THE ORIGINAL WAR ON CHRISTMAS
Rabbi Rami Shapiro has an interesting take on “banning Christmas”, which would also include banning Kwanza, Hanukkah and Thanksgiving. While I like the idea of doing away with Thanksgiving (the most useless holiday ever conceived) I do like the commercial version of Christmas because it is Mecca (see how ecumenical I can be) and sheer Nirvana for shopaholics like me!Seriously, Rabbi Shapiro reminded me of something I’d forgotten!
“…In 1645 Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan brethren took over jolly old England. Deciding that anything jolly was probably of the Devil, they vowed to rid England of such decadent conceits as Christmas. Cromwell and Company banned Christmas and any festivities having to do with it. Not to be bested by their colleagues across the pond, Massachusetts Puritans criminalized Christmas (take that, Bill O’Reilly!), and, in 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts passed the Five-Shilling Anti-Christmas Law: “Whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas, or the like, either by forbearing labor, feasting, or any other way upon such account as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall pay for each offense five shillings as a fine to the country.” The law was repealed in 1681…”
From The Episcopal Cafe
The bottom line here is once again our over the top, extreme conservatives are showing their abject ignorance about American History! The original illegal immigrants (of whom I am descended) did their best to stamp out Christmas here in the Colonies!
“…By 1659 the Puritans had grown to hate Christmas more and more; it was, to use Shakespeare's words, "the bug that feared them all." The very name smacked to them of incense, stole, and monkish jargon; any person who observed it as a holiday by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way was to pay five shillings fine, so desirous were they to "beate down every sprout of Episcopacie." Judge Sewall watched jealously the feeling of the people with regard to Christmas, and noted with pleasure on each succeeding year the continuance of common traffic throughout the day. Such entries as this show his attitude: "Dec. 25, 1685. Carts come to town and shops open as usual. Some somehow observe the day, but are vexed I believe that the Body of people profane it, and blessed be God no authority yet to compel them to keep it." When the Church of England established Christmas services in Boston a few years later, we find the judge waging hopeless war against Governor Belcher over it, and hear him praising his son for not going with other boy friends to hear the novel and attractive services. He says: "I dehort mine from Christmas keeping and charge them to forbear."
Christmas could not be regarded till this century as a New England holiday, though in certain localities, such as old Narragansett -- an opulent community which was settled by Episcopalians -- two weeks of Christmas visiting and feasting were entered into with zest by both planters and slaves for many years previous to the revolution….”
The only thing that has saved Christmas as we now know it was those nasty, godless Episcopalians!
History.com
“…Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans. It is not surprising that, like many other festive Christmas customs, the tree was adopted so late in America. To the New England Puritans, Christmas was sacred. The pilgrims's second governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out "pagan mockery" of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. The influential Oliver Cromwell preached against "the heathen traditions" of Christmas carols, decorated trees, and any joyful expression that desecrated "that sacred event." In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 (other than a church service) a penal offense; people were fined for hanging decorations. That stern solemnity continued until the 19th century, when the influx of German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy….”
A JOYOUS RANTIn other words, the War on Christmas is a TRADITIONAL AMERICAN PRACTICE and the only thing that revived CHRISTMAS in New England and generally through the US were ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS like the Irish and Germans (there were no immigration laws until 1920’s) who revived their views of Christmas. If, as Nativist demand, immigration cultures assimilate, then we would have NOT CHRISTMAS TODAY because Traditional Americans did very little to celebrate it! This brings us full circle to Michael Smerconish’s commentary in the Philadelphia Inquirer bemoaning the fact that today’s immigrants do not assimilate and keep their HISPANIC names.
For more of his asinine racism:
“…Pinpointing my heritage gets difficult in light of a few name changes. Take my dad's side of the family. Mildred Walker, my paternal grandmother, was born Carmella Vaccaro. Her family, who were from a town called Lungro in Calabria, Italy, became the Walkers in the United States. She led her life as Millie Walker until she married Wasil Smerconish, whose family came from somewhere in Austria-Hungary. His name had been changed from Smerakanich. Still, the census takers couldn't get it straight. In three consecutive censuses beginning in 1900, it was recorded as Smerakowitz, Smerakanos and Smerkovitch. Mom's side is more straightforward. The Grujichiches were from Yugoslavia. But they, too, changed - to Grovich - when they passed under Lady Liberty. And there is hardly anything unique in that. My family's willingness to change their name was just part of their assimilation process, one that began at Ellis Island. But today I see evidence of that process in retreat, as the Smiths, Jones and Wilsons are quickly being displaced by the Garcias, Rodriguezes and Martinèzes.
A recently released analysis of U.S. Census data compiled in 2000 found that we have to change our ideas (if we have any) about what constitutes an "American" surname. Among the most common surnames, two Hispanic names - Garcia (No. 8) and Rodriguez (No. 9) - cracked the top 10, a first according to many demographers. Martinèz advanced eight spots to No. 11, barely behind Wilson. (The data made no distinction between those here legally and illegally.)
The influx of Hispanic names has been swift: Between the 1990 and 2000 census analyses, Garcia jumped 10 spots, while Rodriguez moved up 13. There are six Hispanic names among the top 25 - double the number in the previous compilation. The increased frequency of Hispanic names is, no doubt, due in part to unprecedented immigration. An analysis of census data conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies revealed that 10.3 million new immigrants have come to the United States over the last seven years - more than any other seven-year period in our country's history. It is estimated that more than half came illegally.
Today, 1 out of every 8 people living here is an immigrant - good for an estimated total of almost 38 million. That many of those 38 million are arriving with their names intact may illustrate the main difference between today's immigrant and those who arrived at the turn of the last century.
The Smerakowitz, Vaccaro and Grujichich families arrived prepared to do whatever it took to be "American," even if that meant updating the spelling of their names every 10 years. While they did not forget where they came from, they were anxious to follow immigration laws, to learn the English language, and to become a legitimate, moving part of the economy. The result was the oft-cited image of the United States as a melting pot. But today, we've stopped melting. Or as former presidential adviser and candidate Pat Buchanan recently told me: "The melting pot is cracked and broken."…”
A recently released analysis of U.S. Census data compiled in 2000 found that we have to change our ideas (if we have any) about what constitutes an "American" surname. Among the most common surnames, two Hispanic names - Garcia (No. 8) and Rodriguez (No. 9) - cracked the top 10, a first according to many demographers. Martinèz advanced eight spots to No. 11, barely behind Wilson. (The data made no distinction between those here legally and illegally.)
The influx of Hispanic names has been swift: Between the 1990 and 2000 census analyses, Garcia jumped 10 spots, while Rodriguez moved up 13. There are six Hispanic names among the top 25 - double the number in the previous compilation. The increased frequency of Hispanic names is, no doubt, due in part to unprecedented immigration. An analysis of census data conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies revealed that 10.3 million new immigrants have come to the United States over the last seven years - more than any other seven-year period in our country's history. It is estimated that more than half came illegally.
Today, 1 out of every 8 people living here is an immigrant - good for an estimated total of almost 38 million. That many of those 38 million are arriving with their names intact may illustrate the main difference between today's immigrant and those who arrived at the turn of the last century.
The Smerakowitz, Vaccaro and Grujichich families arrived prepared to do whatever it took to be "American," even if that meant updating the spelling of their names every 10 years. While they did not forget where they came from, they were anxious to follow immigration laws, to learn the English language, and to become a legitimate, moving part of the economy. The result was the oft-cited image of the United States as a melting pot. But today, we've stopped melting. Or as former presidential adviser and candidate Pat Buchanan recently told me: "The melting pot is cracked and broken."…”
IGNORANT CONSERVATIVES
The only reason we have today’s celebration of Christmas as we know it is because of godless Episcopalians like me and courageous German and Irish ILLEGAL immigrants who refused to completely assimilate into America, holding on to their original traditions. And so, as you hear anti-immigration conservatives bewail the war on Christmas, just thumb your nose and laugh at their abject ignorance of the history of the United States of America. Don’t hesitate to remind them, either.
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary's Thoughts, Right Truth, Adam's Blog, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, The Amboy Times, Big Dog's Weblog, Cao's Blog, Leaning Straight Up, Adeline and Hazel, Faultline USA, The World According to Carl, Global American Discourse, Wolf Pangloss, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.">
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