Hi Zen,
I didn't become a JW until my late teens, so I celebrated Christmas and all the holidays as a child. I do understand what you mean about holiday hype. I have watched family members and friends max out credit cards to try and have the "perfect Christmas" for their kids, then spend years trying to pay off the debt. I also understand your concern about lying to children about Santa (my daughter and son-in-law have chosen not to engage in the Santa myth with my grandson, and I am more than happy to go along with their wishes).
That being said, I'd like to share a little different view with you. I myself am very intrigued by the whole Santa mythology, and have been doing research on it. It's amazing that it pops up in different variations in many cultures, and that it appeals to adults, who wish to hand it down to the next generation, as well as to children.I've done a little research into psychological archetype theory, and I think Santa is some type of an archetype.
I am not sure if you are aware of stages of development, but young children do go through a stage of "magical thinking." My own children, who were never raised to believe in Santa Claus, went through this themselves, then eventually outgrew it. Despite the fact that I never encouraged a belief in mythological beings, they chose to believe in coyotes with hands who could open doors, and other various and sundry creatures.No amount of reasoning on my part could convince them otherwise, lol.
I remember when I stopped believing in the reality of Santa Claus in the second grade. I didn't view it as having been lied to-I felt that I had been taking part in a great game, in which I had been the recipient, and now that I knew the truth of the matter, I would take on a different role, and keep up this great game for the benefit of my younger siblings.
While it is important to be grounded to a certain extent, imagination is also a wonderful trait of the human existence, and in fact, it is imagination coupled with logic that has lead to great discoveries in the various branches of science, such as quantum physics. I think that the very existence of mythology (including Santa mythology) is a great testament to the power of imagination, and I think humans need to exercise imagination just as much as we need to exercise our powers of logical thinking.
This need for imagination may be the reason why holidays make such excellent fodder for advertising agencies. But just because they choose to try and capitiolize on it, doesn't mean that we have to be mindless sheep and follow all the dictates of what a "perfect" holiday is. After all, they use other well known symbols to sell their wares, too, yet no one suggest we give up these things because they are "too commercial".
In our family, we look forward to celebrating holidays, especially Christmas. We haven't doled out tons of money to do so-most of our decorations either came from relatives, yard sales, or thrift shops, or we made them. We have a one gift per person limit in our family, and we pay only cash for our gifts. Last year, there wasn't much cash for gifts, but we still had a tree (we paid $15 for it) and good food, and I picked up some stuff for the kids at a thrift shop and wrapped it all up in paper I bought at the dollar store.We visited with family and watched all the Christmas specials on tv, and participated in helping others through various charities in our areas. To us, this is what Christmas is all about.
And to me, this is what Santa is all about:
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
Editorial Page, New York Sun, 1897
We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
Dear Editor,
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'HanlonVirginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Regards,
Cicatrix
