Brace
yourself. It’s time to go Christmas shopping again. But wait, does
it have to be this way? While some bravely enter the fray of crowded
parking lots and ringing registers, others are saying “no” to the
whole shopping thing and finding ways to revive the original meaning
of Christmas giving. In fact, in a recent Ipsos Reid survey
conducted on behalf of World Vision, 84 percent of Canadians said
they would rather have a holiday gift given to a charity in their
name than receive more socks or sweaters.
There is even an organization encouraging us
to have a “Buy Nothing Christmas.” It a national initiative started
by Mennonites “but open to everyone with a thirst for change and a
desire for action.” Co-founder Aiden Enns of Winnipeg says, “When I
was working at Adbusters magazine back in 2001, I noticed how
successful the Buy Nothing Day campaign was, especially in North
America and the UK.” “What a shame that it’s only one day, I
thought,” says Enns. So he decided to inject a spirit of radical
simplicity into the whole Christmas season…and Buy Nothing Christmas
was born.
His first act was to gather a few of his Mennonite
friends, pass the hat and purchase a full-page ad in their national
church magazine. “If you think Christmas has gotten too
commercialized, here’s your chance to do nothing about it,” the ad
read. Then the group of volunteers took the message to the broader
public and launched a website to spread the word.
It’s not that Enns and his group are against giving
things at Christmas. “Gift-giving is important,” he says. “It’s a
profound action, an important glue that keeps communities strong,
people less individualistic. But this gift-giving impulse has been
exploited by consumer capitalism and a market that preys upon our
appetite for wasteful gadgets and soon-obsolete fashions.”
Gift-giving shows affection, thoughtfulness and love, he says.
“While gift-giving is a good thing to do at Christmas, that doesn’t
mean we have to go overboard.”
Buy Nothing Christmas suggests that, instead of buying a pile of
glitzy presents, give a personal gift. That could involve giving someone a gift
of your own artwork, a collection of meaningful photos, a collection of favorite
family recipes, a shared trip to a movie, a coupon for babysitting to new
parents, a charitable donation in the giftee’s name, etc.
When you do buy things, Enns encourages you to remember
principles like buying locally-produced, fairly-traded products with
environmentally friendly or no packaging. Recycling or re-using is also a good
principle to keep in mind when considering Christmas gifts.
The main aim of the campaign is not to save money (although that
can be a side benefit), nor to slow down the pace of Christmas (although that
can be another side benefit). It is to challenge our over-consumptive lifestyle
and how it affects global disparities and the earth.
Enns says, “Buy Nothing Christmas is an experiment. I’m curious
to see what happens. I think it’s a great way to challenge our own consumer
mindset, to put our faith into action, to offer a prophetic ‘no’ to unfettered
free-market consumer capitalism, and an excellent way to generate some good
dinner-table discussions on the topic of economics, politics, religion and what
we’re not getting each other for Christmas.”
Wendy Priesnitz is the editor of Natural Life
Magazine, a journalist with 35 years of experience, and the author
of ten books. Visit her
website.
This is one of a limited number of articles from Natural
Life magazine that are available on this website for free. To read more articles
like this about green, frugal, healthy family living,
subscribe to either the print or digital edition.
