Commercialization of Festivals and Holidays Has Eroded Their Real Significance

This depends on what is considered to be the basic aim of a festival. Is it simply to praise god (or as they are often from before Christ gods) or is it to have a good time? Festivals in the middle of winter were as much to banish the long nights with merryment as to praise the god(s) for the day beginning to get longer again.

If it is simply about having a good time then commercialisation makes little difference. Commercialisation can even make having a good time easier as there will be more veriety and the festival is likely to get more spectacular.

Mental Floss reports that many of the festivities that we observe on Halloween have their roots in the pre-Christian Celtic observance of Samhain. All Saints Day was invented by a pope during the seventh century CE to turn people away from pagan rituals. Some of these rituals involved providing treats to individuals disguised as supernatural beings. In 2015, the Pew Research Center reported that the percentage of Americans that identify themselves as Christian continues to drop. Even those who call themselves Christian are becoming less observant. The only thing required to return Halloween to its original significance is to give it back its original name of Samhain.

No one knows the exact date of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Andrew McGowan, in his article “How December 25 Became Christmas” tells us that the observance of December 25th as the date of The Nativity was not decided upon by the church until 300 years after the death of Jesus. He offers several theories as to how early church leaders decided upon that date. The United Church of God acknowledges that many customs associated with Christmas – including exchanging gifts – derive from year-end customs that predate Christianity. The article also mentions that an early church leader by the name of Origen considered the celebration of the birth of Christ to be idolatrous. Commercialization, then, is returning the winter holiday to its original significance. Exchanging gifts at Yuletide or the solstice is itself a form of commerce. Other traditions, such as drinking mulled wine or burning a Yule log, would have required some form of commerce. To fully return the observance of the late December holiday to its original significance, we may need to simply rename it, or refrain from calling it “Christmas.” The organizers of the Christmas market would be entirely correct in their claim that Jesus has nothing to do with their Christmas market if they labeled it as a Yule market or Festivus market.

Jews no longer perform animal sacrifices at Passover. We may see matzo ball soup mixes and other kosher products on sale at the supermarket prior to Passover, but we do not see the onslaught of advertising for these products that we see for products related to Christmas, Easter and Halloween. If the observation of a holiday or festival calls for material, then commerce must take place. If Chinese families are to make dumplings together, then someone must bring the ingredients of the dumplings to market. The Jews celebrating the Passover at the time that Jesus chased out the money changers from the Temple at Jerusalem were following the Law of Moses. Not everyone could provide a lamb for a sacrifice, so they had to find another way to observe the rituals proscribed in the book of Leviticus. The money changers filled a need. One of the theses offered by Fr. van Wieringen, in the paper mentioned above, is that “Neither secularization nor commercialization is the problem, but idolatry (or for those who prefer a different word: greed).” Perhaps it was greed to which Jesus objected when he chased the money changers from the Temple at Jerusalem, and not commerce. In his preaching, Jesus of Nazareth encouraged us to see the spirit of The Law, rather than blindly following the letter of The Law. A BBC article on Passover reminds us that the purpose of the holiday is to celebrate the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Perhaps Chinese traditionalists object to frozen dumplings because that misses the point. The purpose of having dumplings at the Spring Festival is so that families can spend time together making the dumplings. Commerce is necessary for nearly all aspects of human life. Idolatry and greed erode the significance of holidays and festivals.