Commodifying Christmas and The Hijab

New York city is the city of the go getter and the mentality of the city is non-stop. With that being said we all need a little pick me up in order to keep going and that pick me up of choice is usually a cup of Starbucks coffee. You can find one within two blocks of another so it is always readily available. Recently, Starbucks has stirred up (no pun intended) controversy in the media with the removal of “Christmas Symbols” on their holiday red cups. People have been so revved up about it that they have told Starbucks barista’s that their name is “Merry Christmas” so they’d have to write it on the cup. As somewhat of a devout Christian, this makes me shake my head at the American people that made such a fuss about Starbucks’ recent move. It is so sad because these people are fighting to have their “Christmas Symbols” put on a cup that they will drink from for three minutes and then throw away. However, whats even more disappointing is that they are commodifying and reducing the Christmas holiday to merely symbols that aren’t the true focus or meaning of the holiday. These people think they’re putting the “Christ” back in Christmas however it sounds more like they are praising these symbols that don’t make up the entire holiday. 

I saw a connection between this and our reading of Engaged Surrender as we read about the hijab. At one point our anthropologist saw a Muslim woman wearing a hijab in extremely hot weather and wondered why she would still wear it. Little did she know, like many other Americans, that there is much more to “hijab” than just the cloth itself. It is a way of life and promotes modesty. Far too often, like our protagonist, outsiders of the religion reduce the hijab to merely a cloth worn by Muslim women to shield their body parts from the eyes of other men. Furthermore, people usually reduce the entire Muslim religion to the hijab and use it as only a symbol of the religion, when it has its own, complex meaning as well. I’ve also seen many women commodify the hijab in outside cultures as an accessory. They’ve been worn at concerts like Coachella in order to add a little ethnic twist to their outfit, without even considering how devalued the hijab then becomes. 

Far too often in America, we exploit people, things, animals and religions for our own pleasure or delight without recognizing the meaning behind these entities. For instance, the wearing of a rosary as an accessory. In these situations mentioned above, the entire meaning has been drained to make it something lesser than what it really is. I’m guilty of not considering the significance of the hijab and asking the same question of “Why oppress yourself for your husband?” however I do not side with the hoopla that comes with the Starbucks controversy. We need to take the time out to understand the meaning behind and have respect for the symbols we see before we leave them as solely symbols.