Fri, Dec. 24 2010
10:17 AM EDT
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 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 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 dayâ€! 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: होली), is a spring religious festival
celebrated by Hindus. It is primarily
observed in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka,[1]
and countries with large Indic diaspora populations,
such as Suriname, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, United Kingdom, United States, Mauritius, and Fiji. In West Bengal and Orissa of India it is known
as Dolyatra (Doul Jatra) or Basanta-Utsav
("spring festival"). The most celebrated Holi is that of
the Braj region, in locations
connected to the god Krishna: Mathura, Vrindavan, Nandagaon, and Barsana. These places have
become tourist destinations during the festive season of
Holi, which lasts here to up to sixteen days.[2]
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) or Chhoti Holi
(little Holi). The bonfires are lit in memory of the
miraculous escape that young Prahlad accomplished when
Demoness Holika, sister of Hiranyakashipu, carried him
into the fire. Holika was burnt but Prahlad, a staunch
devotee of god Vishnu, escaped without any
injuries due to his unshakable devotion. Holika Dahan is
referred to as Kama Dahanam in South India.
Holi is celebrated at the end of the winter season on the
last full moon day of the lunar month Phalguna (February/March),
(Phalgun Purnima), 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.
