Right on time and as predictable as the sunrise, two disgruntled and offended citizens complain about a Christmas tree lighting ceremony and decorations in the small town of Durham, New Hampshire. Also predictable, the town council immediately caves to these lone curmudgeons and cancel Christmas.
The news piece, which was reported on at The Gateway Pundit, barely deserves the keystrokes I am affording it because the concept to cancel Christmas isn’t a new one, but it angers me just the same. Americans are routinely attacked on all levels for their beliefs and traditions and, frankly, I’m just sick to death of it. I am also disgusted by spineless town council members who cave to ridiculous demands by a few disgruntled wolves calling to erase public Christmas celebrations because they are offended.
Whoever these citizens are and whether or not they objected to the town’s Christmas celebrations and tree based on the unsubstantiated claim that it is a Christian holiday (and I suspect that is the case), also shows an appalling ignorance about the Christmas holiday. It is not difficult to reach this conclusion when Durham Town Council Chairman Kathern “Kitty” Marple said she personally believed a Christmas tree is a religious symbol.
The traditional Christmas tree and Santa, among other symbols and traditions, are all pagan symbols of winter festivals based around the winter solstice and the god Saturn—not Christian symbols by any stretch of the imagination.
Even mainstream media has acknowledged that Christmas, which is celebrated on December 25 each year, was a fourth century celebration centered around the solstice. It was a drunken, orgiastic crass holiday that celebrated the god Saturn and was far from Christlike.
According to a CBS report, “In ancient Rome there was a feast called Saturnalia that celebrated the solstice. What is the solstice? It’s the day that the sun starts coming back, the days start getting longer. And most of the traditions that we have that relate to Christmas relate to the solstice, which was celebrated in ancient Rome on December 25. So when Christianity became the official religion in a sense, in Rome, they were able to fix this date. … There’s a little discrepancy about it but there’s no question that the fact that it was celebrated in Rome as an important day with gift giving, candle lighting, and singing and decorating houses really cemented Christmas as December 25.”
The Intersectional Feminist Media (obviously not a bastion of conservative thought) also readily acknowledges that Christmas is steeped in pagan rituals, not Christian symbols. Author Laurel Dickman published an excellent but simple article breaking down the origins of common Christmas decorations and traditions in her 2016 article, Christmas Isn’t Christian.
Christians adopted many of the Christmas symbols and traditions of pagan Rome centuries ago and used them to celebrate the birth of Christ in the midst of a pagan world. Must I remind the reader of the age-old saying, “When in Roman, do as the Romans?” Further, biblical scholars agree that December 25 is not the actual birth date of Christ—it is not a disputed fact. No matter, as a Christian, I have no problem hijacking Rome’s December 25 date to celebrate the birth of Christ—actual dates be damned. It was He, not the pagan god of Saturn, that brought light and hope to a dark world.
And let’s face it, many secular people celebrate Christmas in the United States, not because they are Christian but because they enjoy the lights, traditions, music, food and celebrations of the season.
According to Durham local news, “Durham’s town councilors said in trying to make the holidays welcoming and inclusive they’ve been yelled at, received hateful emails and social media posts. “I apologize, I guess, on behalf of humanity for the nastiness on social media that you’ve had to experience,” said one town resident.
Apparently, I am not the only person who has reached their boiling point when it comes to the attacks on Christmas under the deceitful moral banner of being “inclusive.” But it is worth mentioning that Christians are not bothered by the holiday symbols of other religious traditions, such as menorahs, yet it is always Christians whose symbols are under attack, particularly the nativity.
In this particular case, the symbol the town of Durham banned is a pagan one, but that won’t stop the faux moralizers from striking decades-old traditions from the books if they can say they are not inclusive enough or that Christians actually participate in them. Yet, when was the last time your heard of a Christian arguing against the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which incorporates the ritual slaughtering of animals. Other than being completely appalled by many Americans—both secular and Christian—Muslims are not prevented from practicing their religion.
Durham Town Council Chairman Kathern “Kitty” Marple said she personally believed a Christmas tree is a religious symbol. And who is Kathern Marple? According to a report in Union Leader, she is also the chairman of the Human Rights Commission which recommended ending the holiday tree lighting tradition in November and who said she was raised Catholic but now considers herself to be nonreligious. Marple is also a former “government engineer” with a fondness for environmental issues. I’ll just leave that right here for you to parse.
It was difficult to impossible to find the party affiliation of most of the town council members, but I was able to find some public comments councilmen have made that are a direct mirror into their belief system, such as Councilman Wayne Burton, who stated after a student fistfight that made local news, “What happens to our kids in this town is not just the responsibility of the parents, it’s the responsibility of all of us. The most important function of a community is to raise our children.” Sounds a lot like Hillary Clinton’s “It takes a village” comment.
Burton also said of the incident, that it was “the tip of the iceberg” and was “a consequence of the community not paying enough attention to youth culture.” Uh, huh. I suppose he meant it was much like the marauding bands of teenage thieves and thugs playing havoc in Philadelphia and other cities. Those poor kids in Durham are just so neglected and bored because they don’t have a “community” center that they fell unwittingly into lawlessness.
And it is this same Durham Town Council that also voted to take away the Christmas tree lighting at its annual winter Frost Festival that also voted to create their own holiday called “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” to be celebrated on Columbus Day.
It is also the very same town council that took issue with an image in one section of a mural, painted in 1959, that hung in the Durham post office and was entitled “Cruel Adversity.” This particular section of the mural depicted a native American raid in what later became the town of Durham. In an attempt to appease those who were offended by the image, the U.S. postal service, who said it is their policy not to remove artwork, installed a sign that added “context” to the mural.
Here’s the bottom line: Screw the progressive left and Merry Christmas. I am tired of a world that only let’s you have a “legitimate” voice in public discourse if you bow to the diversity and inclusion gods. When there is no inclusion from the left, and there never will be, it’s time to just stop pandering and rolling over. I am over our histories and traditions being rewritten or erased altogether and, if you are reading this, you are likely over it too! #Reignwell