We are going to need quite a lot of eggnog and bourbon QUICKLY, Miss Penni, to solve this problem of Christmas carols. But then it wouldn't seem like Christmas, which carries with it in its highest ideal a tolerance for all the world's peoples who are celebrating, trying to keep warm in the dark of winter and paying homage to the traditions of their own belief systems.
Unfortunately, there are very few children being exposed to the world's best music, just as there are very few being taught the joys of poetry or wonderful art, either. This is a really sad state of affairs, but unless the society becomes a lot more totalitarian we cannot force parents to be culturally sophisticated. Since this is fact, regrettable though it may be, I guess like Del I am simply arguing that there are more appropriate places to do this than a public school concert, so that children and their parents can choose freely whether they want to be listen to Christian religious music.
I did go back and look at the words to a lot of carols after your post made me think about this issue, and the ones most likely being sung at these little Christmas presentations are VERY religious--"Away in a Manger", "Joy to the World", "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", "Silent Night" and other simple ones like them--not the stunningly beautiful ones. So I think for the most part the divisions between church and state are being fuzzed without really turning children on to the very best religious music.
Why would a child be more confused by Jesus than Santa? I am struggling with this one, but I suspect that it is very rare in America that Jesus is NOT presented as religious truth. But then I am pretty biased on this issue and will just say so up front. It's hard to explain, and I'm sure more diffiult to understand if this is NOT your experience, but for someone who is not Christian and feels harmed by Christianity, there is a visceral reaction, a chill up and down the spine, when hearing the words to religious Christmas carols. On the other hand, Santa Claus is a more simple creature, associated with pure joy by almost everyone.
I enjoy early music, and I think quite a few of the pagan holiday music is beautiful, although I would totally agree that unremitting holly and ivy songs are not the solution to this problem. "The Bells of Dublin", a Christmas tape by the Irish band The Chieftans, has some interesting songs, for example. The center of this debate is really your statement "It seems that in our pursuit of all-encompassing tolerance, we grow even more intolerant." I am hoping that perhaps we have just hit a rough patch in the road, as America in some locales becomes much more diverse culturally, and that the end result will be "celebrating each other's differences" as we hear so often out here on the Left Coast. I do think that a pretty thorough separation of church and state are going to need to be maintained to do that. Because Christians are a huge majority in America, I don't think many of them ever become aware of the minorities among them unless they occasionally are jolted by an awareness that other cultures celebrate winter in other ways, and maintaining public schools and public places as religion-neutral spaces seems to be a way to start, awkward that it is at the moment.
While I was thinking about what you said, I found quite a few very interesting holiday sites. Here is one with tons of Christmas songs!
osmond.net
Incidentally, did you know this? "Christmas Carols originated in France around 1300 AD, were sometimes rather bawdy and frowned upon by the clergy. It was not until the 18th century (after cleaning up its act) that caroling was allowed inside the church and it became a popular tradition. The term carol means a song or hymn associated with Christmas."
Okay now Miss Penni, no throwing rum balls or anything!!!!!! |
