xmas-10: o holy night

o holy night - Ben Caplan

My Christmas mix is usually quite secular. It’s not because religious Christmas songs aren’t beautiful, but because I feel terribly insincere singing along to most of them. They seem to reference a kind of faith that I don’t think I’ve ever felt. “O holy night” is very much about Christ, but I felt like I had more permission to be moved by this version, given what Ben Caplan wrote about the song on its bandcamp page:

Being Jewish, Christmas wasn’t a big thing in my home [read: non-existent]. That said, we all know it’s pretty hard to ignore the Christmas season; just like everyone else, I am constantly bombarded with Christmas cheer outside of the home... There are a lot of great Christmas songs out there, but I don’t love all the aesthetic choices. Where are all the violins and clarinets!? I have a deep felt belief that if you don’t like something, you should do something about it. It’s not enough to complain from the sidelines!

The arrangement’s dark, minor-key violins and clarinets really let lines like “Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother / And in his name all oppression shall cease” land a little differently.

I do wonder why I feel so hesitant singing “O holy night”, but so comfortable getting sincerely excited about Christmas more generally. Is it fair for me to celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday?

It didn’t feel very secular to me when Quebec was proposing a (now-backtracked) “moral compact” allowing indoor gatherings between December 24 and 27. The premier claimed the timing was secular, just chosen to overlap with the school break. My roommate, a student teacher, tells me that Toronto’s children celebrate a diversity of holidays in school. I’m all for classroom parties as a way for kids to learn about each other’s cultures. But she points out that it’s a little hard to explain all the holidays without acknowledging some underlying power differentials. There are no classroom parties on Easter or Christmas because those, unlike the major holidays of any other religion, are statutory holidays.

On the other hand, my mum has been happily grumbling to me about how several of her roommates are “pressuring her” to get a Christmas tree. Some of them just moved to Canada this year, and they want to experience the culture. I certainly want that to be possible; for us to have a shared, participatory version of the holidays for everyone living here. Quoting Johann Neem, from a summer essay called Unbecoming American:

Last year, when I ran into my son’s coach at the mall, he stumbled awkwardly after asking me if I was Christmas shopping, as if he’d committed an offense against my brown skin. In fact, I was Christmas shopping and I was as miserable as he seemed to be about finding myself at the mall. Why would he think I would feel more welcome by being excluded from American traditions?

Those traditions happen to be Canadian, too, and I’d like anyone in Canada, regardless of religion, to feel welcome to weather the mall and arrange gifts under a Christmas tree if they want to.

Canada’s doctrine of “state neutrality” (that the state has no preference for one set of religious customs, beliefs, or practices over another) sounds reasonable to me, even if it’s uneven in practice. Maybe someday at Christmas, Bill 21 won’t prevent people who wear hijabs or turbans from becoming teachers in Quebec. Maybe someday Ontario’s Christians will have to arrange time off for Easter to the same extent Jews need to book off Rosh Hashanah and Muslims Eid. But, when I imagine a more neutral Canadian state, I still picture a winter (Christmas?) break, and it might as well include pine boughs and soft lights, and certain syncretic versions of o holy night, for anyone who wants them.