone wants as a zombie wants brains. Also, as someone who came from MI, whoever sung about a "white christmas" probably didn't have to drive in a lake-effect snow storm.
Does this mean Christmas is somehow an archaic anniversary we should just ignore and go about our lives? Of course not, but change is not always a bad thing. In my family, as we all age we are finding the need to get someone that special gift gradually diminishes. Both my Mom and my Aunt's prime choice of gifts are dishcloths which continue to be a hot commodity year round when trying to dry your dinner plates. Many people I know have done away with adult gift-giving and reserve it for their kids. Although I have many fond memories of Christmases of my youth, I am kind of glad that I'm of the age where my world doesn't crumble around me because I did not get the big Voltron toy I spent many a day at Meijer salivating over.
As we are a society that (I'd like to think at least) evolves over time, I would hope we would not view doing things differently as an automatic minus to our holiday season. I think at this point I should mention that Jesus (who many people feel is the 'Reason for the Season') was not the traditional leader people had come to expect, but his life and works showed people there is another way to live and, although different, I doubt any Christian would say they are worse off for it.
This song is definitely different from ones you hear on the radio since it tells a story of someone who is not having the stereotypical Christmas with all the gatherings and celebrations and also it ends with her celebrating her Christmas in an unexpected way. Most traditional Christmas songs portray a certain way the season should be celebrated and anything that deviates from that norm is totally unacceptable. My mom has recounted one year we spent with our family in NC and now lives in family history as "the Infamous Flu Christmas" since everyone was sick. Although I don't wish to get sick around the holidays (or any other time for that matter), we made the best of it we could and now have a bit of family memories to share.
Many cherished songs are cherished because they've been around for a very long time and, therefore, portray a very different life. However, in the current day and age, we are often having to "think outside the box" in many aspects of our lives. The tough economic times have limited the amount of gift-giving a person can do, decisions to go elsewhere for the holidays are tempered by rising costs of gas and airline travel, and doing our holiday shopping must be timed just right for fear of crowds looking for that one gift everyone wants as a zombie wants brains. Also, as someone who came from MI, whoever sung about a "white christmas" probably didn't have to drive in a lake-effect snow storm.
Does this mean Christmas is somehow an archaic anniversary we should just ignore and go about our lives? Of course not, but change is not always a bad thing. In my family, as we all age we are finding the need to get someone that special gift gradually diminishes. Both my Mom and my Aunt's prime choice of gifts are dishcloths which continue to be a hot commodity year round when trying to dry your dinner plates. Many people I know have done away with adult gift-giving and reserve it for their kids. Although I have many fond memories of Christmases of my youth, I am kind of glad that I'm of the age where my world doesn't crumble around me because I did not get the big Voltron toy I spent many a day at Meijer salivating over.
As we are a society that (I'd like to think at least) evolves over time, I would hope we would not view doing things differently as an automatic minus to our holiday season. I think at this point I should mention that Jesus (who many people feel is the 'Reason for the Season') was not the traditional leader people had come to expect, but his life and works showed people there is another way to live and, although different, I doubt any Christian would say they are worse off for it.
Songs about the not so silent night
Those of you who know me well know I'm not a huge fan of traditional Christmas music. I've never done anything that would cause my aversion like, say, work in retail where it's played continually from October to mid-January, I have never found it invokes the happy feelings or nostalgia that is the reason many people like it. I think it may be that the trappings of Christmas are only attractive to me if they are accompanied by the REAL reasons for what makes the season so great (being genuinely kind to others, spending time with family/friends etc). Perhaps it is potential inaccuracy, a popular Christmas song is "Silent Night." Although I only know a few people who have gone through childbirth, given the potential duration of the process and that this was before the development of anesthesia, said night possibly was very very NOT silent to those in earshot of the stable.
That being said, now I present to you my plan: to do a series of blog posts (1 per week) on various songs I've heard that relate to Christmas. To say that they are "Christmas Songs" may be a bit of a stretch since some of them deal indirectly with the holiday. I will be upfront that most of these songs are in the vein of alternative music since that is usually what I listen to as my sister and I heard REM one day and all was lost. Anyway, I plan to put up my first post tomorrow which will discuss the song "Christmas Wrapping" originally done by the 80s band The Waitresses.
That being said, now I present to you my plan: to do a series of blog posts (1 per week) on various songs I've heard that relate to Christmas. To say that they are "Christmas Songs" may be a bit of a stretch since some of them deal indirectly with the holiday. I will be upfront that most of these songs are in the vein of alternative music since that is usually what I listen to as my sister and I heard REM one day and all was lost. Anyway, I plan to put up my first post tomorrow which will discuss the song "Christmas Wrapping" originally done by the 80s band The Waitresses.
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