A Simple Red Cup

Starbucks Holiday Cup 2015

     I'm sure that by now, if you are on any form of social media, your screen is being spammed by articles of Starbucks choosing to have no decorations this year on their holiday cups. Of course this has been met with vocal anger from the small yet vocal section of the Christian community with cries of "Put Christ back into Christmas". I however am not one of those individuals but there are going to be some things that I'm going to say that will cause many people within my circle of friends and even perhaps my own family to flare their nostrils and perhaps even worse but it needs to be said. So brace yourselves for this. 

Image from a St. Lucia'd Day celebration
Original source: Quiet Time on Tumblr

     Yes it is true that Christmas is not celebrated by everyone and even when it is celebrated, there are a great many variations and traditions there of. Originally, the celebration was known as Yule and was meant to be a midwinter festival celebrated by native Germanic peoples. It was later Christianized  (late 590s A.D.) and called Christmastide with it's 12 day celebration then being converted to what we know now as the Advent Calendar. Even with the drastic change, some traditions are still maintained such as the decorating of a tree and the house, lighting of candles, and the giving of gifts. Also the traditions of the gift givers are different from culture to culture, thus the various versions of Santa Claus/St. Nicholas, St. Lucia, Marzana, Sinterklaas and Swartz Pete just to name a few. Even the various 'traditional' foods that are typically served is different from country to country and even from era to era. 

First Night of Hanukkah (2014)
Original Source: McAdams Plumbing of
Broomfield, CO (USA)

     There are also other religious celebrations that occur around the same time of year, such as Hanukkah (Jewish), Bodhi Day (Buddhist), Pancha Ganapati (Hinduism), Yalda (Pagan), and Kwanzaa (Americas). With so many cultures and beliefs that use the month of December and just the winter solstice in general, the entire time is a non-stop celebration of life. So why should we celebrate just one? It's like a teacher having a favorite child in their class and ignores all of the rest of the student body. Eventually that teacher realizes that they have played favoritism for too long and decides to stop, which of course causes the now former favorite to complain to their parents. I know this is a horrible comparison but I'm sure you get the point. 

'Grey Starbucks Cup' by CreativeCarrah on deviantart

     Personally I'm not upset over the fact that the Starbucks cups are just a simple red cup. I will miss seeing the possible patterns that they come out with every year but I am not upset by the missing graphics.There is a reason for this though. I see them now as blank canvases for people to express themselves. The creativity that can be put onto a simple paper cup is astonishing and awe inspiring. So I will not see this as a banishment of merriment but instead an opportunity to see how people will express their creativity and thoughts on a simple inanimate object. Just thinking about all of the possibilities of what artists will come up with makes me so excited. Think of the various subject matters and themes that could be done on that simple red cup! It could even be non-holiday themed.



     I do realize that by this time, most of you will probably already yelled at me about how much I'm wrong, that I may go to hell, or how much I need prayer. You're welcomed to your opinion and of course I did warn you in the beginning that I will be stepping on a great many toes on this. I would normally offer an apology but in this case, I cannot say such a thing without it being a complete lie. However if you have been able to make it to the end of my

'Project Papercup 001' by Sweeter-then-reality on deviantart

argument with an open mind, I thank you for your time and wish you a blessed and joyful celebration of what ever you believe in or follow. I also urge you to be as creative as you can be and enjoy each day you can.