Re: OT Rant About Christians.

On Sat, 7 Sep 2024 08:12:19 -0500, "Michael F. Stemper"
<michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:

On 06/09/2024 11.28, Paul S Person wrote:

On Fri, 6 Sep 2024 09:13:41 -0500, "Michael F. Stemper"
<michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:

On 22/08/2024 11.03, Paul S Person wrote:

>

IOW, it can be argued that it is not the /Christian's/ Christmas that
is commercialized. Which is why it is more commonly called "the
Holiday Season", and starts (at latest) the day after Thanksgiving and
extends to (at earliest) New Year's Day. That is to say, I don't think
it's been extended to the day after Halloween or Epiphany. Yet.

>
The Christmas season runs to Epiphany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Days_of_Christmas.

 
The religious one (and its cultural attachments) does, to be sure.
That is why each year I listen to one movement of JS Bach's Christmas
Oratorio on as close to the proper day as possible, and then take down
my decorations (which went up on Christmas eve).
 
But I was talking about the /commercial/ version, with all its madness
building to the 25th.

>
And then all Christmas music disappears from the radio on the 26th. Got it.

Just one of the reasons I don't listen to music on the radio.

And "Christmas music" is apt. I once heard a well-known Christmas song
or carol (something on the order of, but not necessarily, "Oh, Little
Town of Bethlehem") sung by a Country-Western artist. My reaction:
"Why's she singing it as a dirge?".

The main reason I don't listen to music on the radio is that it isn't
/my/ music, it's someone else's music and prefer to listen to the
music I have assembled in the order I have put it.

  I don't think it warns you the same way about Jan 6.
"Epiphany tree" and "Epiphany gifts" are not terms I recall seeing
very often.

>
Not in the US, but I'm pretty sure that in Eastern Europe, Epiphany is
more significant than is Christmas.

It's when the Three Magi finally arrived in Bethlehem. As opposed to
the Shepherds, who made on the night of the 24th/25th. Any Orthodox
Church anywhere can be expected to regard it that way.

They also, IIRC, have a different date for Easter most years. As Tevye
says, "Tradition".

Similarly, while the /commercial/ season begins the day after
Thanksgiving (or at least did until relatively recently), the
/religious/ season in a sense starts with the First Sunday in Advent.

>
No, the First Sunday of Advent is when the season of Advent starts. The
(religious) Christmas season starts on December 25, or for traditionalists,
the evening of December 24.

You are correct that Advent and Christmas are different seasons in the
Church Year. But the first prepares for Christmas at the same time the
commercial Christmas is trying to get everyone to -- prepare for
Christmas.

Examination of Advent Calendars online shows that some end on 12/25,
that is, Christmas Day. Not Christmas Eve or 12/23, whichever they
regard as the last day before the Christmas season.

(The ones online appear to be much more elaborate than the ones I
remember. Those were cardboard, and had Scripture verses hidden behind
the flaps. The lack of jelly beans etc made it much easier to open
just one flap each day.)
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"