Satwinsolmas

We're hosting a big group the evening of December 24th this year -- popularly known as "Christmas Eve" -- our first time hosting family and friends at this time of year since moving here!

So I got to thinking about Christmas. I have to be honest, Christmas is stressful. In fact most people I know think it's a royal pain, mostly because of the commercialization of the event and the forced march we all seem to go through: finding just the right gift for 250 of our closest friends, writing hundreds of greeting cards, figuring out new recipes, sweating out the possibility we've missed someone on our lists, figuring out what to get that person who has everything, attending the numerous holiday parties where we don't know anyone, on and on. And on top of that, overspending.

But also I must reveal that I don't care for Christmas in particular, because I'm not your garden variety believer. I've decided that it's as good a time as any to bring out the silver and china, and have a lovely couple of days with family, all dressed up. Is this act of celebrating, when I don't believe in what it stands for, an act of hypocrisy on my part?

As I see it, it's all in the way you look at it. For thousands of years people have been celebrating at this time of year for various reasons. The winter solstice was and still is celebrated all over the world in numerous ways -- in fact, you can find a name for celebrations or events acknowledging winter solstice for just about every country in the world, from the Japanese Amaterasu to the Russian Ziemassvētki. Another familiar one (at least historically speaking) is Saturnalia (established about 217 BC), devised by the Romans to cheer up the people they had conquered.

Then along came Christmas. As far as I can tell, this time of year has been acknowledged by people all over the world for thousands of years, and Christians only began to popularize that time of year as the birth of Christ in the early to high middle ages.

So...here's my suggestion. Instead of Christmas, I think we should call this time of year something like Satwinsolmas. That covers pretty much everything. Has a nice ring, no? Roll it around on your tongue for a while. Sat...win...sol...mas.

For Satwinsolmas, you could do anything you want: worship, acknowledge, sacrifice to, or thank whatever or whomever you believe in; and then celebrate by giving gifts, lighting candles, preparing special meals, putting up decorations, throwing parties.

But in my mind, Satwinsolmas would NOT be a forced march. Instead, people could choose, or not choose, to participate. And no one would be persecuted for it! And guilty feelings would positively NOT be allowed.

Absence of guilt, freedom to choose. Celebrate. Satwinsolmas.