by Will Stanton » Wed Aug 23, 2017 8:23 pm
"Alright, well, you've got three things going on here. On the one hand, you've got a religious celebration," he said, extending one hand. "That's where you're getting that 'white devil' stuff, which, again, no."
"On the other hand, you've got historic pagan rituals that have been incorporated," he said, extending his other hand. "And incorporated into the traditional and historic expression of the holiday -- the Holy Day, as it were -- despite historic anachronisms and incompatibility with the religious story."
"And then, on the other hand," he said, extending his OTHER other hand, "you have a modern veneer of secular values and cultural identity, further stapled on to the hodgepodge that is the previous two elements. A delightful mix of multiple cultures and ideals into one grand festival of gift-giving, feasting and good will. People all around the world dip differently into these three buckets to make their own meaning of Christmas."