Do we really know why we celebrate holidays?

I often write things and then not publish them.   I found this written last year, I've edited it, but it was pretty good already:

Valentines Day was a Sunday in 2010.   I spent the day alone while Jeff and the boys were at church.  It was just like any other day. I didn't receive flowers, or even a card. It was just another Sunday when I wasn't well enough to go to church.

I actually was surprised at the amount of my friends who had no desire to participate in Valentines Day, let alone wish it didn't exist. I had a friend who did not go to church so that she wouldn't be wished Happy Valentine's Day, because it was too depressing for her.  Yes, its a holiday having to do with romance. I looked it up, its actually quite interesting.  Like most holidays, it has been commercialized, and "dummied down" for even preschoolers to understand, thus losing the core of its significance.

Other holidays that linger this time of year include Presidents Day, which used to be two different holidays, Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays, but for simplicity was degraded to the one.   Mardi Gras precedes Ash Wednesday, many probably don't even know they are linked.    St. Patrick's day ... I  love this line from a movie regarding Chicago on St. Patrick's Day - "If they can dye the river green one day a year, why can't they dye it blue the rest of the year?"

I started looking into these little questions, Why does Martin Luther King Jr. have his own day, which I don't begrudge, but great men like Washington and Lincoln have to share, and the man called "The First American," Benjamin Franklin doesn't have a day at all.   What about Mardi Gras?  Do people actually know it was developed so that the religious could "sin" through "fat Tuesday" and then go receive penance on Ash Wednesday?  Why is St. Patrick's Day celebrated by non-Irish and non-Catholics?  That answer is most likely why non-Mexican Californians celebrate Cinco De Mayo - an excuse to party and get drunk.

While researching this rant, I found that on average Americans spent $103 on Valentine's Day, just short of what is spent at Halloween, but at least the priorities are right - Easter out ranks them both.   But commercialism aside, do we really need a day when we are "expected" to be loving?  Shouldn't we be loving everyday?   I guess we could make the same argument for most holidays.

Do I usually stop and thank God for Abraham Lincoln or George Washington or Martin Luther King Jr. on their days?    No.   Do I really rest on Labor Day - or do I work harder because I have a party at my house? Do I go to a soldiers grave on Memorial Day?  

Don't get me wrong, I'm the first one to want to throw a party for now apparent reason, but maybe we should take our holidays a little bit more seriously.  I don't need a day to tell my husband and my children that I love them. Maybe because I don't need a day to remind me to be grateful to God for my country, the founders who gave their lives, and of course, Jesus.

Next time we have a holiday, take a moment and explore its beginnings.  Then take a moment to thank God for your many blessings.

Kristi Maas
 original 2/21/10 revised 2/14/11