043 | Transcending the Holidays

Transcend Human

Dec 14

Written By Daryl McMullen

December 14, 2020

Just a heads up right off the bat - I want to let you know that this is the last episode of the year!

We're going to take a few weeks off over the holidays to rest, regroup and start thinking about Season 2.

It's hard to believe we've been together 43 times this year! When I started the podcast it was just going to be a little side project - something to allow me to get stuff out of my head and into the world. But it has grown throughout the year - and here we are with 43 episodes in the can! 17 of which made up the Controversy Theory Series.

I'm stoked at all of the conversations we've been able to have. And I can't wait to see what's in store next year.

Minute of Transparency: My frustration with Trenton, NJ

Today’s Topic: Transcending the Holidays

In this episode:

What is a holiday anyway?
Sacred vs. Pagan vs. Secular
Be a little bipolar

// 1. WHAT IS A HOLIDAY ANYWAY?

This episode was a lot of fun, because I got to do some research into things I thought I knew - but really had no idea about.

I mean we all know what a holiday is - but have you ever thought about where it came from, or how it started?

Me either! And as I began to do some research, I quickly realized there's a lot more to it than just those two questions.

So let's start by laying a good foundation.

First, holidays can be observed on a variety of different levels. For example:

Holidays can be unofficial and small:
- Maybe you have a family tradition that has become like a "holiday" over time for your family
- Maybe you, and others like you celebrate things that aren't viewed as official or observed holidays - and yet they still happen
Next, there are the official or observed holidays:
- When we use the word "holiday" - these are typically what we are referring to
- These are the holidays we have on our calendar
- And typically - these are the days we get off work to observe
Next, there are "holidays" that people observe in specific locations:
- In southern California there is this thing called "Ski Week" which is observed by many of the the school systems. They know that large numbers of their students will be going skiing when the slopes open, so they made it a holiday of sorts to keep everyone happy
- In China they observe the Chinese New Year
- In Germany, everyone looks forward to Oktoberfest
- In Mexico there is Dia de Muertos or Day of the Dead
- And so on and so forth
Next, there are religious or ethnic holidays:
- Some of these are observed, some are not. Some are global and some are specific to certain countries:
- Christmas
- Easter
- Hanukkah
- Ramadan
- Kwanzaa
- etc.
- This is a very long list…
Next, there are fake holidays - or holidays believed to be started by companies in order to increase sales of their products:
- National Pancake Day
- National Coffee Day
- Small Business Saturday
- Giving Tuesday
- Black Friday
- Cyber Monday
- etc.
- Now these are not typically observed on a national or global level
- And you don't typically get them off of work
- However, many of them have grown into something very big
- Just look at Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the past 10 years
- Billions of dollars are spent on those two days alone

Another interesting piece to this is the concept of being observed, vs. not observed:

Technically - in order for a holiday to be officially observed (at least in this country) - it has to be considered a federal holiday
The government actually has to recognize it as a holiday:
- Interesting side note - this means that most holidays were NOT created by the government
- The government simply recognized something that was already being celebrated as important enough to make it official
- So for example:
  - In 1870, Congress passed the federal holiday law - making New Year's Day, the 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas official holidays
  - Again, these holidays were already being celebrated - they just weren't official
  - But once official - government employees were able to take those days off of work
  - Other holidays have followed, like Washington's birthday, Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc.

// 2. SACRED VS. PAGAN VS.SECULAR

Next, there are actually three different types of holidays. There are sacred holidays, pagan holidays and secular holidays. And there is a bunch of overlap that happens as well.

But a piece I want to focus on is what we’ll call the “secularization of the sacred.”

Or more simply put: Religious holidays being overshadowed by their Non-religious counterparts...

Now I'm not saying that sacred holidays existed first in every scenario and over time the world created a secular or pagan version of it. Although that is the case in many instances.

In some situations, the secular, or pagan holiday may have been in place first - and the church created a sacred holiday to push against the pagan beliefs. This was the case when it came to Valentines Day. The original, pagan celebration was called Lupercalia - and was a festival of fertility. But the Catholic Church began a celebration for Saint Valentine and held it at the same time of the year in order to drive out the celebration of Lupercalia.

And then there are pagan holidays where there really is no sacred component at all. In fact with Halloween - you could say the world has secularized a pagan holiday and removed some of its original punch. Halloween is thought to have originated from a Celtic festival called Samhain which involved lighting bonfires and wearing costumes to ward off the evil that the dead could bring upon them. This was eventually merged with All Saint's Day. It then incorporated All Hallow's Eve celebrations and eventually was just called Halloween.

And of course there are holidays with neither sacred nor pagan influence:

4th of July for example
And every other fake holiday like National Sleep in Day, National Peanut Butter Lover's Day or my favorite: National Have a Bad Day Day

But what I want to do for the next few minutes is focus on two of the more popular holidays and the fact that there is a this battle between the sacred, pagan and secular versions of each holiday.

You got it - Easter and Christmas - two of the biggest Christian holidays - but also two of the biggest holidays for people who have no religious affiliation.

So let's start with Easter:

The sacred side of Easter is probably obvious to most people
Easter is a religious celebration for Christians around the world
It is part of a larger celebration called Holy Week - which includes Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter
- Palm Sunday: The day Jesus rode into Jerusalem and was greeted by the people waving palm branches
- Good Friday: The day Jesus was arrested, tried and killed on a Roman cross
- Easter: Sunday - the day Jesus rose from the grave
In celebrating Holy Week Christians typically have services on Good Friday and Easter Sunday
But the entire week is a week of self reflection and a focus on the amazing gift God offered us through the death of Jesus
Celebrations often include attending church services, music, candles, flowers, church bells, and special meals - along with gathering as a family and larger church family
Now the secular - which most of us understand as well!
If you take the sacred out of the equation - Easter is another holiday with gifts, candy and a strange focal point - the Easter Bunny...
The interesting thing is that there doesn't seem to be a set reason or origin for this celebration
The use of eggs seem to suggest a celebration of fertility and birth
The Easter Bunny makes sense as bunnies or rabbits have long been viewed as hyperactive procreators
Both combined suggest a celebration of growth, renewal and fertility in the spring - similar to other pagan celebrations for the same thing
The holiday is also secularized these days and includes painting eggs, egg related games, the giving of eggs or candy versions of eggs, the sending of greeting cards, and gathering for family celebrations

Next we have Christmas:

The sacred side, most people also understand
Christians celebrate Christmas as being the Jesus' birthday
And to celebrate, Christians typically attend special services, sing songs related to Jesus' birth, put up nativity scenes, and generally spend time with family and the larger church family
The story of Christmas includes everything from the story of Joseph and Mary, to the trip they had to take to Bethlehem, to the shepherds in the fields, to the stable room where Mary and Joseph had to stay, to the wise men who traveled to see the birth, to the angry king who wanted to kill Jesus
This celebration obviously didn't start until after the life and times of Jesus
And even then - Easter was always the more celebrated holiday
Christmas went through a few rough iterations until it finally took on the sacred feel we know today back in the 1800s in America
So was there a pagan version of Christmas before that?
Well, it sounds like there were winter celebrations going on all over the world
For example, in Scandinavia there was a celebration called Yule
In Europe there were celebrations in the winter as there was a fresh supply of meat and alcoholic beverages made in the spring were fully fermented and ready for drinking around that time
In Germany, they celebrated a pagan god named Oden - but often stayed inside as they feared Oden and thought that he chose to prosper certain people and cause others to perish
In Rome they celebrated Saturnalia - which was honoring Saturn - the god of agriculture - one of the many pagan festivals that existed around Christmas time
And then there is the truly secular side - the life and times of Santa Clause...
The story of Santa Clause can be traced back to a monk named Saint Nicholas - born in Turkey in 280 AD
The story goes - Saint Nicholas gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled around the country to help the sick and poor
He became known as the protector of children and sailors
This spilled over into American culture in the 17th century
And eventually in 1822 Clement Clarke Moore wrote "Twas the Night Before Christmas" which fueled this new fascination with the man in the red suit
Secular Christmas traditions include the Christmas tree, decorating with lights, fun stories like Rudolph and Frosty, special foods, gift giving, numerous family traditions like the Elf on the shelf, writing to Santa, visiting Santa at the mall, public tree lightings, or walking through neighborhoods with lots of lights and decorations, boat parades in marinas, caroling, and the list goes on and on. Christmas is a time when extended family gets together to celebrate

// 3. BE A LITTLE BIPOLAR

So there you have it - a pretty high level overview of this whole holiday concept with a bit more detail about Easter and Christmas.

So what's the point?

Well it is the holiday season - and I thought it would be fun!

But there is a bigger point to this episode. Which I laid the groundwork for when breaking out the Sacred, Pagan and Secular elements of each holiday.

Transcend Human believes that this is no coincidence. It wasn't by accident that there are three versions of Easter and Christmas.

In fact - there is a good chance someone spent a lot of time and energy thinking this through.

Back when we walked through Controversy Theory we spent a lot of time talking about the battle, or controversy that exists between God and Satan.

Satan has been bound to this Earth - kicked out of Heaven for rebelling against God. And his first order of business was to get us to follow him instead of God.

Right? Remember what we said? Satan's game plan is revenge...

So it shouldn't shock us to see all sorts of pagan beliefs out there. Beliefs that are very similar to Christian beliefs - only related to a different god, gods, or even important human beings throughout history.

These pagan beliefs are just starters for Satan - a quick way to create confusion. There's no better way to hide the truth about something then by creating multiple versions of the truth so the real truth is harder to recognize.

But Satan didn't stop there. Enter the secular version of our holidays. Just as he pushes the cartoon character of himself - you know the one - the little guy with a red suit, small black horns and an evil grin - so too he pushes out Santa and the Easter Bunny. Fun loving characters that you can't help but love. And this time it's not about confusion…

“It’s all about distraction. Get people so focused on the fun of Easter eggs, chocolate bunnies, egg nog and gifts that the sacredness of the season just fades into the background. ”

— Transcend Human

I mean, if you had the choice between going to a church service on Easter or staying home and doing an Easter egg hunt with gifts and candy - which would you choose? And which would your child choose?

OK - now that I've completely set the stage and irritated a bunch of people in the process - let me back up a bit and clarify a few things.

Before you tar and feather me - and send me out of town on a burning ox cart allow me to redeem myself...

Let me start by saying I have nothing against the secular celebration of sacred holidays...

I love Easter eggs and giving gifts at Christmas as much as the next guy...

So then what's the issue you say? Why did you just spend the bulk of the episode making it sound like we need to honor the sacred and throw out the rest?

Well, mainly to make the point that there is a difference. And that the secular has the ability to push out the rest because it is so fun.

And that's the point of this episode. This whole idea that both are ok - but both need to be understood and honored correctly. We just need to be a little Bipolar at times…

Notice I haven't said anything about pagan beliefs in a while? Well, that's because I don't really celebrate anything that is overtly pagan. At least not knowingly. If a celebration directly honored or remembered a Greek God, pagan saint, or other religious icon I would most likely not be celebrating...

Which should make sense right? As a Christian, I will probably celebrate things related to the God that is described in the Bible. Along with Jesus and the things He taught while on Earth.

To celebrate any other god, or religious right outside of that just doesn't make sense.

So that leaves us with sacred and secular. And unlike some Christians - I'm not going to tell you that to celebrate the secular is to engage in pagan celebration or worship somehow.

I don't believe eating Easter eggs is worshiping some ancient god of fertility
And I don't believe engaging in the fun story of Santa Clause means I am in some way worshiping him over God

What I am suggesting is that we be a little Bipolar, and make sure we right size our celebration.

What do I mean by "right size"?

Well, I'll use tithe as an example. In the Bible it talks about our money because money is important to us. We hang a lot of things on our money - love, happiness, safety, security, our ability to have stuff, our ability to travel, etc.

So the Bible asks that when we get money - that we first take a portion and give it back to God. Then, we can use the rest as needed.

So using that same concept - what would it look like if we approached the holidays in the same way?

What if we first spent time honoring the sacred and understand it's importance. Then with the rest of our time - enjoy the secular elements of the season as well.

I think this is what many families do each year - and we're one of those families. So what does that look like when it comes to Easter and Christmas? Here is how we incorporate the sacred into the season first and foremost:

Attending church services as a family:
- On Easter - going to a Good Friday service and one of the available Easter services that weekend
- On Christmas - going to the 11pm service on Christmas Eve - typically a service that includes lighting candles and singing as midnight tolls
Doing things at home to reming the kids what the real meaning is behind the holiday:
- Specifically on Christmas - reading the Birth of Jesus story from the Bible the minute the kids wake up - before a present is opened
- Having a nativity scene in the house as a visual reminder every year
And having conversations that help them understand the differences between things like:
- "peace" vs. "prosperity"
- "giving" vs. "getting"
- "accepting" vs. "quid pro quo"
- etc.

Let’s Land the Plane:

This week, and this holiday season - ask yourself the following questions:

How did I grow up when it comes to holidays?
- Did I understand the sacred or just the secular?
How am I doing holidays in my home today?
- Am I right sized in the sacred being put first?
And finally, what am I teaching my kids through my celebration of the holidays?
- Are they getting both sides?
- Or are they just getting the secular?

As always, no judging, no condemnation. We're all in this together!

My prayer for each of us this holiday season is that we are able to Transcend the Holidays a little more this year, than we did last year.

One small step - one small thing added to focus on the sacred reason for the season. Both for us and our kids.

I love you all - and thank you so much for joining me in this year long journey - learning to transcend things that make up the Human Condition.

Like I said at the top of the show - this is the last episode of this season - the last episode of 2020.

We'll take a short break for the holidays and return in January with a whole new season. Packed full of good stuff for you and your family.

My plan is to do a parenting series next year and eventually dive into Conscience Driven Therapy at some point. It was supposed to be the companion book to Controversy Theory - but was never written. So I'm looking forward to exploring that with you and seeing where it takes us.

But until then - have a great holiday season, have a very Merry Christmas, and as always - keep Transcending Human!

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