Christmas:

Robin Hanson:

"At Christmas, we mostly give presents, eat, and socialize, mostly with family. Much as we do at many other holidays. But in many places, Christmas is special; it is our premiere holiday, collecting the most time and effort. It has more of its own distinct styles in clothes, decorations, food, movies/stories, and songs. More so than at other holidays, people claim to want to “get into the spirt of” Christmas with others. We are more eager to defend Christmas against enemies real and imagined. Christmas has even induces pauses during wars.

Christmas songs tend to sound bittersweet, older/“timeless”, major key, and they can be more easily sung well by ordinary people. Christmas stories are simpler, more heart-warming, and cover a wide range of relatively sacred themes, including children, family, nostalgia, pro-sociality, and gratitude. Compared to other stories, Christmas stories are more allowed to explicitly endorse and embrace sacred themes. Two common story themes are the power of belief, and characters (re-?) discovering a “true meaning of Christmas”. For both songs and stories, the artist/author tends to fade more into the background.

We humans use gifts, food, and holiday gatherings to bond together ..."