Season's Greetings From The Boys From Marketing!

[GHT]

The secularization of Christmas has been going on for as long as it's been celebrated in the "western tradition,"

There are many Christian festivals that have been grafted onto pagan ones, the Yule festival being the one that Christmas all but replaced. It was even a twelve day festival, to which we have The Twelve Days of Christmas. See Wiki.

And just to put a little irreverence into Christmas:

 

[LizzieMaine]

^^^^
I wasn't aware until I looked closely at the card you posted
and how far back in time this went.

The Origin of "Xmas" - CRI/Voice



Happy holidays to all and may it be swift
when warm days return to you guys up North.

The current idea that "Xmas" means the "replacement of Christ by X, the Unknown" can be traced directly to a tract published by the Fascist-aligned anti-Semitic "Reverend" Gerald L. K. Smith in the 1960s. Smith, who had been licking around the dirty end of the American lunatic fringe since the 1930s -- Walter Winchell delighted in calling him "Gerald Lucifer KKKodfish Smith" -- had picked up the idea from an ultrafundamentalist group called the "Church League of America," but added to it his own argument that "Xmas" was a specifically Jewish plot to dechristianize the holiday. Smith promoted the belief up to his death in 1976, and Willis Carto's neo-Nazi "Liberty Lobby" also picked up the idea and publicized it thru its "Spotlight" newspaper well into the 1990s.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Merry Christmas, everyone!

"I'm Jooooe."

 

[emigran]

Superb...thanks
I can recall the "Rheingold Girl" ads with all the women's posters hanging up in liquor stores...

 

[GHT]

The current idea that "Xmas" means the "replacement of Christ by X, the Unknown" can be traced directly to a tract published by the Fascist-aligned anti-Semitic "Reverend" Gerald L. K. Smith in the 1960s.

“Xmas” is not a non-religious version of “Christmas”. The “X” is actually indicating the Greek letter “Chi”, which is short for the Greek, meaning “Christ”. So “Xmas” and “Christmas” are equivalent in every way except their lettering.

 

[Bigger Don]

“Xmas” is not a non-religious version of “Christmas”. The “X” is actually indicating the Greek letter “Chi”, which is short for the Greek, meaning “Christ”. So “Xmas” and “Christmas” are equivalent in every way except their lettering.

I prefer the Chi with the Rho.

It's a subset of the Chi-Rho with Alpha and Omega.

Of course, considering propensities, the above might divert to a discussion of Constantine's use of it, which them drops right down to the inevitable discussion of swastikas (American Indians) and stiff armed salutes by the US military prior to the rise of the Nazis.

 

[Trenchfriend]

“Xmas” is not a non-religious version of “Christmas”. The “X” is actually indicating the Greek letter “Chi”, which is short for the Greek, meaning “Christ”. So “Xmas” and “Christmas” are equivalent in every way except their lettering.

I think, it's mostly simple marketing, too. In the 90's, "X-mas" appeared in Germany on christmas-music samplers and so on.

Chris > Cross(ing) > Cruis(ing) > X

Not worth to think about, further.

 

[Bigger Don]

Not worth to think about, further.

You're right, but it's fun to watch the two sides of this argument, those who "know" the full objective is to ban Christianity versus those who paint with a broad brush of insinuation those who prefer "Christmas" over "Xmas" as extremist, racist, anti-semitic, papist, theocrats, etc etc etc.

 

[HudsonHawk]

You're right, but it's fun to watch the two sides of this argument, those who "know" the full objective is to ban Christianity versus those who paint with a broad brush of insinuation those who prefer "Christmas" over "Xmas" as extremist, racist, anti-semitic, papist, theocrats, etc etc etc.

I'm curious as to who here has suggested that people who say "Christmas" are extreme, anti-Semitic, racist theocrats.

 

[Bigger Don]

I'm curious as to who here has suggested that people who say "Christmas" are extreme, anti-Semitic, racist theocrats.

Would I even insinuate that anyone here would have such sentiments? Lawdy no! Not me! BTW, you forgot "papist"

Since you didn't ask, does that mean you can point to anyone here who has suggested there is any intent of banning Christianity?

 

[HudsonHawk]

Would I even insinuate that anyone here would have such sentiments? Lawdy no! Not me! BTW, you forgot "papist"

Since you didn't ask, does that mean you can point to anyone here who has suggested there is any intent of banning Christianity?

I'll take your crawfishing to mean you have nothing.

 

[Bigger Don]

I'll take your crawfishing to mean you have nothing.

Nothing for what? I made a comment about the general tenor of the Christmas/Xmas rant/rave spitfest people get into. When asked if I was referring to anyone on this forum, I decided to play along. That said, I can see some might have tendencies for one or another of those sentiments. Some of whom tend to have easily ruffled feathers.

Speaking of feathers, got any good poultry recipes? I've a partridge, coupla doves, few hens. Wife says more's on the way and she's gonna kill whoever keeps sendin' 'em over because there's bird crap all over, (m)Alice the cat is in a tizzy, and the two dogs are having more fun that they should.

NOTE to Self: Missing a Christmas card to an unrequited ex can mean 12 days of hell to pay.

 

[vitanola]

You're right, but it's fun to watch the two sides of this argument, those who "know" the full objective is to ban Christianity versus those who paint with a broad brush of insinuation those who prefer "Christmas" over "Xmas" as extremist, racist, anti-semitic, papist, theocrats, etc etc etc.

No, merely risibly ignorant of that which they profess to be their own deeply held religion.

 

[Bigger Don]

Ok...if you say so.

 

[BlueTrain]

Let's all help to put the X back in Xmas. And while we're at it, light up a Camel. Remember, more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.

 

[sheeplady]

When I was about 12, I was at a 4-H event (I think it was our public speaking presentations). We were doing something I can't remember, but were talking about how the word Christmas wouldn't fit someplace so I suggested "Xmas" instead. I knew "xmas" because my grandmother had always labeled boxes of decorations with "xmas" so I thought it was a standard abbreviation... I knew none of the history- I was like 12.

One of the women (a parent) started berating me for "Taking the most important part of Christmas out, Christ." She was pretty aggressive and in my face. I was pretty sure it wasn't any sort of slur (I couldn't see my Catholic grandmother using a slur against Christ) but I wasn't 100% certain (as I myself wasn't raised Christian) so I backed down.

I learned the truth after that encounter, but I never saw that lady again.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My mother used to yell at us for putting the "mess" in Christmas.

 

[Fading Fast]

When I was about 12, I was at a 4-H event (I think it was our public speaking presentations). We were doing something I can't remember, but were talking about how the word Christmas wouldn't fit someplace so I suggested "Xmas" instead. I knew "xmas" because my grandmother had always labeled boxes of decorations with "xmas" so I thought it was a standard abbreviation... I knew none of the history- I was like 12.

One of the women (a parent) started berating me for "Taking the most important part of Christmas out, Christ." She was pretty aggressive and in my face. I was pretty sure it wasn't any sort of slur (I couldn't see my Catholic grandmother using a slur against Christ) but I wasn't 100% certain (as I myself wasn't raised Christian) so I backed down.

I learned the truth after that encounter, but I never saw that lady again.

That was a style of "teaching" children that was quite popular when I was young. It was as if society had decided that raising children was like breaking horses. While it still goes on aplenty, at least there's been a shift away from it and less of a general acceptance of it.

 

[BlueTrain]

I'm not quite sure I follow you but I do believe that what school students thought was of little importance as far as the school was concerned and, moreover, parents had next to nothing to do with school. Their part in the matter was to provide the children and pay for the books. That's essentially the way it worked when I was going through school. There was corporal punishment in grade school, as I vividly recall, but not that I remember in the higher grades. Paddling was administered out of sight but not out of hearing of the class, out in the hall. I have no memory of what may have been the transgression for which the punishment was given but it seemed to have only been boys. I was hardly familiar with the home life of many other students but of those I knew, only one father ever gave his son a whipping (not a paddling). My father called him "high strung." I was hardly all that perfect but I usually got off easy if I did something regretful.

On the other hand, the push to make sure each and every child actually graduated from high school is I think of recent origin. I don't know at what age a student could drop out of school but I'm almost certain the age used to be lower than it is now.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Compulsory education laws required all children to attend school thru the age of 16 in all states by the 1920s -- for the record, Mississippi was the last state in which education was optional, and that was ended in 1918.

That's not to say that all families obeyed the law. Especially in rural areas, it was not uncommon to thumb your nose at the truant officer.