What happened to Holy-days?

   I vividly recall attending a Christmas program over 10 years ago in which a youth group acting out a skit.  In this skit certain characters considered Christmas as "just another excuse to party."  The purpose of the actors was to hold up this mirror to the audience for self-reflection.  Is this what our holidays have become?
   Christmas, Easter, even the few lingering "Saints Days" that appear on typical calendars have strayed far from their original intentions. St. Valentine's Day often celebrates lust instead of love, while St. Patrick's Day is associated with overindulgence in beer while wearing the color green.
   I'm quite certain that my fellow Canadians who celebrated the Victoria Day long weekend gave little or no consideration to the former monarch after whom the day was named.  It is a time to party with profuse amounts of alcohol and fireworks, even if nobody knows why.
   As our culture becomes ignorant of the foundations of western civilization, we are not only losing the meaning of the red letter days on our calendars.  We are also having every day hijacked by all kinds of different interest groups so that today (June 17th) is simultaneously dedicated to eating your vegetables, apple strudel, flip-flops, cherry tarts and a particular brand of root beer.  How are pondering or celebrating these material things supposed to benefit anyone, except perhaps the healthy daily discipline of eating vegetables?
   While the examples cited here may seem innocuous, I originally began this post in reaction to the Social Media created day that encouraged people to send nude photos of themselves to a friend.  I did not want to search its exact name because I didn't want to add to its popularity.
 
   What happened to celebrating a day simply because "this is the day the Lord has made"?
 
   One way to assess a culture is to look at what it celebrates and how it does so.  What observations have you made about the shift in special days?