To change hearts and minds, maybe Christmas needs a seasonal shift

Christmas is my favorite time of year. The lights, the decorations and the music make for a festive atmosphere that’s invigorating and exhilarating.

Usually, it can warm even the most chilled of hearts. For many, Christmas is a time of renewed hope, a hope for rebirth of goodwill and, yes, peace.

It’s also a time of sadness and despair for those who are going through times of trial physically, emotionally, spiritually and economically. The overwhelming weight of commercialism, the mantra that everybody wants this or needs that toy or item in order to achieve true joy and happiness can create stress to meet the demand, and a feeling of inadequacy if financially we cannot.

But somehow, eventually, that seasonally implanted feeling of hope: hope for goodwill, peace and love, can find a way through, even if for a brief moment.

But I have a problem with Christmas. That problem is that all of this goodwill, camaraderie, concern for individuals and the collective well being ends up being short-lived.

It’s seasonal. Once the decorations are put away, it’s back to the world the way it was: conflicted and in turmoil where individual actions are seen as outward reflections of ideologies, to be forcefully condemned and expunged by those of opposite beliefs.

The warm, brotherly feeling of togetherness is as boxed up and discarded as that unwanted Christmas gift.

That’s my problem with Christmas — its premise doesn’t last. And it should, if we truly believe in what many call “the reason for the season.”

It would be wonderful if we could extend the season year-round because I believe those Christmas warm feelings are part of our better, true nature. Keep those feelings of love and acceptance, of a desire to be of service and embrace others, no matter how different, with us.

So I have an idea. Let’s move Christmas. Instead of Dec. 25, let’s make it June 25.

Yes, I know, that’s national Leon Day, that halfway point when crafters should get busy making their Christmas gifts. That would work just as well in winter as it does in early summer, better in fact because there would be less temptation to get outside and play instead of staying inside focused on work.

Biblically there’s no reason Christmas should be where it is. No specific date is mentioned in the Bible. The Roman census described in Luke could just as well have been in summer, or year-round for that matter.

The date for Christmas was established in the fourth-century and historians and biblical scholars believe it was done for a variety of reasons, including linking it with pagan celebrations surrounding the winter solstice, viewed as a time of earthly rebirth. In a way, that makes sense since early leaders of the church gave instructions to those in the field that anytime they saw a chance to incorporate a pagan symbol or ritual into the Christian framework, and thereby gain converts, they were to do so.

By putting Christmas in the summer, you escape the dark, cold dreariness of winter. Our feeling of goodwill, I believe, is buoyed during this season by the amount of artificial light generated by decorations.

We could still have that in summer, but when the decorations come down, there would still be plenty of light — light of a more natural kind. We wouldn’t have the instinctual desire to huddle in our houses away from the cold. Instead, we could be outside in communal friendship, basking in the warm sun.

We’d have to change a few of the seasonal affectations, probably getting rid of songs describing “frightful weather,” and what not, but hey, that’s life.

I know, there I go again with another liberal, anti-Christmas suggestion. Sorry, it’s just a thought, and it will never happen.

But if we can’t move Christmas to an externally warmer season to help facilitate greater inner spiritual warmth, maybe we can find a way to remember to carry and use that inner spiritual warmth with us year round.

Merry Christmas.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].