Christmas

Chrismahanukwanzakah (sometimes spelt Chrismahanakwanzaka, Chrismahanakwanza or Chrismahanakwanzika) is a fictional holiday that was created by Virgin Mobile USA for a 2004 television commercial campaign. The holiday, in a similar vein to Festivus and Chrismukkah, was celebrated on December 13 of that year and combines Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa into one celebration. The commercial and the holiday itself is somewhat of a satirization of the effect of political correctness on the holiday season, which often is now seen as a secular series of celebrations rather than the formerly overt religious connotations of Christmas; as the song in the ad proclaims, "what matters most is camera phones for $20 less."

Virgin Mobile has continued their trend of inventing cultural memes in the marketing campaigns with an entire religion called "Paygoism", which only has one tenet: restrictive cell phone contracts are a sin.

The Flash cartoon depicts hybrid characters, such as a multi-armed (Vishnu-like), turban-wearing Santa, holding in his hands alternately dreidel and a gift box or an ear of corn (a symbol of Kwanzaa) and a small Christmas tree, all whilst playing a sitar in sitting pose on a lotus flower. A female Rudolph exhibits menorah horns, a scarf in Kwanzaa colors, a golden pendant in the shape of Africa and a red forehead dot while sitting meditatively on an iridescent lotus flower in a cloud. The third character in the sardonic trio is a winged black man holding a large dreidel and wearing a golden comb a yin-yang in his hair and a sarong wrapped around his waist. Notably, the characters feature symbols from other religions in addition those mentioned or implied in the song.

Replacing the original Flash cartoon are three current Flash presentations that include two Jews singing about a non-pork meat dreidel that is eaten and eventually digested and a Hindu Santa Claus singing about his new camera phone that plays MP3s, as well as an angel singing a modified version of the Chrismahanukwanzakah song.

Virgin Mobile has been criticized for removing the "t" in Christmas, yet including the subsequent "m" (i.e. spelling Chrismas). Some believe this to be a conscious attempt by Virgin at ensuring the word "Christ" not be spelled out in their advertising. Some believe Virgin Mobile would not want the term "Christ" in their advertising for secular reasons, while others assert that Virgin Mobile is avoiding criticism from Christian organizations for including "Christ" in the mishmash holiday.

The character of the fictional holiday is defined by the lyrics of the song (or "carol") that was played during Virgin's Chrismahanukwanzakah commercial:

It's okay if you're a Muslim, a Christian or a Jew,

It's okay if you're agnostic and you don't know what to do,

An all-inclusive celebration,

No contractual obligation,

Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah to you (and pagans too!)

In some ways we're all monkeys,

Well, maybe just a smidgen,

I'm a Scientologist,

That's kind of a religion,

Whose faith is the right one,

It's anybody's guess,

What matters most is camera phones for $20 less.

And there's never any hidden fees,

Oh what a joyous day,

No commitments means I'm proud to go both ways!

Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah to you,

This is gonna be the best Chrismahanukwanzakah ever!

See also

• Chrismukkah

References

• ABC news report

External links

• Virgin Mobile's Chrismahanukwanzakah site (no longer available)
• Original Chrismahanukwanzakah flash cartoon