You can always count on Harvard professors for a scholarly theory and a short lecture on any subject you care to think of Christmas is no exception, here, paraphrased from professors' remarks, is a department-by-department analysis of the holiday's meaning.

ANTHROPOLOGY

Jane I. Guyer

The anthropologist Richard Lee has described an unusual Christmas in a Kung San village in the Kalahari Desert To show his appreciation for the tribe generosity, Lee slaughtered the fattest ox in the neighborhood as a Christmas gift. The Kung responded only with abuse and ridicule, and Lee had to infer that such displays of wealth and superiority are inappropriate. "The interesting thing is the competitive aspect of gift-giving, and that generosity can be interpreted in lots of different ways in different societies."

CELTIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

Charles W. Dunn

There was once a woman in the mountains of Scotland who was surreptitiously cooking a goose for Christmas Day, a paganistic transgression, when she was visited by the town's Presbyterian minister. Fearing for her reputation, the woman quickly hid the sizzling goose under her bed. Within minutes, the blankets caught fire and revealed her wicked ways.

This tale has been passed along for generations by Gaelic-speaking fundamentalist Scots, who disapprove of the happy spirit of Christmas.

In another Gaelic tradition, the young boys of various villages in Nova Scotia travel each Christmas from house to house collecting contributions for the church. At each home, the group circles around the fire and asks the woman of the house for a donation, blessing her generosity or cursing her miserliness, as the case may be. The practice persists today, with contributions going to the Red Cross.

EAST ASIAN STUDIES

Howard S. Hibbett Jr.

In Japan, many celebrate Christmas as "Kurisumasu." But the holiday is something of a parody of the commercial nature of our Christmas. Rather than staying at home with the family. Japanese celebrants use the day as an occasion to shop at huge Christmas sales, go bar-hopping and have a night on the town.

GOVERNMENT

H. Douglas Price

One aspect of the Christmas season is that it marks the time the national budget is prepared each year. But Labor Day is actually is a busier time for people in the department.