Effects Of Christmas On American Culture

There are several Symbols associated with Christmas, Santa Claus, Snow or cold weather, Wreaths, garland , wrapping paper and a Christmas tree. Society does not look at Halloween costumes or a hot sunny day and think of Christmas, although when I noticed that some retailers have Halloween, thanksgiving and Christmas décor out, it does not seem to mesh well. But retailers are showing society these symbols getting them thinking about what’s coming soon.

It can be argued that Christmas as a holiday is far removed from the way it was first envisioned. That said, there are certain element that many people share or celebrate making it an arguably complex holiday. As the preeminent children’s author of his generation, Geisel serving heavily on the minds of his young readers helped shape what Christmas means for many people with his narrative How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Though at the surface the work is a simple morality tale that promotes unity over consumerism, it has subtle nuances that make the work interesting on several

Amy Tan in the story, Fish Cheeks, implies that even though America is a country of immigrants, few of their traditions are acceptable in our culture. Tan supports her suggestion by describing christmas of the year she turned 14. The author’s purpose is to point out the irony of a country of immigrants with only one set of traditions in order to make us think about what traditions we suppress. The author writes in an earnest tone for Americans of all descents.

An ideology created in the 1960s, the culture of poverty is the idea that people stuck in poverty during this time had no way of breaking out and that they were trapped in a vicious cycle. The people living this way are helpless and could not provide for themselves, and many born in this lifestyle are heading downward with no avail. To spread awareness in the 60s, CBS sent reporter Charles Kuralt to document the quality of life and present the culture of poverty that ravaged in Appalachia. He went around a small town in mountainside Kentucky and interviewed families and documented the state of life around Christmas. This CBS News Special Report, Christmas In Appalachia, affirms the ideology of a culture of poverty, and the interview with Ibe Johnson, a hardworking husband and father, solidifies this through several filming techniques. Using a mix of eye-level and low level angle shots along with scale, duration of the interview, and composition of the scene, the film subjects the viewers to evidence of the culture of poverty.

The central focus and purpose of teaching this learning segment is to educate students about other holidays and cultures, but specifically focusing on Christmas in Italy. While this unit is essentially literacy based, it is also linked to Social Studies when students use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of themes, traditions, and stories in different countries. This unit supports diversity within the classroom and it will expose students to the different ways of celebrating holidays among various cultures. The essential literacy strategy used throughout this unit is to analyze, explain, and describe the similarities and differences between Christmas in Italy and Christmas in their own home in the United States. The students are required to examine the way Christmas is celebrated in Italy in a variety of different ways, through both teacher directed guidance and student centered learning.]

Christmas in france is way different then christmas in america. Merry christmas in france is “joyeux noel’. The traditions in france are french ornaments, french nativity scenes, and traditional french christmas food. There are many french traditions for christmas that are different than how we celebrate in america. Christmas is a big holiday in france.

With the wreaths and Yule logs that come standard with this holiday comes a caring from deep in the hearts of people unbeknownst to them at any other time of the year. At the sight of the Christmas decor and the flames roaring at the hearth, a warmth envelops the heart, one with which no flame, however hot, could compete. We see in our gift-wrap and our greeting cards and our holiday stockings an entirely new persona occupying this world we live in, reprieving us from the daily heartaches we all know as familiar.

Ah Christmas, it is said to be the most wonderful time of the year. In the United States Christmas is a time of giving and receiving, spending time with your family, and in most Christian families, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas is hands-down the most highly commercialized holiday celebrated by Americans. In fact, according to CBS news, the average American will spend $700 on gifts this holiday season, totaling for a whopping $465 billion spent nation-wide. From mall Santas as far as the eye can see, to hearing Christmas music in every retail store you enter. Christmas is a time of high spirits and high spending in the U.S.

Christmas, which is on 25th December every year, is a religious event that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ but it becomes a holiday in many countries, especially western countries where their mainstream religion is Christian. People celebrate Christmas with many traditional rituals, they purchase decorations for houses, gifts giving and have the Christmas dinner with family and friends but the rituals may vary from different countries. Additionally, Christmas is a high consumption season due to the gifts giving culture of traditional activities in western culture and also consumers are offered discounts during the occasion in which Christmas creates ‘the consumption fantasyland’. ‘Consumption satisfices our basic survival needs and the more abstract needs of cultural, social and personal elements that are symbolic of taste, lifestyles and identity’ (Clarke, 2007: 3). This essay will discuss two perspectives, which are classical and cultural perspectives, separately through celebrations that drive consumer behavior before, during Christmas and then in the next section we will discuss about how the market creates and reinforces the fantasyland by the marketing communications for Christmas.

David Sedaris explains the different holiday practices Americans and the Dutch have. He talks about how Americans and Dutch people celebrate Christmas, also how they view the tale of Santa Claus. As Sedaris says, the American figure, Santa Claus, is “jolly and obese,” yet the Dutch figure, Saint Nicholas, is portrayed as “painfully thin, and not unlike the pope.” The differences between the Dutch and American Christmas figures and traditions provide evidence of the differences between their national character. Americans, with their fat, jolly Santa and tradition of opening presents on Christmas day are more materialistic and consumerist than the Dutch, whose skinny St. Nicholas and less gift-centered Christmas traditions are evidence of their

As a matter of fact, with all the publicities and the constant apparition of messages selling values and a new image of the culture surrounding Christmas, the changing of adult’s perception is inevitable and widely affected by commercialization. Each year, the two months preceding Christmas are very important for TV shows, magazines and other businesses because they make the promotion of Christmas in their own image. Everybody is telling you to change or to buy a new product because your

A medium sized suburban home comes into view; a light snowfall blankets the world in a sheet of cotton as the sounds of Christmas music fill the air. The street is covered in brightly colored orbs of light strung carefully from every rooftop. Despite the busy season, the air feels light with Christmas cheer as despite the chilly weather there is a feeling of warmth through every home. The Christmas season had finally arrived, coming into view as quick as a flicker of the home 's hearth. No matter where you go you can feel the spirit of the holidays throughout every home, every meal, and every celebration. The holiday season fills each and every person with emotion, an emotion that is hard to describe but everyone who has experienced the holidays knows. Trying to capture this emotion is difficult, yet sometimes his emotion can truly be harnessed and celebrated.

Christmas is the annual festival celebrating the birth of Jesus on the 25th December, at least that is what it began as initially. Since it has expanded into an international phenomenon for consumption, taking priority over our everyday practices of life (Michel De Certeau, 1980). Our time we spend divided between work and leisure in accordance to the codes and conventions of society shifts, Christmas derails these expectations. Yet surprisingly Christmas gains little attention in terms of social research, despite the fact that it can be explored diversely. The inquiry ‘What is Christmas?’ links to multiple aspects of social research. The aspects of Christmas can be subdivided into the following; religion, commercialism, gift-giving, social relationships, sensualism and mythology. This essay will analyse these fundamentals of Christmas through both psychological and sociological perspectives, as the theories among these two social sciences are best suited to the elements which make up Christmas itself.

Holidays have always been known to affect our consumer culture for many years, but how it all began eludes many people and very few studies have been completed on it. Even though some say that the subject is too broad to precisely identify how holidays, especially Christmas, directly affect our market, I have found that people’s values, expectations and rituals related to holidays can cause an excessive amount of spending among our society. Most people are unaware that over the centuries holidays have become such a profitable time of year for industries that they now starting to promote gift ideas on an average of a month and a half ahead of actual holiday dates to meet consumer demands.

Christmas is meant for joy and laughter, not injuries and pain. Each year there are hundreds of injuries that occur on the morning of December 25th. When the holiday approaches Americans love to get into the Christmas spirit. Each family celebrates Christmas with their own traditions and rituals that determine their holiday activities. I would have never thought that my family’s traditions for Christmas morning would help me shape my values.