Chag Sameach is what I say from the beginning of December until about New Year's Day. It's Yiddish for "Happy Holidays," and I say it in Yiddish partly to mystify people but also to avoid the firestorm of manufactured Christian indignation at my recognizing the fact that Christmas is not the only celebration going at this time of year and by extension acknowledging that we live in a diverse society in which freedom of religion and freedom to not be religious is allegedly protected by the Constitution.
Current gigs, in case you don't know, include Chanukah (which is older than the rest and ought, by rights, to have seniority), Kwanzaa (which I have sometimes derided as a made-up holiday, but then, all holidays were made up initially) and on some years, depending on the lunar calendar, Ramadan. Although I'm Christian myself, I know about these things because I don't think I have to be an ignorant clod to maintain my faith.
I feel like this has been said a million times already, but I think it's worth pointing out that what right-wing Christians are claiming as their most sacred holiday (Easter comes in a sloppy second, possibly because of the merciful decline of pogrom-inducing Passion Plays) is already a pretty good example of the syncretism and general mixing of influences that result from (oh horrors) a diverse society.
Take the date, December 25. There's no real evidence that the Baby Jesus was born that day--in fact theologians and Biblical scholars think it was probably in March. December 25 was chosen by the church for two reasons: to upstage the Roman tradition of Saturnalia, a week-long party that was a byword for debauchery and general carrying-on, and also to deflect attention from the cult of Mithras, whose sacred day was in December.
The Christmas tree was not invented by Jesus; although it was encouraged by a 7th century monk from Thuringia (also the home of a kind of bologna, I believe). He was trying to get people to stop revering the oak, sacred to the pagans, by hanging upside-down fir trees from the roof of the chapel. People went along with it, the way they often do under an oppressive regime, but they probably just imbued the fir tree with the same old pagan significance. It's called syncretism. Eventually decorated Christmas trees were brought to England by the German Georgian royals, particularly Queen Victoria (the English royal family isn't English! They changed their name to Windsor from Sax Coburg Gotha during WWI. Admit it--I just blew your mind.) The tree tradition was imported to the US in the 19th century, where they were initially used by merchants to lure people into stores. So if Christians want a purer, less commercial obervance of Christmas, they might begin by hanging undecorated fir trees upside-down from their ceilings.
The red and green colors that are supposed to represent the crown of thorns and blood of Jesus? Originally they represented the holly and its berries, which were sacred to Druids (pagans again). The holly bush, which keeps its leaves and produces bright red berries, were potent symbols of light and life in the dark of winter. Which is something that all the winter holidays have in common, whether people want to admit it or not. Light in dark. Hope in the coldest, deadest time of the year.
So chag sameach, whether you are lighting candles to commemmorate a miracle in the Temple during a time of strife and trouble, lighting candles to celebrate striving for communal virtues, lighting fawanees to brighten Ramadan, or switching on several ropes of Christmas tree lights. The freakin' reason for the season is lighting up the darkness, not ramming your already dominant faith down other people's throats.
