vienna

wide success. Christmas is now celebrated even in those parts of
the world where Christianity’s myth of the poor, newborn Christ
in the stable was not very successful. Although in countries
like Japan, local religious rituals cover the need for rituals
dedicated to the family, its consumer society found a new reason
for celebrating Christmas:
“In many respects the way in which Christmas is celebrated in
Japan acts as a negation of the Taoist and Shinto celebrations.
Christmas is located in the realm of mass culture, the city,
and is thus placed beyond the reach of both local community
and family. Young couples escape their social obligations for
a night when they go out to celebrate themselves, romance,
and consumerism.” 41
Thus, in Japan, the original purpose of the ritual to make
the family stable has been adapted into a ritual that helps young
couples to escape family and tradition. But the celebration of
the consumer rite does not depend on its social function. The
industry also has the liberty to take Santa´s help so that it can
do business during the sacral time. Every field of business is
free to place its goods in the festively decorated Christmas show
window. Christmas is a good opportunity to sell everything, from
sex paraphernelia to soft drinks. 42 There seems to be no taboo
on goods to be exchanged as gifts. 43 The strategy of consumer
culture is to replace a festival thus far celebrated in order to start
a parasitic life, which in the end kills the original festival. Several
tribal festivals were overlaid by Christian rites to prevent heathen
customs. We can thus assume that in a couple of years from
now, only social scientists and anthropologists will know the true
origin of the rites. 44 The successful transformation of Christmas
owes to the fact that the sacral period does not last just one day
or a few days, but extends over a couple of weeks. The coming
of Christ is preceded by several ritual weeks before the holy
day is celebrated. Therefore, the materialisation of the festival
can begin weeks in advance, and will expand from year to year.
Christmas music in the supermarket appears sooner than the
year before. The problem of covering a single religious holiday
41 Moeran/Skov (2001:122).
42 See Belk (2001:76) on the softdrink-consuming Santa Claus.
43 I recently passed by a gun shop that had a Christmas animation!
44 Today, most people know nothing about the origins of the Christmas tree. One day we, too, may forget that Christmas
shopping was invented by consumer culture only in the mid-nineteenth century.
Consumer Beliefs
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