It is often lamented by people that the "true meaning of Christmas" has been lost. They claim that Christmasd has become far too commercialesed, and that the Christian values of caring for others and giving have been lost.
I would suggest that these people are neglecting history. Christmas is a Christian festival, which has been imposed on a much older winter festival.
The pre Christian winter festival was a time of overindulgence and merriment; where people ate and drank as much as was possible, in order to forget the bleak mid winter and try to keep their spirits up until spring.
The modern day overindulgence, that the West engages in at this time of year, is in fact a reversion to this mid winter practice; and is therefore highly traditional.
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