Christmas Eve & The Lost Tradition...

Traditionally, Christmas Eve is celebrated by gathering with friends and family, eating a large meal, singing carols, and going to mass at midnight. After the mass, the families would come back and open their gifts and celebrate. In America the celebrations are a bit different for two main reasons. The first is that most Protestant denominations don’t follow a liturgical calendar (no feasts, days of obligation, penance, etc.) without it, Advent which is a type of penitential “countdown” makes no sense. Is in the calendar that we find context. The second is one is that the market --which is the most influential force in our society--is not very compatible with liturgical traditions such as abstinence, penance, fellowship or contemplation. Think about it, for the last 4 Sundays you AND your family were “waiting” in hope, faith, love, and peace for the incarnation of our Lord (at least in theory); this spiritual practice sits in direct opposition to indulgence, instant gratification, and busyness. The market cannot profit from abstinence, delayed gratification, and prioritizing family time at the expense of more disposable income. In order to avoid a two-camp societal tension and the division of classes, Christians in America had to concede to the market by letting it adopt a couple of the Christmas themes that can benefit (like gift giving) the general population but without going too deep. Otherwise, if we push beneath the surface (Christ incarnation) it would create a massive alienated segment of the society, that would be a “no-no”, therefore the need to find something universal became of ultimate preeminence. It is in this context that the concept of Santa Claus became the “perfect” solution since hardly anyone can be against the spirit of nice geriatric man giving gifts, right? This is something that can be embraced by most with little to no trouble (for now).

There is a little surge among a small portion of the millennial population that is interested in discovering different ways to celebrate the Advent-Christmas season. They are pursuing something less influenced by consumerism and more grounded in church tradition. Although it is nearly impossible to find such purist tradition, the closest thing we have available in America will be found among the Hispanic community. There we still see some traces of this traditional celebrating style taking place whenever they celebrate their “posadas” sing “villancicos”, or practice spiritual disciplines like midnight mass or the rosary. This is similarly true of some other Catholic-descent ethnicities as well, if you have never experienced this I highly recommend it*. 

What's it all about…

Whether you open gifts late Christmas Eve, Christmas morning, or Epiphany (the most traditional of all) is irrelevant, what really matters is keeping worship at the center of the celebrations. Berating Santa Claus does not make the season more meaningful, in fact, it would be missing the point of the season just as going to midnight mass is not helpful if it is followed up with a drunk-fest afterward. A day like today offers a unique opportunity for evangelization. The constant mobility of our society has left people distanced from their families. There is always, ALWAYS, someone you know that is lonely this time of the year. Perhaps inviting that divorced father that didn’t get to have his children for this Christmas would be a good way of displaying love for thy neighbor (Mk 12:31). Inviting them over to be part of your tradition could be a great worry-free opportunity for that person to experience the Gospel in a non-threating way; if anything it would be at least is good Christian charity. The gifts of salvation, community, and fellowship are gifts that we all can provide, and they come with everlasting positive effects, this far surpasses the effect of any material gift could offer.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Pax et bonum,

-      Luis