Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for December 11, 2023

Other religions were doing it before Christianity. Diwali in Hinduism is the celebration of the new fiscal year, at which time a lot of money is spent on jewelry.

November 26th had Calvin say “six more days until Christmas.” Today it’s, “Christmas is just around the corner!”

It’s now eight weeks.

December 25 is the old Anglo-Saxon pagan midwinter festival of ‘geol’ (pronounced “yule”), following ‘modraniht’ (mothers’ night). Christianity stole it on the basis that if people were going to have a feast anyway, they might as well do it for Jesus. rather than Woden.

Oh, Hobbes, you naif. Yes, other religions have picked up on that. For example, when I visited Malaysia, I discoverd Hari Raya (as they call the first day after Ramadan) is basically Christmas and Valentine Day rolled into one.

When I was a kid, I used to get presents for Hannukah. Of course, I don’t any more, but it’s still my favorite holiday because of its meaning: the victory of an oppressed people over a dictatorial tyrant.

They have, Hobbes. Oh, they have. Even I get “Eid money” from a friend who lives in London; an online friend I’ve chatted with for years but never actually met.

And for every other six year old, Calvin. Hobbes, being the more mature of the two, is more spiritually spiritual than commercially spiritual.

I don’t get feeling spiritual until I see them under the tree.

Nothing is more commercialized than Christmas. Used to be from Black Friday to Little Christmas. Now they start before Halloween. Hallmark is trying to make it all year!

Ah, the religion of young Calvinism…

Calvin is 6; most children that age are into blatant consumerism.

My religion IS consumerism

Does anybody feel like walking around Mecca for a few days?

I like Boxing Day myself. The stores are blissfully free of that obnoxious music.

For children Christmas should be here sooner, break from school and yes Calvin is right, lots of gifts of toys.

Calvin would always seem to need a wagon repair kit.

Presents under the tree might be consumerist heaven. I currently work in a thrift outlet where regifted Christmas stuff gets delivered by the boxful multiple times each day. The junk stretches from one end of the storage room to the next. That’s what I’d call consumerist hell.

Eh, we’re getting around to it, Hobbes. Check out all the new Hannukah merch every year. And don’t get me started on Passover hotels.

Based on his behavior, I don’t know why he expects loads of loot. I guess it’s because his parents still love the little rapscallion, despite his behavior.

Anthropologists view such acts as Christmas commercialism as demonstrations of a society’s underlying wealth. It helps us be prepared for activities such as war or other survival necessities, i.e. we have money to throw away.

Pray to Almighty Mammon!

Hanukkah has. It used to not be associated with presents but it is now.

Remember, folks: Just 380 online shopping days until Christmas 2024! Buy now!

BW…regardless of when this was originally penned…it’s a timeless irony. Just perfect tooning.

Only one month?

It isn’t the religions that made it into a consumer, secular holiday. You can thank stores and manufacturers that count on people giving until it hurts ones pocketbook. Many stores count on these sales to push them over the top profitability-wise so they can stay in business. Just remember why they call the day after Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday.

Just put stock certificates for toy companies in the stockings and be done with it. :)

Love Hobbes’ observation about other cultures/religions not commercializing the season.

“Relations sparing no expense’ll send some useless old utensil, like a matching pen and pencil, just the thing I need, how nice.”—Tom Lehrer

Commercialism has truly taken over the world.

Don’t forget the obligatory “war on Christmas” hallucinations.

AKA Capitalism

Happy Hannukah! Not only is it commercial but it involved gambling. Anyone up for a game of dreidels?

Christmas predates the Christian religion by millennia, at least the traditions we normally use to celebrate it. It’s basically a combination of Saturnalia and Yule, both of which celebrated the winter solstice with feasts, exchange of gifts, decorating homes with evergreen plants, and good old fashioned drunken revelry. When the Christian Church took over most of Europe they couldn’t ban the celebrations because they were so popular, so they settled for renaming the holiday and making up a story about it being Jesus’ birthday. When the Pilgrims first began settling in North America they actually banned Christmas (as anything other than a special church service,) and well into the history of our nation celebrating it was punishable by fine. It wasn’t until the late 1800’s and early 1900’s when the uptick of European immigration brought more people who actually celebrated Christmas and it became cemented as part of our modern culture.