Newsman Debate Column: When to Play Holiday Music?
Welcome back to the Newman Debate Column! Today we are discussing the controversial question of when it is appropriate to play holiday music. With 65 responses the Newman community has spoken, and 56.9% of students agreed that holiday music should only be played after Thanksgiving until January.
As always, we have included the responses of students. We start off with a powerful statement that “Holiday music is consumerist propaganda.” Simple but strong, thank you for your response. Another simple response: “I still play [Holiday] music before Thanksgiving even though it's illegal. Sorry.”
A general consensus among responses was that over-listening to Christmas music would ruin the magic. One response asked “part of the magic of the holidays is how special it is, so if you listen to Christmas music year round, how special can it really be?” and “If you play holiday music before thanksgiving then you are not fully enjoying the sheer amount of other holiday excitement that there is to offer in the other months.” This response continued with a strong “Plus NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR "HAVE A HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS" FOR 4 MONTHS STRAIGHT” (Note: we did not add the capitalization).
Capitalization was also a common component of our responses, with another student remarking “Christmas music should only be played from 8:00 am on the Friday after Thanksgiving until 8:00 am of January 1. Period. I will not have Holiday music in the middle of November! THE LEAVES JUST STARTED TURNING YELLOW AND RED AND NOW THERES CHRISTMAS AND HOLIDAY COMMERCIALS EVERYWHERE. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. CHRISTMAS AND HOLIDAY MUSIC IS ONLY ACCEPTABLE IN DECEMBER. I have spoken.”
Two responses stuck out to us as being thoughtful and well put, and they support two different arguments. The first argues that Holiday Music should be reserved for December and the second argues that Holiday Music should be enjoyed year round.
As rational beings, mankind gravitates naturally toward order. For the same reason that we live in societies with established governments, holiday music has limits: everything has a proper place, and in this case that place includes a time frame. Holiday music is part of a seasonal holiday celebration, specifically of Christmas and New Year's. It is therefore good to play holiday music during the holiday seasons of Christmastime and New Year's because such music augments celebration and can be celebratory in itself. Out of place, however, holiday music does not belong. The most misunderstood point here is that Thanksgiving is an important holiday, an independent celebration of the autumn season that garners individual attention and generates its own mood by the unique celebration. To neglect Thanksgiving is just as much a shame as to neglect any other major holiday, because to do so is to neglect the values of the celebration: the gathering of family and friends for a harvest feast, a tradition stemming from a special moment in our American history that also foreshadowed a heritage of prosperity shared through global friendship and cooperation. Additionally, for you Christmas fanatics, playing holiday music out of season only dilutes that holiday celebration. When festivities are overdone, meaning is lost and the holiday cannot be enjoyed as fully. This is an effect of overloading dopamine reward circuits in the brain, just as with other enjoyable activities: oversaturate our lives with something good, and we cease to derive the same pleasure from that thing. Besides, while you are enjoying the holiday all the more for waiting to celebrate at the proper time, nobody around you has become irritated by excessive festivities. But the music of Billie Holiday? That can be played any day of the year.
The spirit, nay, the meaning of Christmas is to celebrate humanity, life and family. I don't think of Christmas as a religious holiday, rather it is meant to be a time to be as happy as possible, and make those you love (or don't know!) happy! Christmas music makes all of us happy with its poppy tones and catchy lyrics! Limiting when somebody can feel that magical Christmas warmth in their soul to just a month and 5 days (Thanksgiving to Christmas) is positively Grinch-like, I do declare.
So, take what you will from this article, it seems though that the Newman community feels that Holiday Music should be reserved for after Thanksgiving until January. As always, thank you for your responses and we appreciate your participation. Happy Holidays from Newsman!
Pie chart displaying the 65 responses to our holiday music survey.
