Christmas Trees Now "Holiday Trees" at K-Mart
I'm not the kind to get all riled up about the culture wars. But once in a while someone does something so outlandish, that something has to be said. Case in point: the recent decision by K-Mart to rename Christmas trees "Holiday Trees" in their advertising. According to Sears Holding Corporation (which owns K-Mart) the company’s decision was motivated by a desire to be sensitive: "Sears Holding is a very diverse company, we do not want to offend any of our associates, but also our valued customers."
Not only is this kind of hyper political correctness a slap in the face for Christians, its just silly and historically inaccurate. Since Martin Luther dragged a small evergreen into his house and affixed candles to its branches to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the practice has been inextricably tied to Christ and Christmas. We have enough people trying to rewrite history; we certainly don’t need corporations getting in on the game.
If we don’t speak out against such nonsense, eventually we will have a sterile public square devoid of the Christian expression that gives it color and life. Believe me. I grew up in Canada. When I go home I’m horrified by the developments in the culture. At the school I attended, children no longer celebrate Christmas. It’s now "Snowball Day." I sincerely hope that this country does not follow suit.
I know there’s not much one person can do. But I’ll tell you this, next time I go shopping, it won’t be at K-mart or Sears.
Not only is this kind of hyper political correctness a slap in the face for Christians, its just silly and historically inaccurate. Since Martin Luther dragged a small evergreen into his house and affixed candles to its branches to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the practice has been inextricably tied to Christ and Christmas. We have enough people trying to rewrite history; we certainly don’t need corporations getting in on the game.
If we don’t speak out against such nonsense, eventually we will have a sterile public square devoid of the Christian expression that gives it color and life. Believe me. I grew up in Canada. When I go home I’m horrified by the developments in the culture. At the school I attended, children no longer celebrate Christmas. It’s now "Snowball Day." I sincerely hope that this country does not follow suit.
I know there’s not much one person can do. But I’ll tell you this, next time I go shopping, it won’t be at K-mart or Sears.
posted by Drew Dyck at 2:42 PM
3 Comments:
Not every business rejects Christmas and the reason for it. Though they do not mention it on their package, check out One News Now for a report on how Sunbeam Bread is aproaching Christmas time.
Actually, the writer of this article needs to do a little more research. The practice of having decorating Christmas trees was borrowed from the pagans as is most of the traditions associated with Christmas. A fir tree or a spruce was decorated for the Yule season during mid December to mid January. This was practiced by the Germanic Pagan tribes to honor their god Thor.
So, if people want to return to the origins of this holiday and not call it a "Christmas" tree, that does not bother me. Saint Bonifice is credited with taking the practice away from the pagans. This was done one thousand years before Martin Luther. Luther is credited with placing candles on the tree and making the act a Christ honoring event instead of a pagan honoring event. As for me and my house, we will refer to it as a Christmas tree and not worry about what others choose to call it.
Sgt. Scrappy,
Thanks for the info! I was actually vaguely aware of the pagan antecedents. But I still give credit to Luther, since he was the first to actually put lights on a tree and associate the practice with the birth of Christ. But thanks for the clarification.
Drew
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