_Commentaries_ (http://www.christianpost.com/commentaries/)
|Fri, Dec. 24 2010 10:17 AM EDT
Adios, Christmas
By _Chuck Colson_ (http://www.christianpost.com/author/chuck-colson/)
|Christian Post Guest Columnist
I recently met a man who left his native Cuba when he was eleven years
old. He came from an upper class family and remembered Cuba as a very
beautiful country where the people got along well with one another.
Fifty years later, he finally got a chance to go back. Sure, he knew that
Communism had impoverished the country, but nothing prepared him for the
shock of seeing first hand what had become of his native land. The country has
been totally sapped of its energy and strength and resources. People get a
ration of food for a month that only lasts them two weeks; so the rest of
the time they lie, steal, borrow, beg, whatever they have to do to get
food.
It wasn’t only the diminished standard of living that shocked him: He told
me about the extent to which the church has been suppressed by the Castro
brothers. In fact, not only is freedom of religion severely curtailed in
Cuba, there is an effort to expunge words and phrase that contain references
to God!
An obvious is the Spanish word for “goodbye,” adios. It literally means “
to God.” So, this gentleman told me, it is now suspect. In fact, there is a
whole host of other common Spanish idioms being expunged from the
language-expressions people had used all their lives. And they're being
expunged
precisely because they refer to God. In Cuba, as in any totalitarian state,
you can get into serious trouble for using the words and expressing ideas
banned by the government.
Listening to him, I realized that our _culture_
(http://www.christianpost.com/topics/culture/) is doing something similar
right here at home: shape
people’s beliefs and attitudes by controlling the language they use. The
pressure may be more subtle, and the people doing the controlling may be
private, not governmental actors, but the goals and effects are the same.
The effort is on obvious display during Christmas. Case in point: for
seventy years, Tulsa has held a _Christmas_
(http://www.christianpost.com/topics/christmas/) parade. Now, no one would
ever mistake the parade for a
church service: Santa Claus plays a far bigger role than the infant Jesus.
Yet even this watered-down reference to Christ was too much: in the last
year, “Christmas” was dropped from the title in favor of “holiday.” If “
Christmas” is too much for what is arguably the buckle of the “Bible Belt,”
where can you use the phrase?
If you think that this is much ado about nothing and that “happy Holidays”
is a perfectly acceptable substitute, you’re missing the whole point. The
issue here isn’t avoiding offense – it’s redefining the terms of our
discussion, eradicating or at least marginalizing any references to God in the
public square. It’s to make people think twice about invoking God, even in
passing, in public. Once you control their language, you control the way
they think and behave.
The irony is that the approved word “holiday” is itself derived from “holy
day”! All of this linguistic nonsense is another reminder of why
Christians need to reclaim Christmas. The larger culture may be intent on
taking
Christ out of Christmas but, that’s all the more reason for us to place Him at
the center of ours.
May you and yours have a blessed Christmas, and a happy holy-day season.
---------------------------------------------------------------
O.E. haligdæg, from halig "holy" + dæg "day;" in 14c. meaning both
"religious festival" and "day of recreation," but pronunciation and sense
diverged
16c
Folk Etymology -- supposedly derived from the Hindu festival of Holi
Holi, or Holli (_Sanskrit_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit_language)
: होली), is a _spring_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_(season))
religious festival celebrated by _Hindus_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindus) . It is primarily observed in _India_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India) , _Nepal_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepal) , _Sri Lanka_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka) ,_[1]_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Holi&printable=yes#cite_note-Pakistani_Girls_Celebrating_Holi_in_Lahore-0
) and countries with large _Indic_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indic)
diaspora populations, such as _Suriname_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suriname) , _Guyana_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana) , _South Africa_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa) , _Trinidad_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad) , _United Kingdom_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom) , _United States_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) ,
_Mauritius_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius) , and _Fiji_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiji) . In _West Bengal_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bengal) and _Orissa_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orissa) of India it
is known as Dolyatra (Doul Jatra) or Basanta-Utsav ("spring festival"). The
most celebrated Holi is that of the _Braj_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braj) region, in locations connected to the god
_Krishna_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna) : _Mathura_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathura,_Uttar_Pradesh) , _Vrindavan_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vrindavan) ,
_Nandagaon_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandagaon) , and _Barsana_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barsana) . These places have become tourist
destinations
during the festive season of Holi, which lasts here to up to sixteen days._[2]_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Holi&printable=yes#cite_note-ind-
1)
The main day, Holi, also known as Dhuli Vandana in Sanskrit,also Dhulheti,
Dhulandi or Dhulendi, is celebrated by people throwing coloured powder and
coloured water at each other. Bonfires are lit the day before, also known
as Holika Dahan (burning of _Holika_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holika) )
or Chhoti Holi (little Holi). The bonfires are lit in memory of the
miraculous escape that young _Prahlad_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prahlad)
accomplished when Demoness Holika, sister of _Hiranyakashipu_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiranyakashipu) , carried him into the fire.
Holika was burnt
but Prahlad, a staunch devotee of god _Vishnu_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu) , escaped without any injuries due to his
unshakable devotion.
Holika Dahan is referred to as Kama Dahanam in _South India_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_India) .
Holi is celebrated at the end of the winter season on the last full moon
day of the lunar month _Phalguna_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalguna)
(February/March), (Phalgun _Purnima_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Moon)
), which usually falls in the later part of February or March. In 2009,
Holi (Dhulandi) was on March 11 and Holika Dahan was on March 10. In 2010,
Holi was on March 1 and Holika Dahan was on February 28.
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
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Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
