The Christianization of America

As evident in every Spotify December playlist, every store’s decorations, every window display, and every building’s lobby, Christmas is largely adopted as a secular, default holiday. And every December, along with many other non-Christians, I’m asked whether or not I celebrate Christmas. Recently, my close friend, Mace Elinson, decided to push further.

 “I mean, my family’s somewhat Christian—and I don’t believe in God, really—but I still have a tree. You’re not even religious, Maxanne; I’ve seen your Starbucks order,” he said, referring to my non-kosher eating habits.  

We laugh, but I feel some sadness from the question. I was raised by two Jewish parents within a Jewish community, which means that for me, celebrating Christmas feels inauthentic. Many other non-Christians feel the same disconnect from Christmas, and every December, they are met with well-intentioned but draining surprise, judgment, and pity. Why on Earth would I not take part in such an American holiday?

For me, maintaining the connection and authenticity of my Jewish culture and heritage means taking part in my family’s own definition of a Jewish home. This means I feel most connected to my heritage when I light my family’s menorahs on Hanukkah and sit at the table on Passover, snapping matzos and passing them around the table as we recount the thousands-of-years old story about our ancestors escaping slavery in Egypt. An uncle brings up the parallel story of our ancestors escaping the Holocaust only decades ago, and a little later, my grandpa plays the guitar as we joyfully sing Passover songs of perseverance, strength, community, and love. Sophomore Nabila Rahman discussed how she also feels no connection to Christmas and instead feels most connected to her religion, culture, and joy “... during Eid and Ramadan because I look forward to them all year, and I feel super connected to my culture—praying the whole day and eating yummy food.”

Not celebrating Christmas doesn’t mean abandoning the “holiday” spirit and values; my family simply finds holiday spirit, connection to values, and sense of light, joy, and connection in our own traditions.

Conversations like that are how the expectation to celebrate Christmas—while not explicit or forced—manifests. When posed with the question of why I don’t celebrate Christmas, I’ve often felt caught: part of me feels as though putting up a Christmas tree is a betrayal of my Jewish community, while another part feels that mistletoe in my doorway would be harmless and fun. I became very aware of an American cultural paradox: cultural diversity is intrinsic to American culture, yet Christmas has become so American that it is expected to be celebrated universally —including the 32 percent of Americans who aren’t Christian.

The harm in expecting others to celebrate Christmas isn’t that you are celebrating holidays other than your own; rather, it’s celebrating them inauthentically. Passing traditions and holidays on, whether from generation to generation or amongst friends, should come only from authenticity and connection—never from societal expectation.

Every December, I visit my friends’ houses to help decorate their Christmas trees and bake peppermint cookies; in return, my friends light my menorah and play dreidel. In the spring, we throw colored powder at one another in the park for Holi. Many of my friends with interfaith parents celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. In these contexts, cultural and religious detachment isn’t what makes these holidays beautiful and love-filled; rather, their cultural significance—and their authentic connection to one or all of us—does. 

But before we can even understand how each of us celebrates the holidays, we must first understand that the secularization of Christmas is only one part of a larger Christianization—and subsequent acculturation—of the United States. America is culturally diverse and rich, with diversity rates only increasing each year as minority racial groups have increased by 276 percent between 2010 and 2020. Indeed, in an ideal world, we would maintain, share, and somewhat blend cultures. However, in reality, cultural blending turns into cultural fading, as the religious majority takes the spotlight and sweeps the traditions of minorities to the side.

Removing religion from the Christmas equation allows this to occur even further. As America grows increasingly secular—the percentage of religiously unaffiliated Americans has increased by over seven percent since 2007—a holiday once deemed intrinsically centered around Jesus can ubiquitously spread regardless of faith. Christmas now reaches every corner of the social and ethnic map of America, often overshadowing minority traditions and leaving many, like myself, questioning and protecting myself and my culture. Contrary to popular belief, while Christmas may have become Americanized, America has become insidiously Christianized.

Celebrating religious holidays different from our own isn’t the issue. The issue lies within treating Christian holidays as the default, simply because the majority of America is Christian or has Christian roots. In equating the majority religion with being American, we let our cultural and religious traditions slip away, trading authenticity for acceptance of the majority culture. 

This Christianization of America is largely enabled by its profitability. Between November and December, America spends between $979 billion and $989 billion on retail—for most sellers, a sixth of profits are made during December, which is two times the profit during any other time of the year. A country celebrating the same holiday is prosperous; cohesive marketing efforts and selling the same goods are substantially easier when demand is the same. Diversity of culture, while important for our society, is inconvenient for the economy. The monetization of Christmas is a symptom of and a major contributor to relegating cultures in America under the Christmas shadow.

The line between cultural mixing and overshadowing cultures is tricky to navigate but important to understand in order to maintain a free country’s fundamental and beautiful diversity. So, while some might feel most authentic celebrating Christmas, many non-Christians, like myself, don’t. Though I’ll hang up ornaments with my friends and sing “All I Want for Christmas is You” at the top of my lungs, I’ll still stick to having a menorah, not a Christmas tree, in my home.