Well, Christmas is coming – and seems to be in a hurry this year. Christmas trees and decorations are popping up everywhere and the Christmas buy-up is happening as we look for gifts for loved ones and friends. Every year we see the same, of course, and we Christians see the crass commercialisation of Christmas, too – it is rampant and driven, yes, by some generosity, but also by the greed of so many retailers. It’s about money for so many …
I have always found this to be troubling, and increasingly so as Australia is no longer a “Christian” nation – we lost that descriptor back in the 1970s according to the UN. But I digress. The Christmas season and all its “celebrations” has been unashamedly appropriated by the surrounding culture, and its various sub-cultures. Yet, it doesn’t seem to bother anyone that Christmas, as a sacred high point in the Christian calendar for 1900 years has now become a mishmash of many other things. I get that traditions grow and develop. I don’t have a major issue with that as long as the Christmas story is respected, and not distorted into myth and not overly sanitised by well-meaning creatives.
But what I do have a major issue with is the cultural appropriation of Christmas by non-Christians.
Let me explain. Cultural appropriation is a major issue for many groups in our society, from indigenous groups to artists, to actors and the LGBTIQA+ community. So, what is it? Cultural appropriation is commonly used to identify when the imagery, fashion, practices, music, or artifacts, symbols, clothing and art of a culture are removed from their original context and used for other purposes. Their unique significance in the places of origin is ignored when they are taken and used by someone else. And I do agree, up to a point, with the immorality of this. For example, since the 1980s there has been a major push by indigenous creatives and artists in Australia against other non-indigenous artists who have produced works of art that mimic the styles of indigenous artworks, but are not authentically indigenous. Call it a kind of fakery. The indigenous artists rightly complain that “fake indigenous” art is being passed off and sold as the real deal when it isn’t, and so, the indigenous peoples are being exploited for commercial gain.
As far as I can ascertain in my research, the term “cultural appropriation” was first coined by American academics in universities to describe the detrimental effect of colonialism and power dynamics between majority and minority groups. According to one academic, a Professor Rodgers back in 2006, four kinds of cultural appropriation can be identified - exchange, dominance, exploitation, and transculturation. Space doesn’t permit a full exploration of all four, but one of these is most common today – exploitation, when something is lifted from one culture and appropriated for purposes non-genuine, and usually commercial or personal gain in another culture, or sub-cultural setting. There are plenty of websites that discuss this.
But, as usual in woke academic circles terminologies and the theories they support never seem to stop and keep extending their tentacles into many other areas. Definitions can expand and can go much further than the surface level of the original concern whether legitimate or not. Remember when we just had the descriptor, “the gay community”? Then it became the LGB community, and that morphed its way to LGBTIQA+ in 8 short years. Well, cultural appropriation has now morphed into more than just copying indigenous art. Now we have push back from the LGBTIQA+ community demanding that no “straight” actors “have any right” to play an LGBTIQA+ character in a play or a movie, and that even voice actors who are not gay have no right to voice gay characters (I mean, it IS “acting”, isn’t it?). But this is now a big deal in Hollywood and in Australia. The LGBTIQA+ community claim this is some kind of cultural appropriation and exploitation that misrepresents and so disadvantages them. You can even get didgeridoo therapy in Vancouver in
Canada! And things like fashion designs and so on are also often appropriated by the fashion industry, and this is now experienced as disrespect by the cultures from which these have been derived. And herein is the issue, folks. This cultural appropriation shows a serious lack of understanding and respect of protocols, heritage, spirituality and even identity.
It may interest you to know that from the 1990s in the United States and other countries, a whole range of laws have been introduced to combat cultural appropriation in a growing number of forms. There are, right now, agitators in socialist left forums in Australia calling for similar laws here. Watch this space. Now, to some extent, I can understand when cultural appropriation genuinely offends and exploits others for blatant commercial gain. I really do – but I do think it has gone, and is going, much too far in many cases.
Which brings me back to Christmas in Australia. No one in the community seems at all concerned that a sacred Christian religious worship festival has been appropriated by so many secular groups, it’s not funny – and in many cases, it actually is offensive. The Christmas event has been lifted out of its original biblical context to be portrayed as something else – an entertainment pageant - and Christmas “carols” can now include anything Christmassy from Bing Crosby to songs from other secular musicals. I am not talking about people putting up lights and illuminated Santas around the neighbourhood, here – I’m fine with that, as it is another thing entirely. I get that. No, I am talking about instances like municipalities who stage Christmas carols “events” as entertainment and who conduct no honest and respectful conversations with the Christian community whatsoever, or even want the briefest of input of Christian leaders. What right do they have to do this? Imagine a municipality running a Muslim event and not consulting the Muslim community – they would not dare! Most, not all, but most local community Christmas pageants or carols events have no Christian content at all. These events are simply entertainment – no “real meaning of Christmas” content, no Christmas message of any kind except a “happy holidays, be safe on the roads” and “peace everyone” sign off at the end of the event – if you’re lucky. This is wanton cultural/religious appropriation. They have no right to do this.
According to Wikipedia, “cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be especially controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from minority cultures.”
I rest my case.
But I won’t sit around and sook about this. I will ensure that as many people as possible hear and experience the real meaning of Christmas and its fantastic message of reconciliation, joy and hope. I will celebrate and proclaim the real Christmas – in its original biblical and sacred setting. And I will continue to graciously speak with municipal officers who organise these Christmas events and encourage them to honour Christians and the ancient biblical narratives and do all they can to avoid cultural and biblical appropriation. I think this is my sacred responsibility. Who knows, in some wonderful way in community Christmas events hence, some may see the real Jesus and be drawn to Him – their soul suddenly sensing its inherent worth. I’m looking forward to worshipping our Lord and Saviour this Christmas.
O come let us adore Him.
Ps Milton
[Sources: Wikipedia (definitions); University of Sydney website; Oxford Dictionary; The Australian Newspaper (various editions); The Conversation (journalistic website)]