Wanted: Holiday cheer, year round!

Introduction into the world of artistic discovery: Christian art is abundant in symbolism. This mosaic is from the 4th century during the Ancient Period. I'm not sure which church this is located in. In my Theology of Christian Art class my Jesuit professor has been taking us through various images and picking apart details, to show us how to figure out the context and meaning of each image. Jesus is in the middle and he is holding the Scriptures in his right hand and making a two finger gesture outwards with his left hand, which is the artistic symbol for teaching (or preaching). Because Jesus is preaching, the people gathered on either side of him are interested in the Scriptures and discussing amongst themselves and with Jesus. Above Jesus is a gold cross, bejeweled to make the meaning behind it less dreadful and more glorious. Along the dome are the four symbolic images of the four evangelists (gospel writers), from left: a man with wings - Matthew, a lion - Mark, an ox - Luke, and an eagle - John. The scene of the evangelists watching over compliments Jesus holding the Scriptures and preaching. And lastly it's important to notice the scene in the background, the Roman architecture suggests a historical background of Rome, and was intended by the artist. If an image has no scenic background, is blank or just a solid color, the image is said to be "timeless" which means the scene can be imagined anywhere.

  

This is an image regarding the Christmas story. It is not your typical Hallmark Christmas. Notice the angels toward the bottom of the image are consoling each other and crying. The angel on the right is consoling the shepherds - Gospel of John. The angels flying above are circling a garland that resembles a crown of thorns. Notice some of the angels are dressed in black. In the center of the image Joseph is burying his head in agony and Mary looks distressed at the sight of Jesus. The scene has them in a cave - Gospel of James. What is going on?! The story behind "Christmas" is the birth of Jesus, which is a wonderful thing. But this image is revealing the realism that Jesus' journey will end with a brutal, sacrificial death. The figures in the image all know this upon Jesus' birth, and they are expressing their misery about the upcoming events. Jesus did not intend his birth to be a celebration, his mission on Earth was not like a normal humans. He came down from his heavenly home to guide, educate, and martyr. His mission was in prophesy in the Old Testament, he was expected, and was awaited. When he finally came he was fulfilling the prophecy Biblical readers were expecting, but now it was real, it came into focus that our Savior had arrived to undergo a tough mission of hoping to encourage the world to be good because of the reward of everlasting life. Alas, some of the world would not take this news well, thinking they were already perfect and doing just fine (because of their imperfect thinking), and would be the ones to murder Jesus. The one's who stay true to Jesus through worship, faith by works, and love continue to support Jesus' mission and continue to educate those imperfect thinkers because good people want all people to be saved.

Many Christian's celebrate Christmas because they are thankful that Jesus came to our aid. Jesus received gifts because others were thankful of his coming to Earth. But Christmas has become so commercialized and twisted that now people give gifts to each other. That's not a celebration of Jesus' birth, it's a celebration of... well, someone tell me why gifts are exchanged at Christmas? Christmas was originally purposed for the commemoration of Jesus but now we commemorate each other? Why can't we do that all other days of the year? Why dedicate one day? I believe it's okay to commemorate Jesus' birth with the intention of being thankful that Jesus came to Earth to guide, educate and martyr for those who love and believe him. I also believe it's important during Christmas to remember that Jesus' journey on Earth was not an easy one, and ends in pure tragedy, but that he does it out of his love for his followers on Earth. But Christmas really doesn't have anything to do with us. The "holiday cheer" should be year round! Wouldn't that be great.

And the reason behind Thanksgiving is a little rocky too. Yes, it was originally a celebration of the first harvest the colonial Americans had with the Native Americans, and the natives were invited to feast with the colonists. But, um, now look what we colonial Americans have done to the Native Americans? We've secluded them into exclusive regions, took their land with our powerful justice system, damaged the environment the Natives so greatly cherished, and then we tried to make up for it by letting them be free of taxes and state required cigarette prices. Wooo yay what a win. I might sound like a "bleeding heart" liberal right now, but I'm not talking politics at all, I'm talking facts. I won't even begin to get into the environmental devastation we've caused. So now we have the same day set each year to celebrate "Thanksgiving" which originally meant "colonists celebrating the harvest, which we learned to grow thanks to the Natives; feasting with the Natives we were so thankful for, for teaching us how to grow crops on American soil; and being thankful everyone was still alive another year in the harsh beginnings of colonial America." Now Thanksgiving is: families coming together, preparing the same foods we were taught by the Natives to grow, not even considering the Natives in our thankfulness during our meal, being thankful that we have great families and clothes and cars and a roof over our head! But why don't we be thankful for that everyday, I mean, aren't we? So why dedicate a day to "celebrate" all of these things when the original meaning is obsolete and it's just another regular day, but we eat a harvest turkey dinner. 


Okay, so holidays are an excuse to have time off from work in order to visit families from other parts of the country that we don't get to see often. That's the only thing I see as beneficial for our holiday purpose. I get to see my cousins who live in Ohio YAY! So I am thankful for our holiday vacaction, but I find no true meaning behind celebrating the actual holiday, since the original meanings are either void (as in Thanksgiving) or the original meaning has been lost (as in Christmas). I can keep my feelings to myself, or on this blog, so not to offend anyone in my family or friends who still find a true meaning in celebrating the holidays. My bitter feelings though go back to that faithful Easter vigil three years ago when I entered my church and it was almost 10 times fuller than normal. Yep, let's all go to Easter mass because it's more important than the other masses! Or because it's "what you do". Let's find no real meaning behind faith and God and religious practice. Just a herd of sheep. Following orders from a "blessed man" or priest/pontiff, because that's what you've been told. And since some Christian religions discourage you from really knowing your Bible, the supposed basis behind some religions, you only have a priests/pontiffs message or sermon to go by. I say, break out of that organization and herd of sheep, if you too think it's meaningless and you aren't getting anything out of it. But if you are comfortable where you are, and you truly love your religion, than that's cool too.