Christmas is one of the most celebrated holidays across the world. It’s a time where you get to spend time with your loved ones accompanied with all the fun decorations and traditions people can practice. However, over the years Christmas has become more commercialized, a way for companies to make profit. So how did Christmas come to be so materialized in the first place? Can all this commercialism cause people to lose the true meaning of the holidays or does it enhance our traditions?
The history of Christmas as a holiday and how it came to be isn’t very well known. Many people might be surprised to find out that Christmas was actually banned in the United States by Puritan settlers. However, as more immigrants, Germans and the Dutch in particular, began to arrive and their Christmas traditions spread. Germans first introduced the routine of gifting items to others and both Germans and the Dutch acquainted the image of St. Nicholas to Americans. Now that Christmas had become a more celebrated and well known holiday to Americans, marketers in New York took notice and began to capitalize on the holiday. They adapted the idea of Santa Claus to fit the Christmas theme for kids, and they also used him for their advertisements. Iconic symbols such as Christmas trees, Rudolph, ornaments, and candy canes were used for marketing. Furthermore, markets began to use Christmas in a way to their products such as Christmas lights and presents.
While it’s clear the origin of Christmas as a holiday was for celebration and festivity, some of the traditions may have become oversaturated over the years. Due to all these established traditions, there is more and more social pressure that comes when purchasing Christmas items such as gifts and decorations rather than the actual willingness of a person. Also, people may just be buying gifts because it is customary at this point, but in doing so, people lose the actual meaning of Christmas and the holiday becomes more materialized. It would be better if people didn’t give a lot of gifts but specific meaningful gifts to the people they know. Because of all the commercialism attributed to Christmas, businesses will feel the need to profit off the holiday as much as they can, this will prevent workers from celebrating the holiday as we all are meaning that the holiday isn’t fair to the community as a whole because some people are working while others are enjoying time with family and friends. Another case of unfairness is that there are many people who can’t celebrate the holidays due to their circumstances, some might just not celebrate Christmas and some people might be unable to celebrate due to travel, as a result, Christmas might feel overwhelming to some people.
That being said, there are also plenty of good things that come out of the festivity of Christmas as a holiday. Small businesses are able to make money during this time of the year allowing for more opportunity. Even if people are working during the season, many are able to spend some time off and take a small break from work. People are able to take a step back and enjoy themselves as they spend time with family and friends as usually they can’t because of the intensity throughout the year. Christmas is a great reminder for people to be selfless and kind towards others they know and even those they don’t know. There are many who may enjoy the feeling they get from Christmas and encourages them during the holidays.
It’s clear that there are many pros and cons when it comes to the commercialism and marketing towards Christmas. There are many different feelings from people about the holiday, some might feel more strongly about it than others. But I feel that as long as everyone is able to enjoy themselves then that is what really matters in the end.