Christmas is a holiday that is widely celebrated all over the world by people of different beliefs. However, this special 25th day of December has various interpretations among the different cultures and religious groups. However, the holiday is largely associated with Christianity celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The customs introduced to the American people by missionaries were Christianized and were adopted and are still applicable in several homes during Christmas in America today.
The celebration of Christmas is commonly associated with various activities which evolved through time. These activities still hold some significance especially in the Christian community which makes a large population of the American society. The worshipping together in a church was the basic idea of Christmas; today people go to church and give gifts to each other. The culture of gift giving is in fact the ideal way for celebrating Christmas the American way. People belief that by giving gifts to others, they experience joy by accepting the gift. These gifts are given to other people during the next Christmas and the cycle goes on as the basic idea is to make others happy. Santa Claus is also a big phenomenon in the American celebration of Christmas. Santa, usually a man in the Santa outfit of red and white gives gifts to children. In almost every corner of the city, Santas are seen during Christmas showering children with gifts. Hence Christmas for children is not complete without him (Belk, 1990).
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Singing is another culture of celebrating Christmas in America. For both children and adults, singing blends the lovely moments of this wonderful holiday. Songs such as ‘Merry Christmas’ fill the air in the American’s homes and streets. During Christmas Eve, parties that are marked by joyous celebrations are abundant. Singing brings the Christmas mood way long before the actual day in the American culture.
Of course we cannot forget the eating and drinking that is associated with Christmas. In America, people celebrate Christmas by eating all the lovely things they can imagine, the foods are also in plenty and excess such that most of them go to waste. Christmas in the American society cannot be complete without alcohol. Alcohol in the celebration of Christmas by most people goes down with some alcohol (Moore, 2004). Being a religious holiday for Christians does not make it divine for others although they celebrate it too. For devoted Christians, Christmas is meant to appreciate and help the needy in the society. They argue that, instead of making surplus food that finally goes to waste, numerous expensive gifts and other favors, it would be considerable to give these things to the poor or the needy people in the society. Christmas is meant to show love, since Jesus is love (Rowland, 1990).
Considering the myriad controversies surrounding the Christmas holiday, the commercialization of this holiday cannot go unmentioned. In America, people are used to having almost everything on offer during Christmas. Shopping malls, Wal marts and other commercial enterprises make the most amazing offers during this time. It is common to find most items at even a 50% off offer during Christmas the reason why American have taken the holiday as a shopping holiday. Consequently, Christmas in America is celebrated through massive shopping spree.