A consumer psychology perspective
Consumer behaviour around Christmas can seem a bit much. Despite many people in modern, developed societies having a plentiful supply of pretty much everything all year round, December unleashes new levels of indulgence.
This can lead some people, particularly those who have been led to believe it’s Someone special’s birthday in late December, that the true meaning of the period has been lost amidst a tidal wave of consumerism.
To understand human behaviour at this time of year, we need to go back further than two thousand years and, perhaps, in the process, appreciate just how hard behaviour change can be.
The midwinter Christian-themed festival that is now used to characterise the season’s festivities, was essentially a marketing exercise. Humans had been indulging excessively around the winter solstice for thousands of years by the time Christianity cropped up. Presumably, someone realised that without a decent feast of their own, it was going to be a tough sell winning people over to a new god.
The pagan winter feasts probably had two important factors driving them, one practical and one psychological.
In practical terms, the last of the beer that had been brewed was ready and livestock needed to be slaughtered because there wouldn’t be sufficient feed to keep it alive through the winter.
Psychologically, in the Northern Hemisphere, these feasts provided something to look forward to as the nights started to close in and the temperature dropped. Even in modern times, with heating, electrical light and abundant food, many people can identify with the psychological gloom that comes with winter’s arrival.
And so there is a very deep-rooted human tradition of indulging (and over-indulging) in the midst of winter and, I suspect, it’s unlikely to change.
Of course, there is growing concern about the environmental impact of consumer behaviour. The excesses associated with Christmas are an understandable focus of attention. But given how deeply embedded this excess is, and the role it continues to play psychologically, I would argue it makes more sense to focus on sustainable consumption at other times of the year (in the hope that it will spill over into our Christmas behaviour).
And it’s worth noting that, at a time when many people, particularly parents, feel under enormous pressure to buy expensive gifts, we can learn from some of the pre-Christian festivals. Saturnalia was, by all accounts, a huge party, but the poet Martial suggested that low value gifts signified a high value friendship. (But please quote Martial and not me when attempting to justify that miserable gift you’ve disappointed your partner with on December 25th).