I am writing in response to John LaFleur’s column (“Retailers sold out Christmas to be politically correct,” SN 11/30). LaFleur seems to think Christmas was the original reason people have a celebration at the end of December.

He calls the Winter Solstice “a more recent attempt by Christmas bashers to detract from the holiday.” I would like to remind him that people were celebrating the Winter Solstice in late December for hundreds of years before Jesus came along.

If LaFleur wants to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on Dec. 25, he should go right ahead. But why should he feel shortchanged if the signs in Target and at the Quik Stop say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”?

Retailers are trying to remain secular because they want to appeal to everyone, not just Christians. He is irritated by the other holidays that take place in December, but what does he want? I suppose we could abolish all other holidays during this month, even though Christmas was far from the first.

Anthropologists and church scholars have concluded Dec. 25 wasn’t even Christ’s birthday. They place his actual date of birth somewhere between April and September of 5 B.C. There are records that show the church decided to make Christmas on Dec. 25 to take away from the celebration of the Winter Solstice, not the other way around.

Rory Finneren
computer science freshman