Christmas time has come again, and as per usual the yearly carnival of consumerism has returned. It was suggested that the credit crunch might have perhaps thrown some water on the consumerist fire this year, but judging from the increase in spending reported for last month, and indeed my own observations of an incredibly packed Oxford Street in London (a serious contender for the capital of unbridled consumerism) the effect seems to be little. It seems that many businesses live for this time of year, waiting for the hordes to spend their money and keep their businesses out of the red for another year. But how did it come to this? How did a purely religious festival come to be hijacked by one of the most destructive forces of modern civilisation?
There has been a Mid-Winter festival across the world for millennia. The point at which the days cease to get shorter and instead start to get longer again, the Winter Solstice, has been marked by many cultures as a time to celebrate the rebirth of the sun and a celebration of life in general. Despite the cold, harsh conditions in many parts of the northern hemisphere, people have feasted on the produce of the previous summer and have come together as communities for this festival. Even when Christianity imposed their own version of the festival upon the conquest of many pagan areas, the feasting and community aspects of the festival have been maintained, with direct parallels of the birth of Christ in the Christian version and the theme of life and rebirth in the Pagan version helping to amalgamate the two together. Giving and receiving gifts served to strengthen communities, often portrayed through the imagery of St. Nicholas (eventually becoming Santa Claus in popular culture).
However, as civilisation began to consolidate its grip on humanity ever further since the industrial revolution, the festival of life has become poisoned. The giving of presents to consolidate community proved to be the weak-point – people began to use the opportunity to attempt to illustrate their wealth by giving the biggest and best presents. This was the precursor to consumerism, the updated form of this tendency in which people define theirselves not by the content of their character but what they can buy and own. The increasing amount of cheap credit helped to spread this ideology from the upper through to the middle and finally working classes, allowing nearly anyone to buy former luxuries en masse.
The advertising and PR industries soon came to realise that this ideology could be tapped to create a spending frenzy at Christmas time. People could be convinced to judge themselves on the quantity and quality of the presents they could give – not only could they base their personalities on their possessions but also on their ability to outspend each other at Christmas. Thus an advertising/propaganda campaign was undertaken that encouraged people to spend as much as possible – and the result has been a runaway success, with the millions spent at Christmas often making the difference on the balance sheets for many companies, and many families acquire huge debts on credit cards simply to keep up with the demand. Communities continue to be broken apart, with another major period of community-building destroyed in the name of profit.
And so, it has come to the point now where the festival of life has become a festival of consumerism. As consumerism promotes the unlimited and growing creation and purchase of largely unnecessary goods, it plays a major role in the destruction of earth’s ecosystem, helping to push billions of organisms into extinction. Thus, the festival of life has now become a festival of death, but of course with advertising to tell us that it’s all still ‘in the spirit of Christmas’.
So what’s the alternative? We need to reclaim this time of year for a festival that celebrates life, communities and the earth. The focus needs to return to community-building and fun, with feasting and gifts returned to this purpose. Keeping things homemade can cut out the insidious effects of consumerism, forcing out the monetisation of the festival and instead welcoming honest and heart-felt exchange. Spending time outdoors with nature is also crucial, to remind us of not only our links with each other but our links with the earth and its ecosystem, especially on the Solstice day itself. Lastly, as a time of rebirth, it is a good time to plan for the coming year and how we intend to rebuild community and the earth in that time. Set down specific actions such as growing more of your own food, joining local groups, getting to know your community, learning about Permaculture and other new practical skills or planning local currencies and economies. There is no time to lose in building a new, better alternative to civilisation, and we can transform Christmas and the Mid-Winter Festival to help and not hinder us in this great project.
