Christmas celebration and thanksgiving - Essay Example

?Insert of Christmas celebration and thanksgiving Birthday celebrations are a very common phenomenon among many people around the world today. In fact every day is a birthday someone somewhere in the world and so every day there is a birthday celebration somewhere. The common argument for doing the same celebration every year is that one is thanking his or her god for being with and protecting him or her for the length of time he or she has spent since birth besides remembering the events that took place at the time of his or her birth. Birthday parties are always made so colorful usually decorated with a lot of flowers, abundant food and drinks of various kinds depending on the person’s financial capability (Vogel, 1990). Historically the act of celebrating the days when people are born can be traced back to the early centuries when the Roman emperors used to organize banquets in remembrance of the days they were born. This celebration was by then a reserve for the royal families and very rich people of the time. However, today, most people celebrate their birthdays quite often. It is with the need to celebrate the day of birth of a prominent person in the society that they need to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ arose is a prominent person in the Jewish history (Williamson, 2000). This paper will examine the linkages between the various themes brought out in Bret Harte’s short story the outcasts of poker Flat and the celebration of the Christmas holiday and the art of thanksgiving. Even though Jesus himself did not celebrate any day to mark hisbirthdayy according to the living history to date, many people around the world celebrate the day in remembrance of him. The Christmas holiday has for a long time been celebrated by the Christendom to mark the birth of their savior Jesus Christ whom they claim to have been born on the same date in the early 31AD in one of the then most powerful European empires, the Roman Empire. These people believe that Jesus came into the world to save mankind by dying for them on the cross in order to wash away their sins by his blood that was shed on the cross during the time of his death. Due to this courtesy, love and passion that the Savior had on mankind, especially the Jews and other Christian societies, they felt the need to celebrate the day in order to commemorate the day when he was born. The celebration of the Christmas day was intensively advocated for by the Roman popes who strongly stood for the spiritual upbringing and growth among the people of Rome as well as in the entire kingdom (Williamson, 2000). Pope Constantine for instance played a very vital role in cementing the observance of this day among the Christian folks around the globe. During Christmas seasons people were expected to show mercy and gratitude to their fellows who were unfortunate amidst them. It was time of showing courtesy to the members of the society just as Jesus did when he agreed to offer himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the people of this world. To begin with it is fine to notice the time when the story is said to be taking place, that is at around the twenty third of November, which, is barely a month to the dawn of the Christmas time as the Christians always regards it. I guess Oakhurst and his friends have began preparing for the great day if at all they belong to the same sect who regards the day so much in their lives like the Jews. It is at this point when the attempts to eliminate Oakhurst and some of his fellow friends come into question and he has to look for ways of escaping this terrible ordeal, as a sign of misfortune in his life and which would otherwise terminate the many dreams he has been holding in life since his childhood. Oakhurst is said to have been categorized together with other people who have been listed as hard core suspects of a theft case in which porker has lost several thousand dollars as well as his two horses and which he suspects Oakhurst together with his friends must have stolen from him, “in point of fact, porker was after somebody it had lately suffered the lose several thousand dollars, two valuable horses and a prominent citizen… a secret committee had determined to rid thetownn of all the improper persons. This was done permanently with regard to two men who were then hanging from the boughs of a sycamore in the gulch and temporarily in the banishment of certain other objectionable characters… Mr. Oakhurst was right in supposing that he was included in this category. A few of the committee had urged hanging him as a possible example, and a sure method of reimbursing themselves from his pockets of the sum he had won from them” (Bret, 34). From the evidence provided from the book we deduce that, Oakhurst was surely among the many thieves in the region who could be pointed out and pictured as the most wanted of all these thieves that he was to be used as an example to teach the others a lesson. His killing was to experiment the seriousness that and the determination of the committee in executing their duties of being against the theft act that was prevalent in the region by then. It was of course a sad day for Oakhurst and his men as they came face to face with their most unfortunate day in their lives. The whispers of these going about in the air made him paralyzed with fear and discontent. However, a sigh of relief showered their faces at long last when they are able to escape this daring death right at their faces and they celebrate their fortune in the wilderness amidst the snowy valleys. Here Harte brings out clearly the theme of thanksgiving as Oakhurst and his allies celebrate in the fields their escape and return to life from a conceded death. He intertwines this with the Christmas season as the people prepare to celebrate the birth of their savior and messiah. From the point of view of the reader, it can be said that Oakhurst celebrated the best since he was not drunk and given the fact that he was to act as an example to the rest of his folks by being killed by the committee of executioners. He knew that he had to thank his Lord from his heart and so did not take any beer or any other hard drink. The thanksgiving process during the Christmas times were to be accompanied by holiness and a lot of passion to her friends and relatives in order to reciprocate the kind of passion and love that Jesus showed for humankind by offering himself to die for their sins at Calvary. Oakhurst as well offers himself to watch over his friends as they slept in the cold night to commemorate the sacrifice of Jesus at night, “the storm abated, the rolling clouds parted and the stars glittered keenly above the sleeping camp, Mr. Oakhurst, whose professional expertise had enabled to live on the smallest possible amount of sleep in dividing that watch with To Simon possibly managed to take upon himself the greater share of the duty” (Bret, 30). Besides, he becomes born again only to abandon his old crooked ways and begin a new life all together not as a thief and a shrewd man kin the society but a changed man. The theme of change is also quite eminent in the story as the people who were formerly involved in weird dealings in the society such as Oakhurst had their characters changed from this kind of abnormal behavior to a more improved on as far as the community would consider it. This is a relief on the part of the society as those people who caused them several losses as well as sleepless nights had changed no more to cause commotion in the community. The celebration and jubilation that accompanied their departure as well as their reformation in terms of character change was really greater than one can imagine. This was also an indication of a celebratory mood accompanied by a thanksgiving session for the remarkable change on the part of these wearisome and shrewd groups of individuals. A sigh of relief was noticed on the face of each and every community member and after a long period of sleepless nights and restless days, the whole village had to have a smooth night full of abundant sleep. To conclude, it is necessary to point out that the celebration of the Christmas holidays is always accompanied with a lot of regards for the holy season. According to the staunch Christian believers, one is supposed to change in character from bad to good and not to the contrary. As the period approached people were always encouraged to prepare to abandon their old ways of life and allow the newborn babies of good characters to be borne on them. This is what happens in the case of Oakhurst and his friends as they shed off their old ways of life and embrace better ways of living peacefully with their neighbors and other community members. To date, this observance of change and regards to the day is often considered for the latter with believers expected to have new and good characters born in them and abandon the old and weird behaviors which might have earned them problems with their neighbors and friends in the society. Works Cited Bret, H. (2006). The Outcasts of Porker Flat. New York: Princetone Publishers. Vogel, J. (1990). Contemporary Principle on Skeptism. London: Oxford University Press. Williamson T. (2000). History of the Jews . London: Cambridge University Press . Read More