Christmas

From the point of view of consumer culture, Christmas has become the key ritual celebrating consumption. This ritual takes place not only within the Christian world, but is increasingly enacted in Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, and Buddhist cultures as well. This seemingly improbable embrace of a Christian holy day by non-Christians seems due to the festivity and modernity associated with contemporary public Christmas celebration as well as the holiday's traditional seasonal role in helping to brighten the darkest time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Celebrating Christmas lends a sense of participating in global consumer culture. For some Jewish immigrants to the United States, adopting aspects of Christmas celebrations was also seen as a way of fitting into the culture. The same is true of ...