ABSTRACT
CHRISTMAS Christmas, from the Old English “Christ’s Mass,” celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, is observed on December 25 among most Western Christians and on January 6 among members of Eastern Orthodox churches. In America, the holiday has a cultural significance beyond elaborate church ceremonies celebrating the Christ child. Marked by municipal and national tree lightings, festive parades with winter-themed floats, appearances of Santa Claus in stores and streets, the exchange of greeting cards and gifts, Christmas carols sung at public events, special football games and holiday basketball tournaments, and work and school holidays, it is arguably the nation’s major winter festival even for those who do not attend church or celebrate the holiday. Indeed, folklorists have observed the way that the Jewish observance of Hanukkah in the twentieth century and the creation of the African American celebration of Kwanzaa during the 1970s have been elevated by the influence of Christmas. The American Hanukkah, a relatively minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, now regularly involves the presentation of gifts to children, lest they feel left out as a minority, and many states include public menorah lightings along with tree lightings in civic ceremonies. Kwanzaa, meaning “first fruits” in Swahili, also involves gifts for children.
