it's all just too much (Christmas and Commercialisation)

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Product:	Christmas and Commercialisation
Date:	08/11/00 (5 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: brings everyone together

Disadvantages: where's the real christmas gone

I’ve always seen Christmas as being a religious celebration, when I was a child I used to love getting involved in the nativity plays and singing the carols about the birth of Christ. Yet over recent years (it has steadily been creeping up on us) the true essence of the season has been lost in far too much commercialisation.

We are bombarded with Christmas earlier and earlier, we are only just into November and yet we have been seeing Christmas special offers for at least a month. It is now that shops have started to set up displays and show adverts (stand up Woolworths).

Christmas has generally been regarded as a holy Christian day as well as a holiday. The birth of Christ was seen to have brought new spirit and joy into the world, along with song and dance as well as the symbolic foods we associate with this time of year. Customs have been continually added and it is today full of different rituals and activities. The Roman Saturnalia (festival dedicated to the Roman god of agriculture) took place around this time of year and some of the Christian activities/celebrations are somewhat rooted in pagan celebrations. It is as if Christianity was being made more acceptable to the Pagans who had converted.

The reason we give gifts originates itself from the three wise men that brought gifts for the baby Jesus, yet during the last century it has become a commercial phenomenon and not a religious ceremony. Santa has taken over from the church and when you ask kids what the think of when you say Christmas to them I’ll guarantee the majority will say jolly old St Nick and not even consider the religious aspects of it. So is it right that everyone celebrates this time of year, yet very few actually see it for what it actually is. At one point churches were packed to the brim on Christmas day, full of people who wanted to rejoice in the birth of their saviour but now people have replaced worship with tv and religion with whate
ver comes along.

Don’t get me wrong I am not the most religious person out there but I think that it is a crying shame that the world has sold out to the commercial hype and doesn’t bat an eye lid when church is mentioned. If people don’t believe in God then how can they be so hypocritical as to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ?! Maybe it’s just me but I can’t understand that myself.

The birth of Jesus is one of the biggest industries in the world, although it is not acknowledged as that. When else do we all get together and families who are apart for the rest of the year have the time to spend with each other. The lost essence of Christmas is the down side, the positive thing that come out of Christmas is that it does bring everyone together, for one reason or another. Yet it does put a lot of people into debt, which is a little silly, we spend lots of money on food and presents and then scrimp and save throughout the rest of the year because of all the money spent on the ‘festivities’.

I think that we are thrown into Christmas far too early, shops could do to let people celebrate in their own time rather than shove it down our throats in mid year. The world has become increasingly submissive to commercialisation and it has happened almost without people knowing, as it has been brought on so gradually, but it is way too commercial, all the presents and cards mean nothing really, we should look at the real meaning behind the festivities and not just what the shops try to tell us.

There is way too much emphasis put onto buying presents, people are guilted into it and when everyone is swapping gifts you are compelled to do the same, even if you can’t afford it. Is it right that businesses have the power to make us feel guilty if we don’t buy own friends and loved ones something expensive for Christmas. It should be something from the heart, not just because some shop
says that it’s a good present and nothing else will do.

It has become much more of a time for children and not everyone, it is the kids who dictate to some sense what happens and want more and more presents. Maybe they could do with a day in church or something to make them appreciate what they have and what they get given. Parents run around after their kinds, television shows them stupid Santa movies and well look at the cards!!!

However having said all that enjoy your Christmas, whatever your beliefs and if only for a second on Christmas day spare a though for what you are really celebrating and then carry on with your day. It’ll make you feel better at least and might just make you think. And if you think that the Christmas sprit is the ones that come in the bottles then see if you feel like that on boxing day morning when you have the mother of all hangovers!!!

Although just to be a little hypocritical i do love opening pressents.....

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