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Stephen Nissenbaum's The Battle For Christmas In the book "The Battle for Christmas" Stephen Nissenbaum gives detailed analysis of Christmas celebration through ages and how Christmas became the holiday as we know it today. The title of the book "The Battle for Christmas" closely reflects this process of transfiguration. On all stages of Christmas transfiguration there were battles for discarding the previous idea and meaning of the holiday. Stephen Nissenbaum describes the reasons for the battle for Christmas and how changes in the society influenced the changes in Christmas tradition. Not everyone agrees that Jesus was born in winter, but in the fourth century Church set the date for Christmas as September 25. The reason for that was the attempt of Church to Christianize the old barbaric tradition of celebrations by the end of the agricultural season.
This tradition existed in many cultures and dated back to the times of the Roman Empire. Instead of banning the long-term tradition, which could cause riots and troubles, the Church made a clever step. First, the Christians achieved holiday for celebration one of the most important religious events. Second, people didn't loose their favorite evening of the year, but instead had more spiritual reason for glorification of the day. Unfortunately, from the beginning not everything went right. Even though Christmas became the holy day, the celebrations remained very far from holiness, but were accompanied by drinking and debauchery.
Stephen Nissenbaum said: "Christmas was a season of misrule, a time when ordinary behavioral restraints could be violated with impunity. Christmas misrule meant that not only hunger but also anger and lust could be expressed in public. " (Nissenbaum, p. 6) The main feature of the celebrations was a "season of misrule." Peasant had the right to demand entry into the holm's of noble and rich people where they demanded food, drinks and gifts. The owners of the houses were compelled to fulfill all demands, or otherwise peasants could damage their property, beat or even kill them. There existed many songs, which peasants sang at the steps of the households, promising all kinds of vengeance for insufficient treatment. Such behavior during celebrations allowed the peasants to erupt stain of emotional, physical and foundational dependency and allowed to save the social structure of the society. Later Nissenbaum would add: From the beginning, the Church's hold over Christmas was (and remains still) rather tenuous.
There were always people for whom Christmas was a time of pious devotion rather than carnival, but such people were always in the minority. It may not be going too far to say that Christmas has always been an extremely difficult holiday to Christianize. Little wonder that the Puritans were willing to save themselves the trouble. (Nissenbaum, pp. 7 - 8) In June 1647 England Parliament headed by Puritans banned Christmas and other holidays. The main goal of puritans was to build the society in accordance to Biblical ethics. Puritans were not compelled to attend Church and celebrate Christian holidays. Luther proclaimed every person to be his own church as long as he followed the bible.
Besides, Puritans led very strict, reserved and simple life and declined with. In such society the idea of Christmas holiday in its original form was completely foreign and the style of celebrations foul, indecent and contradictory to the Christian morality. In Massachusetts Bay colony in 1630 Christmas was also banned by Puritans and remained illegal in Massachusetts until 1681. The rich people demanded the rebuilding of the tradition, explaining it by the desire to celebrate the holiday with other confessions. The final transformation of Christmas into its present form occurred in the 19 th century. At the beginning of the century the violent celebrations were difficult to control, especially in big cities.
The group of concerned people began the campaign for transfiguring Christmas into a family holiday. Among those people were Washington Irving, Clement Clark Moore and Charles Dickens. As for Puritans, for the new society of technical progress and democracy the idea of Christmas became alien. But like barbaric Saturnalia, Christmas became essential part of life, which was impossible to neglect.
The group of politicians, writers and traders followed the lead of Church when it simply decided to transfigure the already existent holiday. Clement Clark Moore wrote his famous story "A Visit from St. Nicholas", which carried the new symbols for Christmas festive. During early centuries peasants interacted with noblemen and rich people, in 19 th century their roles were assigned to children and adults.
But when peasants had a right to demand attention, treats and gifts while noblemen had passively fulfill their demands, now the roles reversed. Children had to passively accept their gifts, while adults expressed their superiority by allowing children small treats. The invention of the accompanying rituals, such as Christmas tree, sugar canes and St. Nicholas were mostly meant to lure the public spend time at home in the circle of attractive things instead of romping the streets. On this stage joined marketers, who saw new means for gaining profit in the new Christmas traditions. The stories that prized Christmas celebrations in the family circle surrounded by glamorous tree and gifts multiplied each year and from time to time new tradition was invented.
Stephen Nissenbaum in his book "The Battle for Christmas" describes how along the centuries the changes in the society contradicted with the idea of Christmas celebrations. Despite the contradiction banning of Christmas holiday was impossible without severe consequences and instead of discarding Christmas was being transfigured. As the reader becomes introduced with the history of the holiday, he can understand that genuine battle lasted for centuries for giving Christmas its contemporary form. The battle conducted between the old and the new, the past and the future and there were many goals in this battle: the establishment of the Christian Church, the stability of the society, the introduction of ethical norms and values and the commercial success.
Bibliography Mailing, Karl Ann. Merry Christmas: Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday. Harvard University Press, 2000. Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1996. "The story Behind" Charleston. net: The Social and politic events web site. 2002. 19 Oct. 2004. < web >
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