Christmastime, for many, is the time of the year marked by trees, ornaments, stockings, presents, and constant holiday marketing. It seems impossible to escape the grasp of American capitalism during the holiday season, from Black Friday to December Christmas shopping. But, Christmas hasn’t always been this way.
For thousands of years, different cultures have celebrated the winter solstice, which is Dec. 21, but the origin of Christmas itself can be traced back to ancient Rome, with the winter celebration of Saturnalia. In the fourth century, there was a movement against non-Christian traditions, and Saturnalia was adapted into the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The celebration included gift exchanges, candle lighting, decorating, feasting, and singing–all contributing to the modern celebration on Dec. 25.
Christmas began to develop across cultures from there. Santa Claus was actually based on a real person–Saint Nicholas. He was from third-century Turkey and was known for his kindness and generosity. Advent calendars and wreaths came from Central European cultures in Germany and Austria. Dutch immigrants brought the legend of Santa Claus to New York in the 1600s and the Germans brought the Christmas Tree in the 1700s.
By the 1840s, Christmas had taken off in the United States and marketers began to see the holiday as a golden opportunity to sell goods. Depictions of Santa Claus were lucrative in New York and Boston, and the first Santa appeared at Macy’s in 1862. In the early-t0-mid 1900s, mass advertising of holiday gifts flooded the radio waves and storefronts, encouraging consumers to buy, buy, buy.
In stores like TJ Maxx and HomeGoods, you can find Christmas decorations on shelves as early as August or September and media advertising campaigns for the holiday season can begin in late September or early October. Nowadays, the United States spends a collective $242 billion on holiday gift shopping and nearly $311 billion on holiday travel. The average American spends over $900 every Christmas and 71% of U.S. holiday budgets are assigned specifically to gift shopping. The average American spends over $500 on non-gift purchases.
Additionally, you pay for wrapping paper, tape, gift bags, bag tags, stickers, ribbons, tissue paper, etc. to make the holiday “aesthetically pleasing”, which is piled on the cost at the check stand. When shoppers pour into Walmart or Target, shelves empty and lines reach the back of the store, meaning they need more staff. Many stores hire seasonal staff during the holiday season to lighten the load for each individual. Stores are expected to hire between 265,000 and 365,000 seasonal employees in 2025.
Capitalism is engrained into every fiber of American society, and religious practice is not something it cannot reach. In fact, capitalism has buried its fungal roots so deep into the holiday that many non-Christians celebrate, as it’s seen more as a commercial holiday than as a religious one. And that’s all thanks to capitalistic marketing and the economic machine.
