Advent and Christmas blues
FIELD NOTES
By Rev. Allie McDougall
AT THE TIME of submission, it is a blustery All Saints Day.
The secular celebration of Halloween is over, the Church finds Herself in the middle of the Triduum of the Dead, and across social media are memes and TikToks of Christmas decorations going up, set to the opening bars of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You.” It is only a matter of days before we can expect to hear Christmas music on the radio and be inundated with the pressure to purchase and consume. Given the dedication of October’s edition of Field Notes to the complexities of Allhallowtide, I would be remiss not to comment on the fiasco that is secular Christmas and the complete erosion of Advent from cultural practice outside the Church.
I gathered that public awareness of the season of Advent was basically gone when I noticed the proliferation of the sale of Advent calendars. What began as a quaint tradition among German Protestants, who were excitedly counting down the days until Christmas, has exploded into a whole new market of heedless overconsumption. Alongside the treasured, straightforward chocolate offering, you may now find Advent calendars containing beer and spirits, cheese, lingerie, cannabis, luxury makeup and skincare, and even Advent calendars for dogs. Is there a product that can be mass-marketed? There’s probably an Advent calendar to go with it!
What is additionally troubling is that for retailers and the especially eager lovers of Christmas, there is no gap, no breathing room between the festivities of Halloween and Christmas. The four weeks of Advent that precede Christmas Day are no longer seen as a time of preparation for the season, but an expansion of Christmas itself throughout the entire month of December, and even further back into November. Advent and Christmas have effectively been flattened into a new thing that is almost entirely divorced from their origins and beholden to the almighty dollar.
This bloated Franken-Holiday becomes tiresome very quickly. By the time most folks get to Boxing Day and certainly by New Year’s Eve, they are ready to pack up the decorations and snuff out the Christmas spirit. There is only so much cheesy music, rich food, and credit card debt a person can take before the entire enterprise leads one to the brink of sanity. And why? For what purpose? Nostalgia, familial expectation, the dopamine high of new stuff, and feeling cozy in the cold and dark?
I know I must come across as cranky, hyperbolic, and Scrooge-like. But really, this problem is not a new one. Charlie Brown and Linus Van Pelt have reminded us of this every year since “A Charlie Brown Christmas” aired in 1965. I will not fault people who find comfort in Christmas during these trying and uncertain times, but I believe the named examples are portents that we have completely lost the plot when it comes to the right observance of Advent and Christmas.
Corporate greed holds this most sacred of feasts in a chokehold, and even those who are not engaged in the life of the Church feel this, particularly at this time of great economic stress and uncertainty. Christmas can quickly become burdensome and upsetting if the quality of the holiday is contingent on excess and the appearance of prosperity.
We must also consider how this cultural shift impacts people who spend Christmas sick, alone, and in obscurity. The world is obviously not beholden to the pattern of time that the Church is ordered by, but just like the Christian observance of Allhallowtide, we have the resources to offer a different way to those who would celebrate this holiday with the Church.
Choosing differently about Advent and Christmas can come across as radical and peculiar, even countercultural. In the experience of my own family, prioritizing the liturgical and spiritual dimensions of these seasons has made us look a little bit odd to friends and family. But it’s worth it.
Advent as a season of contemplation, restraint, prayer, and preparation to receive the gift of the Incarnate Christ is a healing balm to the chaos that often accompanies secular Christmas celebrations. Holding off on the encroachment of Christmas into Advent and celebrating the 12 days of Christmas takes tremendous pressure off families who build so much expectation and scheduling into only two or three days. Simplifying gift-giving, spending less, attending Mass, and slowing the pace of life allows us to savour the true gift, the true joy of Christmas – the birth of the Christ Child and the consummation of the plan of salvation for all people.
Secular Christmas is not going anywhere – it is celebrated widely by people of non-Christian faiths and no faith at all – but Christians should prayerfully consider how they engage with it. Holding onto the fulsome observance of Advent and a spiritually re-engaged celebration of the 12 days of Christmas are treasured practices that can help keep the Christmas blues away and open one’s heart to receive the Incarnate Jesus anew. It might be new to you, it may rub against the secular world’s approach to the holiday season, and it could even be strange enough to engage the people in your life in a conversation about the true hope of Christmas. Is Christ not worth a bit of weirdness? No matter how you keep it, I pray that you have an enriching, contemplative Advent and a joyous Christmastide.
Rev. Allie McDougall is the Vicar of St. Paul's and St. Stephen's, Stratford.
Photo: Sophie Popplewell/Unsplash