There's one day of the year that exerts a power like no other. It's so powerful that rulers, legislattors, dictators, educators, corporations, and businesses fear it with a vengeance and with such strength we might classify it as a seasonal phobia that comes every December around the world--a Christmasphobia. The very word itself strikes fear into the hearts of the aforementioned.
We see the fear in any country in which communist rulers clench their iron fists to crush the day. The reason for that is because to celebrate or even say the word, "Christmas" is to say that there is a power higher than the states they rule. Embedded in the word is "Christ."
THE PHOBIA IN ALBANIA
Beginning in 1945, Albania was under the communist regime of Enver Hoxha. In 1967, Albania became the first officially declared atheist country in the world. All religions were prohibited, places of worship were closed and / or destroyed, clergy were persecuted, tortured, and / or imprisoned.
Religious practices being forbidden, religious celebrations
were also removed from the calendar and replaced by festivities in honor
of the communist party. (There can be no power higher than the state.) Christmas was replaced by New Year’s Day.
Celebrated on December 31st and January 1st, New Year’s Day got all
aspects of the Christmas festivities while erasing the religious
aspects. Santa Claus was no longer Saint Nicholas, he was, "Grandfather of the New Year." The Christmas
tree became the "New Year's Tree."
Only a few children, those of the elite, received gifts for New Year or a basket containing fruits and dried fruits. Nevertheless, braving the laws, many believers celebrated Christmas secretly within families, running the risk of being arrested or imprisoned. For almost 25 years Albania was deprived of Christmas, until 1990, when religion was again allowed and places of worship were reopened and rebuilt.
THE PHOBIA IN NORTH KOREA
The North Korean government works hard to ensure information about religious holidays doesn't enter the "Hermit Kingdom," so its citizens remain unaware that people are eating cookies, gorging on pecan pies, and singing Christmas carols across the West.
This is because inside North Korea – a
country widely deemed to be one of the most hostile and repressive
towards organized religion – you can be imprisoned, tortured or executed for celebrating Christmas. The fear of Christmas among the leaders is that strong.
Kang Jimin, who grew up on the ghostly grey concrete streets of the capital of Pyongyang, says he remained wholly oblivious to Christmas while living there.
“There is no Christmas in North Korea. I didn't know what it was,” he said in an interview.( He was 31 years-old at the time.)
He went on to say, "Christmas
is Jesus Christ’s birthday but North Korea is a communist
country so people do not know who Jesus Christ is. They do not know who
God is. The Kim family is their god.” (I. e., "The government is their god.")
In a strange quirk, Christmas trees adorned with baubles and Christmas lights can be found in Pyongyang, but are there all year round and citizens are unlikely to be aware of the message they bear.
But this doesn't mean the North Korean government was happy with the Christmas tree-shaped tower the South Korean government constructed near the border with the North.
The tower – which was about two miles from the border and had in the
past been lit up at Christmas – could be seen by North Koreans
living in nearby towns. Incensed by it, the North threatened to shoot it
down back in 2014, saying it constituted “psychological warfare." Talk about having a fear of Christmas!
But while Christmas is forbidden in North Korea, celebrating the birthday of Kim Jong-Suk – the deceased grandmother of Kim Jong Un – is not. People mark the revolutionary idol’s birthday, which falls on Christmas Eve, by making pilgrimages to a town in the north-east called Hoeryong (her birthplace).
“The birthday of Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong Un – the men – is more important, but Kim Jong-Suk’s birthday was celebrated. People come together and have a drink and sometimes drink too much,” he said.
Kang says he didn't know any Christians when he was living in North Korea, adding: “I did not know any Christians or anyone who believed in God. The North Korean government controls all of the media and the Internet, and people I met don't know who Jesus is.”
He was aware of the stark punishments enforced on those who dared practice religion in the atheist state.
“You
can’t say you are Christian. If you do, they will send you to a prison
camp,” he says. “I heard about a family who believed in God and the
secret police caught them. They are now all dead – even the children – a
10-year-old and a seven-year-old.” (The terror of the state for anything or anyone higher than the state results in murdering children, women, and men.)
THE PHOBIA IN RUSSIA
Stalin hated the idea that his people might believe in a power greater than his own. Christmas says that there is. When the Bolsheviks—Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin with comrades—took power in Russia, the Christmas tree had to go.
While
Lenin was alive, the tree was used as a New Year Eve feature. After
him, in order to dress up what was now called a “New Year spruce” for
public display, you needed the government’s permission. In the banning of his rule, Stalin sent government officials into homes to see if they had dared to erect a Christmas tree. The fear of Christmas results in government agents bursting into the homes of the people.
THE PHOBIA IN AMERICA
Among the movers and shakers of our society there is a Christmasphobia. Among the many instances of this terror, a Michigan elementary school's principal issued a directive specifically forbidding references to God, Christianity, or the birth of Jesus Christ.
Advertisers fear using the word "Christmas"-- instead, there are the ubiquitous wishes, "Happy Holidays" and "Seasons Greetings" instead of "Merry Christmas." Schools no longer have the Christmas Holidays," but instead the observe a "Winter Break" Is it not strange that advertisers have no fear of saying, "Happy Hanukkah," but can't say, "Merry Christmas?"
The President of the United States was afraid to say the name "Jesus" in a recent address. From the news report we learn that he said, "How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given,” Biden began, as he delivered his address to reporters at the White House. The president spoke about a “child” born on Christmas but didn't speak the child’s name. “We look to the sky to a lone star, shining brighter than all the rest guiding us to the birth of a child, a child that Christians believe to be the Son of God,” he said.
In addition to fearing to say, "Jesus," the careful reader will note the statement, "The child that Christians believe to be the Son of God." The implication is, "He's not the Son of God, but Christians believe He is."
And now for a personal example: I was in line to check out at a store when the clerk, a person who appeared to be in her late teens or early, very early, 20s finished with the customer in front of me, said, "Happy holidays," to which he replied, "Merry Christmas." She then responded, "Merry Christmas."
When my turn came, as she finished, she said, "Happy Holidays," and I said, "You shouldn't be afraid to say, "Merry Christmas." She then said, "Merry Christmas."
Go figure.
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