
Charles Dickens
There’s no easy way to pinpoint what the first “fake” holiday was…mostly because all holidays are invented by humans with a diverse array of motives.
Cyber Monday…the “digital Black Friday” is the creation of the National Retail Federation. This e-shopping extravaganza was founded in 2005 and takes place the first Monday after Thanksgiving.
National Selfie Day…was the brainchild of DJ Rick McNeely from Fishbowl Radio Network, in Arlington TX. This annual holiday takes place on June 21st and their motto is…Relax, enjoy life…and take a Selfie!
Talk Like a Pirate Day…sails away annually on September 19th. John Baur and Mark Summers (aka Ol’ Chumbucket and Cap’n Slappy) were the champions of this special day and their advice when the boss gives you a new project is to say… “Aye, aye, Capt’n”.
And that brings us to the truth about Christmas…who invented it and why?
This is one of those stories that deserves to be more widely known…
Sorry Santa…someone had to do it.
Charles Dickens — is the man who invented Christmas…the person most responsible for the modern celebration of the season.
THE BACKSTORY
Dickens is one of the greatest writers in the English language.
He published twenty novels in his lifetime.
NOT ONE has ever gone out of print.
Amazing!
Yet in 1843, Dickens’ popularity was at a low…his critical reputation was in tatters…and his bank account consistently overdrawn.
Facing bankruptcy, and reduced to very few options, he considered giving up writing altogether.
In a feverish six-week period before Christmas, however, he wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay.
His publishers turned it down.
Using his meager savings, Dickens rolled the dice and put it out himself.
It was an exercise in vanity publishing…and Dickens told a few close friends it might very well be the end of his career as a novelist.
Yet the publication of “A Christmas Carol” caused a sensation.
Dickens sold out the first printing — in just four days. A second printing sold out before the New Year, and then a third.
Widespread theatrical adaptations spread the story to an exponentially larger audience still.
And, it wasn’t just a commercial success. Even Dickens’ chief rival and foremost critic, William Makepeace Thackery, bowed his head before the power of the book:
“The last two people I heard speak of it were women; neither knew the other, or the author, and both said, by way of criticism, ‘God bless him!’ What a feeling this is for a writer to be able to inspire, and what a reward to reap!”
Today we all know the tale of the tightfisted Scrooge — “BahHumbug!” — and his dramatic change of heart after being visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.
But “A Christmas Carol” didn’t just restore Dickens’ reputation and financial health. It also breathed new life into what was then a second-tier holiday that had fallen into disfavor.
As Les Standiford notes, in early 19th century England…the Christmas holiday “was a relatively minor affair that ranked far below Easter, causing little more stir than Memorial Day or St. George’s Day today.”
In the eyes of the relatively enlightened Anglican Church, moreover, the entire enterprise smacked vaguely of paganism, and were there Puritans still around, acknowledging the holiday along with the new year resolutions and celebrations that followed might have landed one in the stocks.”
The date of Christmas itself is an arbitrary one, of course.
Search for it…but there is NO reference in the gospels to the birth of Jesus taking place on December 25th, or in any specific month.
When Luke says, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,” there isn’t the slightest indication when that was.
And while the day was marked on Christian calendars, celebrations and even new year resolutions were muted.
That all changed when “A Christmas Carol” became an instant smash, stirring English men and women to both celebrate the holiday and remember the plight of the less fortunate.
This was EXACTLY the author’s intent!
Dickens grew up in poverty and was forced into child labor. (His father, a naval pay clerk who struggled to meet his obligations, was thrown into debtor’s prison.)
Yet despite these handicaps, Dickens educated himself, worked diligently, and rose to international prominence as a master writer and brilliant storyteller.
He was a great believer in the virtue of self-reliance and the transformative power of education.
With learning, he said, a man “acquires for himself that property of soul which has in all times upheld struggling men of every degree.
“Yet in the London of Dickens’ day, only one child in three attended school. Some worked in shops, others in factories. Still others resorted to theft or prostitution to live. Dickens was determined to expose their plight.
“A Christmas Carol”, is a b0ld-faced parable, something few novelists attempt and even fewer successfully execute. Dickens said his novels were for the edification of his audience.
His goal was not just to entertain but to enlighten. And “A Christmas Carol” was designed to deliver “a sledge-hammer blow” on behalf of the poor and less fortunate.
It worked. Scrooge — a character as well-known as any in fiction — is now synonymous with “miser.”
Yet through his remarkable transformation…the author reminds us that it is never too late to change, to free ourselves from selfish preoccupations.
Dickens’ biographer Peter Ackyroyd and other commentators have credited the Dickens with single-handedly creating the modern Christmas holiday.
NO, not the contemporary overload of shopping, spending and ostentatious display.
In fact, and this is the most fascinating part of this story…in A Christmas Carol, there are no Christmas trees…gaudy decorations or — apart from “the big, prize turkey” at the end — any presents at all.
The only gifts exchanged are love, friendship and goodwill.
He wonderfully demonstrated that the best gifts in life are free…and gifts which we can all share in abundance.
In one small book, Dickens changed the culture, inspired his contemporaries, and helped restore a holiday they were eager to revive.
More than a century and half later, “A Christmas Carol” is still a tonic for our spirits — and an annual reminder of the benefits of friendship, charity and celebration.
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