We get letters. Sometimes Satanta answers them herself; other times, she gets her elves to do her dirty work. Send your letters to satanta@xmasresistance.org.
"I figure the most subversive thing one can do on Xmas is to sleep through it."
— Justin
We like the way you think. Unfortunately, all those jingle bells keep waking us up.
"There are lots of charities, not-for-profits etc. who would be delighted to be the beneficiaries of socially responsible gift giving. It's a nice compromise between buying stuff and doing nothing."
— Ernestine
Compromize? We can't even SPELL comprumise! We're in favor of socially responsible giving, but we don't think it ought to be emphasized only once a year when the need is there all year 'round.
"What about cards? What's wrong with just sending cards? Some of them are even made from recycled paper. Also, I can send cards on the web for free!"
— Henny
A strange ritual takes place during the Xmas season: People pull out the previous year's list of Xmas card recipients, and decide whether they still care enough to send another card to everyone. Some people get crossed off the list, or demoted to digital greeting cards. This is supposedly done to celebrate a season of love. We did find some timely dot-com condolences digital greeting cards on the web, though — and now there's even more!
"It's not really Christmas that should be boycotted but the marketing artifacts of 'The Season' and 'The Holidays.' You must have noticed that the word 'Christmas' has become anathema to the merchandisers. It is rarely mentioned explicitly in advertising. Their desire to exploit 'The Holidays' and 'The Season' as a reason for vulgar consumption has become much more universal."
— St. Stephen
Christmas, to early Christians was about as significant a religious holiday as St. Filbert's Day. Read "The Trouble With Christmas" by Tom Flynn, an unusually well-researched history of the holiday. We're all for Christians celebrating it the "traditional" way — which was to virtually ignore it.
"I wish you would put Christ back into CHRISTmas instead of saying Xmas."
— Joy
We know a few sheep, and they've informed us that December 25th is not a time when shepherds watch their flocks by night. So "Christ" never WAS in "Christmas," which may be why the name's been replaced by an "X". We are working hard to put the "Satan" back into "Satanta," though.
"Last year I got a phone call from a relative, telling me off for not wanting to come down and be with the family. Odd. There are 364 other days that the phone doesn't ring. I gave up on Christmas a long time ago and two years ago cut my ties with this consumptive holiday of greed and mental malalignment."
— Doc
It's amazing how some people won't bother keeping touch with others, yet still make an effort to buy gifts for them. How can the gift itself be anything but prepackaged landfill? The money would be better spent on phone calls during those other 364 days, or even (*gasp!*) actually coming to visit!
"Really now, there's nothing like having a tree in the house. I love the smell!"
— Holly
Have you ever considered going for a walk outside? You can smell all sorts of things there, and you don't even have to kill them!
"I informed everyone this year that I was not participating in the exchanging of gifts for Xmas. I am sick of the what the Xmas season has become. Some people still don't believe me and others are trying to make me feel guilty. But one friend was kind enough to forward your site to me as a show of support. Thanks for the impetus I needed to stick with my original stance."
— Frosty
A friend for all seasons!
"You sound like a 'Scrooge.' I can understand not wanting to get caught up in a consumer frenzy, but a little tinsel never hurt anybody. In fact, it has been known to cheer people up. Eggnog is fun to drink."
— Tony Tom
Eggnog is hard to drink. It takes almost as much work to drink the stuff as it did for the factory farm chickens to make it. You have to dilute it with rum to make it palatable, which brings us to tinsel. You've obviously never seen what happens when tinsel is swallowed by a cat, dog, or an eggnog-swilling relative. Glittery yellow vomit is only the best-case scenario. Bah, humbug!
"C'mon, this is the time of the year to be merry and listen to happy Christmas songs! The Vince Giraldi Trio's Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack makes me smile."
— Carol Ng
While we don't like to co-enable anyone's Xmas addiction, Frugal Elf here just won't shut up about his latest money-saving tip. We'll pass it along, though, with the disclaimer that the Movement truly only fully supports cost-cutting measures that cut Xmas out entirely.
Frugal Elf: "Here's the deal. When Xmas is all over, bypass all the post-Xmas sales and go dumpster-diving. You'll find a bunch of musical greeting cards. Cut out their music boxes and save them for next year. After a year, the batteries are practically dead, so the tunes sound… well… drunken. That way you get the same effect of cheery inebriated caroling without wasting time and money on an elaborate Wassail punch."
"The Xmas rituals are developed from the original Siberian shaman's sacred mushroom rituals (Amanita muscaria), the familiar large red mushoom cap with white dots. From the reindeer to the stringing over the hearth and the coniferous tree with magical gifts appearing over night under the branches (the Amanita muscaria could be said to be the fruit of the coniferous tree)… actually the list goes on much longer."
— Odin
We thought Santa's robes were red because of a deal he cut with a cola manufacturer, but your information is intriguing, to say the least. Satanta, on the other hand, is red hot for entirely different reasons.