Back in 2005 Fox News Channel anchor John Gibson wrote a book "The War on Christmas" --------- the subtitle was : "How the liberal plot to ban the sacred Christian holiday is worse than you thought." The book is filled with 186 pages ofstory-after-story of how long-held community Christmas customs all of a sudden seemed to offend people. No more Christmas trees at school, no pageants either. Of course, the liberals went nuts because people weren't suppose to notice the assault.
Fast forward to 2013 and the trend continues. As the new school year begins a glance at several area school calendars ----- just about every public school district where this column is read ------ started out with a day on Sept. 5 for the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah. That's followed by a few with a notation re. Yom Kippur (which actually falls on a Saturday this year).
Back when I went to Cheltenham High we never had the Jewish holidays off, but the Jewish kids did. That was sort of annoying to us because they also got our Christian holidays off as well. Of course there was no way that teachers were going to stay at school for the Jewish kids while the Christian kids got Christmas and Easter off.
Then we get to Thanksgiving and pretty much everyone agrees with that one. But Dec. 23 in Abington heralds the start of "The Holiday vacation," and Cheltenham calls it Holiday dismissal and winter break. No mention of the big day on Dec. 25 (Christmas, in case you have forgotten because people are trying to hide it). Central Bucks mentions Christmas, but also mentions Hanukah and the ever-popular Winter recess. Upper Dublin gives us Hanukah, a winter break and even lists Kwanzaa (but no Christmas).
Rolling along into 2014 along comes "Spring Vacation" which, of course, used to be Easter vacation back in the day. They all use a variation on the spring break theme but Upper Dublin, not wanting to miss a beat, does acknowledge Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter. They also list Passover. Central Bucks skips Palm Sunday but acknowledges Good Friday, Easter and Passover.
You don't have to look too hard to find examples of states where the ACLU has actually forced school districts to remove Christmas from their calendars. Whose civil liberties are they looking out for? Not mine, that's for sure.
I trotted this notion out on Facebook a week or so ago and mentioned I was considering a column on the subject and boy did it stir up a response. The fuss was about how the Christians just kind of roll over and play dead because they don't want to offend anyone ------and the people sticking Christmas and other Christian holidays in the closet know that full well and don't ever expect any push back.
Among the Facebook feedback I got was Linda L. who said, "It's just another way to take God out of our country and our lives." Sharon S. said, "It just doesn't seem right, somehow." Marian D. said, "There is no consistency." Dan D. said, "I'd like to see an explanation from the schools." Brett T. said, "When I was a kid it was Christmas vacation and Easter vacation. I guess somebody complained because they were offended ."
One man, Thomas B., said "What's the difference? Christmas and Easter are both Pagan holidays." This is kind of a stretch, though Christmas did have its roots in a Roman Pagan festival "Saturnalia." Christians hijacked the holiday some centuries later and observed Christ's birth on what was once the last day of the weeklong pagan festival. Easter's so-called pagan roots are pretty questionable, though scholars believe that the Christian holiday evolved from the Hebrew celebration of Passover. So if the pagan part of Christmas' roots is true then I guess the Pagans should be angry too.
Now I know that religion is an incendiary topic, and I'd be OK with the schools calling the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur days off something like "Fall break" or some other generic tag. Of course, who could really then justify a fall break about a week after school starts? Go to school a day or two, then have a day or two off. It screws up the end of vacations for some families, by the way.
Local entertainer Paul Big Bear made an interesting point saying that April 1 should be also be considered a religious holiday. Why, you ask? Well, it's April Fool Day, and Paul notes that the scriptures say, "It is the foolish mind that turns away from God," so Paul concludes that must be their big "religious" holiday.
If you white out one faith's holidays, then you should white them all out.
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