Christmas in Devout America
#28 of Maverick Hotel side content
Just another in-universe report I made up, detailing the state of Christmas in my dystopian world of Maverick Hotel. Enjoy yourselves, have a Merry Christmas and happy holidays ahead!
NOTE: To avoid shitposting and political ranting in the comments, let's all just agree that you're reading this because a) you're looking for some entertainment b) you want to read a dystopian furry story or c) the most likely of reasons, you want to read something that'll make you feel like a romantic horndog. Let's all just have fun. Alright? Alright.
Christmas is considered by many in Devout America as a holiday dedicated to celebrating the birth of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, when family members congregate together in a home or within a church.
Most of December and later days of November is spent preparing in anticipation of Christmas. Nativity scenes are built, ranging between small within a household or opulent within a church, while decorations and Christmas lights are found widespread throughout Devout America. The Story of Nativity in particular is given much more attention since the Devout government came to power. This is proven by The Ellipse Park in Washington, D.C. having a massive replica of the inn and the stable involved in Jesus' birth. It is perfectly portioned in front of the National Christmas Tree in view of the White House.
However, the presence of Christmas lights are not as found often in cities and towns neighboring the borders of states within the Disputed Zone between the D.S.A. and the rival Western Republic. The rationing of foods and electricity for these border settlements is given much more consideration to Devout cities out east. One noteworthy exception is Denver in the eastern portion of Colorado reclaimed by the DS military. As most families living within the far western portions of Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas sometimes struggle to make ends meet, ever since the city was 'reclaimed' from rebels, congressional funding is given to Denver to spend freely on Christmas celebrations every year. Some furs in the Western Republic suspect this is to promote propaganda against the Western Republic, others suspect it is to bolster civilian loyalty in Devout America, and others suspect it is likely due to Devout Denver's pastor having political connections amongst senators in D.C.
Other religious holidays and observances such as Hanukkah, Rohatsu, Zarathosht Diso, the Winter Solstice and many others are not only ignored but made actively illegal to celebrate among citizens. This includes territories and provinces annexed by Devout military forces. This includes Hispanic and Caribbean holidays. In fact, following the tenth anniversary celebration of Devout America's official founding, a campaign was launched by government and church officials to gradually purge Roman Catholic and pagan-influenced elements from Christmas traditions. In their places would be elements focused on Devout Protestant beliefs. Such examples included renaming 'Yuletide logs' to 'Christmas logs', rewriting carols to remove pagan mentions, Christmas specials that portray the holiday with 'occult elements' (i.e. Frosty the Snowman) as well as banning holly and kissing under the mistletoe. However, the greatest victim of Devout America's rewriting of history was Saint Nicholas himself, whose iconography found influence rooting all the way back to the Norse Allfather Odin.
Government and church officials only started to outright ban Santa Claus beginning in January of 2018, recommending citizens to celebrate more about Jesus' birth. However, it should be noted that no official text in these decrees mentions anything regarding gift-giving. Similar to Halloween, much reluctance in limiting the national economy has led to the country's leaders not placing as much regulation on gift-giving, despite it also having its roots in pagan worship.
One of the more shocking and surprising additions to Christmas traditions by the Revenant Party has been the gradual embracement of Krampus, a horned figure from German folklore who punishes wasteful, naughty children, into mainstream Devout American culture. Their version of Krampus is often depicted as a Devilish goat-like figure dressed in dark robes, a single demonic feral elk he rides on, a massive bag filled with missing children, as well as sometimes having various levels of queer-coding such as colorful claws given nail polish and cracking red lipstick meant to portray him as an even more vile figure preying on cubs.
According to leaked documents and some sociologists in the Western Republic, it's believed that the Devout government is pushing for Krampus to one day replace Santa Claus as an icon of Christmas, to remind families and children not to be naughty (against the government) during the rest of the year. Unfortunately for them, it seems that some rebellious teenagers have begun to view the Devout Krampus with fascination due the copious amount of lackluster, saccharine storytelling forced upon them by the church.