Videos- Brief Histories of Four Christian Holidays and Their Secular Transformations
Valentine's Day: http://www.history.com/videos/history-of-valentines-day#history-of-valentines-day
St. Patrick's Day: http://www.history.com/videos/history-of-st-patricks-day#history-of-st-patricks-day
St. Patrick's Day: http://www.history.com/videos/history-of-st-patricks-day#history-of-st-patricks-day
Other Multimedia Representations
This satirical piece exemplifies the pressures that are put on consumers during the Christmas season to spend money and take part in commercialized customs.
Black Friday—the Friday after Thanksgiving—is a tradition for many American families to seek out sales and shop for Christmas presents. As this picture shows, people become competitive and lost sight of the selflessness that should be involved when giving presents.
Large department stores are known for extreme decorations in order to attract customers, and contribute to the secular, commercial image of Christmas.
These secular characters are the newer representations of Christmas which many kids tend to relate to today, as opposed to traditional, religious representations such as Jesus and the holy manger.
This picture depicts a crucified Santa, part of one man’s protest arguing that Santa has wrongfully become the focus of Christmas, when the true meaning is Jesus.
Other holidays, such as Easter, have also lost their true religious meaning, and have simply become gift-giving, money-spending holidays for many Americans.
Today’s Easter is superficial as many people don’t understand the story of Jesus’ resurrection, but simply partake in secular celebration.
Valentine’s Day is a holiday in remembrance of St. Valentine, a Catholic priest, but most Americans simply see the holiday as a time to give romantic gifts to loved ones. The movie “Valentine’s Day” was released in 2010, and made no effort to emphasize the true religious background of the holiday.
St. Patrick’s Day is meant to mark the death of St. Patrick, who Christianized Ireland in the fifth century. Today, it is often celebrated as a major drinking holiday, and also signifies the shift from winter to spring—both nonreligious associations with the Catholic holiday.
