Are you sick of all the materialism that comes with the holiday season? I’m sorry to say that much of the commercialism we deem “modern” has roots extending back many centuries, when America’s ideas of Christmas were being formed. Credit cards and layaway are as much a part of Christmas traditions as sleigh bells and Aunt Ida’s fruit cake.
A more accurate Christmas story
Are you sick of all the materialism that comes with the holiday season? I’m sorry to say that much of the commercialism we deem “modern” has roots extending back many centuries, when America’s ideas of Christmas were being formed. Credit cards and layaway are as much a part of Christmas traditions as sleigh bells and Aunt Ida’s fruit cake.
Americans are under the impression that we are at the zenith of civilization, that no other culture before us has been so advanced, so intelligent, so materialistic. This misconception has lead to a general paranoia that we have lost our way in this modern world. Christmas traditions are no exception. A quick examination of the holiday season’s history reveals that commercialism has been a part of the Christmas experience in America for as long as it has been celebrated.
Christmas wasn’t officially a holiday in the U.S. until 1870, but the New York Historical Society, founded in 1804, propagated the Dutch practice of gift giving at Christmas. The group’s patron saint was St. Nicholas who would leave toys and fruit in stockings over a fireplace. A member of the society, writer Washington Irving, helped to create one of the first modern images of the Dutch Sinterklaas (a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas) in his depictions of the saint as an elf who traveled from house to house in New York.
Stores began to advertise Christmas specials as early as 1820 with pictures of the new American image of Santa Claus. In 1841, J.W. Parkinson, a Philadelphia merchant, hired a man to dress as the German Santa, Kris Kringle (a corruption of Christkindl, or “Christ child”) and attract customers into his store.
The man who holds the distinction as the first department store Santa, however, is James Edgar, owner of Edgar’s Department Store in Brockton, Mass. In 1890, Edgar, who had previously dressed as a clown and pirate to entertain children in his store, had a Santa costume made based on cartoonist Thomas Nast’s popular interpretations. In Brockton, Edgar is remembered as a beloved philanthropist who truly embodied the spirit of Christmas and the fictional character he portrayed. Children came from as far as Boston, Mass., and Providence, R.I., to see a living Santa. The next year, large department stores like Macy’s and Gimbels in New York City caught on and featured their own costumed Santas.
It seems that the shopping season begins earlier every year. According to The New York Times, Black Friday really did begin an hour earlier this year at major chains like J.C. Penney and Kohl’s. But what if the shopping season was changed to a week earlier? From 1939 to 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt decided to move Thanksgiving up a week so the shopping season would be longer. Before 1939, Thanksgiving was on the last Thursday of November. That meant that it would sometimes land on the 29th or 30th of November, making it the fifth Thursday of the month. Lew Hahn, general manager of the Retail Dry Goods Association, warned the president of the potential adverse effects a shortened shopping season could have on a Depression-era economy.
Roosevelt listened and moved Thanksgiving from Nov. 30 to Nov. 23. It was so unpopular and ineffectual that it came to be deemed “Franksgiving.” In 1942, a compromise was reached and Thanksgiving was changed to the fourth Thursday of November.
The buying frenzy that occurs in the weeks leading up to Christmas is an important part of our flailing economy.
A study by Ball State University found that $1 out of every $6 spent each year occurs during the holiday season. That’s money going to tree suppliers, retail salespersons and countless overlooked jobs in the retail industry. Seasonal jobs are created that help absorb some of the thousands of unemployed in the country. It’s easy to view large department stores as faceless, outsourced corporations, and most of them are. But don’t forget about the cashier trying to pay off her student loans or the elderly greeter at Walmart forced to go back to work because of low Social Security benefits. The gifts we buy help more than just our loved ones. Tip a little heavier, buy the bigger tree and participate in one of our country’s truest, oldest traditions—taking care of our fellow man.
