I enjoyed a perfectly splendid, if severely abridged, performance of Messiah last night. As “Thou shalt break them” was coming to an end, I leaned over to my two companions and said, “I ain’t standing up.” I see just as much point in standing through the entire Messiah as for only one of its movements.
People seem to ‘know’ that you’re ‘supposed’ to stand for the Hallelujah chorus. But how do they know that? And why do they still do it? Have they done their homework to find out the historical precedent for it? And have they done a bit more research to discover that that whole story is probably not authentic? Other Christmas traditions abound: attending Messiah in the first place, year after year. Shopping. Tree. Traveling. Cards. Family fights. Whose house this year? What will the black sheep do THIS year? We’re all slaves to certain Christmas traditions. In recent years, I have relaxed the pressure on myself to get it just right, all the way down to not playing for a church on Christmas Eve but rather starting my own tradition of church hopping in a new city each year. O what fun it is to ride!
And “Happy Holidays,” “Season’s Greetings,” or “Merry Christmas?” What’s it going to be? ‘Holiday’ is a modern adaptation of ‘holy day,’ a perfectly accurate and elegant description of the day at hand. And ‘happy’ occurs in scripture more often than ‘merry.’ Whatever. As for ‘Christmas,’ I suppose people defend it because it includes the word ‘Christ.’ And it’s easy to see the words ‘Christ Mass’ hiding in the contraction. But on the other hand, ‘Mass’ doesn’t appeal to Protestants, and I don’t understand why so many Protestants are so defensive of a liturgy they gave up long ago. Whatever. ‘Season’s Greetings’ might actually cover things the best. There is, after all, a new ‘season’ of winter upon us, and let’s not forget that the pagans (from whom Christians derive most of their celebrations – do your homework!) celebrated the changing of seasons, particularly those two changes centered around the solstices. And our Christmas ‘season’ lasts quite a while, whether you take the liturgical route lasting Dec. 25-Jan. 5 or the commercial route lasting from roughly Labor Day until New Year’s Day. I vote for “Season’s Greetings” for its more accurate description of the season. But who’s counting? I say ‘Merry Christmas’ anyway! Rolls off the tongue just fine.
All kidding aside, I extend my best Season’s Greetings to you for a Merry Christmas, a long Happy Holiday, and a Happy New Year.