The majority of AU students are used to a blistering cold December and a white Christmas, with chestnuts roasting in an open fire.
But after living in Brazil for years, I feel at a loss without my warm beaches, coconut water and tropical South American Christmas. However, it is more than weather that is making Christmas such an intense case of culture shock for me here in the United States.
At first I wanted to say it was capitalism — the fact that Christmas has gone commercial.
Nevertheless Brazil is a capitalist country too, and I would be lying if I said that Santa and Christmas weren’t both commercialized and used as a tool to draw in consumers.
However, a very distinct experience brought my realization full circle.
At our local Tenley CVS, I was shopping for a birthday card for a friend. A woman next to me grabbed a card that said “Happy Holiday’s.”
All of a sudden, it struck me that the religious sense of Christmas is much more present in Brazil and South America than in the States. By religious, I don’t mean those abstract values that many people say is lacking in modern culture, such as love, charity and family, but instead the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Brazil is the most “Catholic country” in the world, with the largest population of Catholics.
This is especially evident during Christmas. Many Christmas cards include God or Jesus, and the nativity scene is present both at malls and public locations. Churchgoers adhere to dietary restrictions, so much so that bacalhau, a Portuguese fish, is in high demand during the Christmas season. Both pre- and post-Christmas masses are held, as well as Christmas mass, with an ever-increasing number of attendees.
While we still buy and exchange gifts, the religious value of Christmas is very important to Brazilian culture and the holiday itself.
The US is going through the opposite effect.
To many, it seems as though there is a war against Christmas and its religious roots, most present in the substitution of the term “Merry Christmas” for “Happy Holidays” in cards, slogans and ads. The idea that there is a “War on Christmas” has been promoted by Bill O’Reilly and other red-state talking heads for years, and they intend to fight back by demanding that private enterprise make Christmas overt and with legislation requiring governments to use the phrase “Christmas tree.”
However, I don’t see the problem as a “War on Christmas,” but just the simple fact that the US is a melting pot of both cultures and religions.
While the religious undertone of Christmas may not be as present in the United States as it is in Brazil or Latin America, it can be attributed to the myriad of other religions that are present in the country and celebrated during the holiday season.
Although the US is the third most Catholic country in the world, it is also one of the largest immigrant countries. The acceptance of different cultures and religious values gets to the root of one of the true meanings of Christmas, love and acceptance, ideals that Jesus continuously preached.
While I’m still not used to this politically correct Christmas and at times feel homesick, I too am ready to accept the different religions that constitute the Holidays.
Unlike Bill O’Reilly, I won’t see “Happy Holidays” as slamming a door at Christmas’ face, but instead opening doors of interpretation and integration.
