Copyright 2008 T. Sheil & A. Sheil All Rights Reserved
A gift is a token of esteem. By our tradition, it is done with the benefit of the receiver in mind. We give with the intent of doing good. That takes thought and an appreciation of the beneficiary of our largesse. “What would he like?” “What would be useful to him?” “Is there something he wants that he cannot get, but that I can get for him?” These are some of the thoughts that guide us in choosing gifts. We might not think of them in these exact terms, but we do think of them.
The Havamal echoes this wonderfully. “A guest has arrived..Where shall he sit? Fire he needs who with frozen knees, has come from the cold without; Food and clothes must the farer have, Water and towels and welcoming speech, should he find who comes to the feast.” We are counseled to see to the guest’s well-being and comfort. Again and again in the old lore, we are reminded that generosity is thoughtful and considerate. Were it anything less, it would not be generous.
The Heathen tradition of gifting is not limited to one season or one holiday. A gift can be made at any time. Of course, these gifts are rarely extravagant. They tend to be modest tokens of friendship. Our giving is a matter of quality over quantity.
In the old lore, many a line was devoted to the gifts that jarls and kings gave to their retainers. Those gifts were actually a form of payment to the soldiers who attended the leader. it was said that good gifts secured good service. In other words, better pay attracted the best men. Today, that principle applies to those of us in business. The better the wages, the more we can expect from our employees. A well-paid worker is unlikely to betray his source of income. To the contrary! He will work extra hard to maintain his place on the job.
Our brief look at the Heathen tradition of giving must precede a discussion of the coming season’s gifting madness. As we slide deeper into Autumn, so grows the annual barrage of mercantile advertising. The shorter days and colder nights bring with them the exhortations for Christmas shopping. Thence begins what can only be described as a maniacal rush to shop and spend frivolously. It coincides with the coming Yule, but that is where any similarity ends.
The Christmas holiday may have borrowed from Northern traditions, but it is not Yule. Just as our holidays differ, so do our attitudes about giving. The Christmas types of giving are very different from ours. For us, Yule entails one kind of giving. For them, there are two. Along with the giving of gifts, Christianity promotes giving to what it calls “charitable causes”.
Both are very different in spirit and practice from Heathen generosity.
The Christian tradition includes an anti-materialistic teaching that extols poverty as “virtuous”. On the flip side, prosperous people develop a touch of guilt for having it so good. “Charity” has become a way to assuage some of that guilt. What with the extravagance and wild spending of Christmas shopping, that guilt is more easily exploited.
A good example is the commercials which beg money to “feed the children.” They show pictures of squalid villages and dirty children., the goal being to make folks feel guilty enough to pay a monthly donation. Another example is the old trick used by parents to get children to finish their dinner. “Think of the starving children in Africa. They would be glad to have that meal,” instills guilt over having more than others. During the Christmas shopping season, the same guilt is much easier to exploit. Those charities that feed the poor and help the homeless are especially prominent during the season. They ply the guilt of having plenty.
Charity has become a great way to throw off guilt. It is also a tool by which a Christian can feel “right” by doing a “selfless” good deed. They feel that by throwing money at a “charity” they can buy their way out of feeling bad and get into a state of grace.
Another form of this kind of giving manifests as people volunteering on holidays to work in a soup kitchen. They believe that by doing a few hours of serving the homeless, they are somehow sanctified. One has to wonder if their concern about the homeless extends throughout the rest of the year. The folly of this self-induced penance is obvious. To their thinking, a day of “penance” buys a year of feeling like selfless, spiritually-correct people.
There is a more recent twist in which an individual gives a donation to a charity of his choice, but uses the name of someone else. This is supposed to be a “gift” to the person whose name he uses. If a person donates to his cause, how can it be a gift to someone else? Of course, it is charity, and most people go along with it even if they feel foolish about it because they do not want to be seen as “uncharitable.” From a Heathen perspective, this is a scam, not a gift. The giver is trying to get credit for a gift he did not actually give. It is a cheap trick that has nothing to do with generosity.
(Be careful. If someone does this in your name, it can be embarrassing if his cause is something that you oppose or dislike. Would you want your name attached to a donation to a church-based charity? Should someone do this in your name, explain that you do not consider it a gift. Tell them firmly that if they wish to give you a gift, they will contact that charity and get your name off the donation.)
Heathenism does not extol poverty. We understand that the paradox of rich and poor is primarily a matter of Wyrd. Prosperity is something in which to take pride. Poverty is a sign that something is terribly wrong. We never feel shameful about our well-being and we never apologize for doing well.
If a Heathen feels like giving to a charity, it is done because he believes in its work. There is no guilt for which to compensate. He is not buying favor from the Gods or anyone else. We are not compelled to give to any charity. The only counsel a Heathen need apply is to think before he gives. We do not throw money at a problem. Our generosity demands that when we choose to give, we give effectively.
The business of Christmas giving is at odds with us. The Christmas tendency has been to give ever more extravagant and ostentatious gifts. On one hand, the message is that the bigger the gift, the more the giver cares. On the other hand, it can be a competition to see who cares more by giving the biggest gift. Once again we confront the game of throwing money at someone and calling it a gift.
A large part of this trend to spend is fueled by the mercantile sector through advertising and the conventional media. The bombardment of advertising is relentless, and it increases geometrically during Autumn. Using their influence with the entertainment media, these marketers manage to insinuate product promotion into television shows. The glut of ads double the size of newspapers and magazines throughout the Christmas shopping season.
More cynical are advertisements aimed at children. The little ones have very little defense against the tactics of mercantile persuasion. It could have been minimized, but the lawmakers flinched in the 1960s when limits could have been imposed.
When you look at the overwhelming majority of Christmas gifts, you see things that are not necessary. They are “luxuries.”. Many of these luxury items are of relatively recent invention. Marketers devise products and then concoct a need for them. Creative advertising convinces people that they need these things, and so they are given as gifts.
The
glut stops here!
First of all, Heathen giving is thoughtful and considerate of both the giver and the receiver. We give sincerely. Our way is not to impoverish ourselves just to give lavish gifts. Ours is to spend within our means and to give with the good of the receiver in mind. The focus of our giving is the people who matter most in our lives. The gift itself is thoughtful and something that the beneficiary of our largesse would like.
Running through malls and shopping plazas on a gift hunt is not our way. We need to choose our gifts thoughtfully. A unique gift that means something is ideal. Perhaps we might shop off the beaten path.
The essential difference between Heathen Yule gifts and Christmas shopping is one of quality versus quantity. It is the quality of the gift and the thought behind it versus the quantity of dollars and extravagance.
When buying Heathen gifts, let us make it a rule that we buy from Heathen and Pagan sources. Yule is a good time to support our fellow Heathen. It does mean something if the hammer pendant or Rune set were acquired from a Heathen shop instead of a funky New Age catalog. When you buy the things of the Gods, buy them from those who worship the Gods. There are Heathen businesses selling everything from books and beads to swords and collectibles.
Yule is not Christmas.
Yule is not about the gifts. They are just a little tradition within a greater one. Yule is about the people who mean most to us. It is about the year, the Gods, and the people with whom we want to share our good. Let us keep our Yule holy by avoiding the temptation to feed into the mercantile madness of Christmas shopping. Yule is not Christmas, so let us keep it that way.
One thing I find puzzling is the “gift glut” for the children. 75 years ago, children received one major toy and two or three small items. A boy might get a train set as his major toy, and perhaps a baseball or a couple of dime-store tin soldiers. Parents were far less extravagant. This shows up in the movie “A Christmas Story,” where a boy wants a BB gun as his main present.
Today, I see children receiving a slew of major toys,. The pile of toys is often larger than the child. Is that good? I wonder. Children are asking for these toys because they are responding to advertising. Being a self -reliant people, do we teach appreciation of one’s good by overwhelming him with toys? Does giving so carelessly and in such abundance minimize the value of earning? These are many questions we must ask.
This problem is not just a Heathen one. The Jewish holiday of Hannukah used to be much more reserved. Because of competition from Christmas, Hannukah has become Eight Days of Goodies for many families. The original significance of the holiday is being diluted by the focus on getting things. The same could happen to us if we are not firm about Yule.
There was a time when people took more time to prepare for Thanksgiving. People actually decorated their doors and windows for the holiday. Dried ears of multi-colored maize and pumpkins were profuse. Cardboard lithographs of turkeys and pilgrims were posted. Thanksgiving was more than just a big weekend and a big Thursday meal that preceded a big Friday Christmas shopping glut-fest. It was a major family gathering centered around a shared feast. Mercantilism was pleasantly missing from the holiday.
Back then, the Christmas decorations and lights did not go up until Thanksgiving week. The lights were not turned on until the day after Thanksgiving. The television ads did not start until the latter half of November.
Did you know that prior to World War II, children did not go trick or treating on Halloween? The tradition at that time was to dress up like pilgrims and Indians, and go begging on Thanksgiving. Children would go door-to-door and say, "Anything for Thanksgiving?
There was a time when Thanksgiving got its due!
Nowadays the Christmas shopping ads hit television the day after Halloween. The decorations and lights are all aglow the first few days of November. Thanksgiving decorations are scarce. In many households, the family feast comes second to the excesses of Black Friday shopping.
Thanksgiving coincides with the last harvest in the latitudes of the "lower 48". Let us Heathens keep the holiday alive. We appreciate the value of a feast and we certainly value the attitude of gratitude. It is the only modern holiday that comes on a Thursday.
That should tell us something!
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