Christmas = Christ’s Mass. For those who still sing carols — I think that’s an outdated tradition at this point; does anybody do that these days? — most people don’t know that The Twelve Days of Christmas begin on 25 December and end the evening of 5 January. I think most people think that the Twelve Days begin sometime during Advent, maybe the middle of December. Then, The Epiphany begins 6 January.

Christmas is a strange time really, especially the couple of days before. It becomes a time of fantasy in the name of, “The Season of Goodwill.” It’s really for children, but often stirs the child in many adult bodies. Many parents seem to like to, in part, “relive” their childhood through their kids. Then, when it’s over, people have to snap out of it and return back to reality, which they temporarily leave in the name of “Merry Christmas.” “Merry?” Nobody ever uses the word “merry” any other time of year. When was the last time you heard someone say, “Oh I feel very merry today?” Some people say, “Happy Christmas” which makes more sense since happy is used by people throughout the year. The best greeting — if one has to use any — is Happy Holidays which makes no judgment as to what holidays one celebrates or not. There’s also something about the “Christmas music” that people hear that causes people to escape to this temporary fantasy world I’m talking about where people seem obligated to get together with others — even people they can’t stand in other time — eat traditional “Christmas” food and other things that are part of the Christmas tradition.

I heard a radio broadcast today talking about “Christmas music” which is the category that this performance from Atlanta falls into. As they said in the broadcast, all of these carols are “Christian” by definition but Christmas has really turned into a mostly secular holiday in our society. Because do most people really think about or care about — as a guy in Bethlehem put it, “The birth of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus” on Christmas? I. Don’t. Think. So.

Then there are the — what I call — “Christmas and Easter Christians.” They are more like fake Christians because they think they only need to go to church on those two High Holy days to “buy their way into heaven.” So many churches which are mostly empty any other time become packed for the liturgy the evening before Christmas and the same for Easter. They become packed with the tacky “Christmas and Easter Christians.”

In our secular society, Christmas is mostly about money and the making of money for merchants and people selling things: It’s starts with the “Black Friday” nonsense and there are now different versions of that. Buy, buy, buy, buy. Spend, spend, spend, spend. Spend beyond one’s means. “Hit the stores,” as they say around here after the big gaudy and tacky holiday tree is put up and acknowledged by the conservative merchants in San Francisco’s Castro. But the holidays are really all about money and — because of tradition — in too many cases having to get together with people you disagree with politically and can’t stand, and you can’t wait for the whole mess to be over.

The shopping network QVC has been marketing Christmas since July which trees on their sets ever since then. More and more trees and decorations appeared on their sets the closer it got to December. My choral friend asked: So will all those trees disappear right after 25 December? Or will they keep the trees on their sets permanently? I suspect the trees will gradually disappear until the next “Christmas in July” marketing scheme. HSN recently moved into the QVC studios in West Chester (Pennsylvania) so trees began to appear on the HSN sets as well.

In January, the media will say, “It was the best Christmas season ever with a record USD$ ____ billion in sales” or they’ll say the opposite, but the point is that Christmas is about $$$$$money. It is not about the birth of Jesus whatsoever. It’s all about sales.

Of course the Christian churches don’t see Christmas as being secular, although many genuine and fake Christians take part in the secular aspects of this tired tradition, which leaves some people asking, “Didn’t we just do this?”

As for the music, in the interview I mentioned earlier, the guy said that “we all, as children, grew up listening to these carols — but certainly not these arrangements — so these carols in their original form are very instilled in us.” Yes, that’s very true also. He said he listens to them today but he’s not a Christian. And that’s also true for many other people. The text of these carols don’t really mean much or anything to most people. I think it’s the melodies that are the appeal to most people.

And I should point out that many people who are not Christians and don’t call themselves a Christian certainly live their lives more “Christian” than the people who go around pretending to be Christians and wearing their fake Christianity on their sleeve. I’m thinking of the Christian frauds in the white house (the 34-count convicted felon et al), those in congress, the maga trash on the US supreme court, and elsewhere, such as that racist JD Vance piece of nazi maga trash who tries to reside in the Pope’s upper colon. Fortunately, the Pope is not fooled by that guy (neither was the previous Pope), that JD Vance and Pete Hegseth Christian frauds and all the rest of these maga cultist trash in this septic lawless cult/regime with their Christian fraud dictator in the oval. It says “Thou Shalt Not Kill” in their bible. What do they not understand about those words? They pick and choose what they will believe or follow. These maga cultists are useless trash. They act the opposite for the positions they hold, such as JD Vance being in his position and he uses the most unprofessional language about shit frequently. There’s nothing professional about that boy. He’s just like the 34-count convicted felon dictator who does the same thing. These trash seem to try to be as extreme and crude in their language as they can. But enough about these maga gutter trash who are “Christian” frauds. They are all the scum of the Earth.

Now, listen and hopefully enjoy this performance from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus whether you are Christian or not.

“The Many Moods of Christmas” consists of four suites arranged by Robert Russell Bennett. The first performance of these pieces had Robert Shaw conducting the Robert Shaw Chorale. Robert Shaw was appointed conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 1967. Then in 1970 Shaw decided that the Orchestra needed their own Symphony Chorus so he started the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and brought the Symphony Chorus to international recognition, and they had the reputation of being the best Chorus in the world as that article (link above) mentions.

As for the “Many Moods of Christmas,” each suite can be performed independently of the other. From my experience, two suites are usually performed at one time, but of course just one suite can be performed by itself.

All four suites are a medley and arrangements of various carols, and they are performed here by the 200-voice Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and accompanying the Chorus is the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with Robert Shaw conducting.

Elaborating on what I said above, I first heard two of the suites years ago when PBS aired the “Holiday at Pops” performances with the Boston Pops Orchestra and Lorna Cooke de Varon’s New England Conservatory Chorus from Boston Symphony Hall during the holidays. Then the next year, John Oliver’s Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Pops performed them. I remember asking the television: What happened to the New England Conservatory Chorus? They were there last year. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus had just been founded by John Oliver — at the suggestion of Seiji Ozawa — so they were now the Official Chorus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops. As for the Many Moods, I’ve only heard suites 1 and 4 performed. That’s what Boston did.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus under Robert Shaw was a model of choral excellence as you’ll hear in this performance. Their tenor and bass sections are superb, the same goes for the entire Symphony Chorus.

My choral friend trained his choral ear on the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus (ASOC) at my suggestion. Norman MacKenzie became Director of Choruses for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra after Shaw’s death. I don’t think I’ve heard the ASOC under MacKenzie. I read online a comment saying that the Symphony Chorus had been doing too much opera repertoire under Donald Runnicles and their sound had changed and Robert Shaw wouldn’t be happy.