A New York Reader Writes On The True End Of Christmas
01/15/2012
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[Previous Letter: A Reader Says It's Time To For A Voting Rights Act Suit Against The Obama Administration—For Suppression Of The White Vote ]

Re: A Military Reader Protests That We Ended Christmas Too Soon

From: Thomas McCarthy (e-mail him)

The military reader, Spirit of the Fighting 69th, who corrected Mr. Brimelow about the closing of the Christmas season is, alas, himself incorrect, as I wrote in a letter that VDARE was good enough to publish a year ago. Of course, no criticism of Mr. Brimelow is meant, since were he to stick strictly by the rubrics, this essential site might still be closed now and remain closed for another four days.

Since talk is cheap, here is a source for my description of the Christmas season. It comes from page 56 of the Saint Joseph Daily Missal  (Hugo H. Hoever, Ph.D., S.O.Cist., editor; New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1956) and is part of an introductory text to the mass for Christmas Eve: "The Christmas Season begins on the 24th of December and ends on the 13th of January. During this time the Church celebrates the following Feasts: The Nativity of Our Lord, the Circumcision, the Most Holy Name of Jesus, the Epiphany, and the Baptism of Our Lord. The contemplation of the Mystery of the Incarnation invites us to be born again through a more vital union with Jesus Christ Who became Man for us. With the Magi we should thank God for manifesting Himself to us. We should walk like them with a lively faith, ever seeking the true God and longing for His heavenly gifts."

Whatever discord the Protestant Reformation may have produced, I can confidently say that when I was a boy and young man, there was no dispute about the duration of the Christmas season among Catholics and Protestants in my then very livable South Bronx neighborhood. My parish church and the Episcopal church several blocks farther off both displayed their Christmas decorations through mid-January.

Incidentally, may I suggest that all immigration skeptics, immigration reformers, and even VDARE adopt the Magi as patrons. After all, they entered the Holy Land legally and checked in with the local authorities—viz., Herod, one of the few guys from that part of the world it is still possible to criticize without endangering one's livelihood. After learning what they had come to learn, they got on their camels and went home. They brought the Good News back to their own peoples rather than settle in, open a government-subsidized Oriental Wisdom shop, demand compassionate reunification with their extended-family members (didn't Melchior have an Aunt Zeituni, too?), set up a prototype of La Raza, and appeal for help to the $PLC (Southern Palestinian Law Center).

See previous letters from Thomas McCarthy.

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