by Newton McConnell for Toronto Daily News, circa 1905
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10 comments
Okay, is it just me or is the sentiment against saying “Merry Christmas” increasing? It seems like all my friends are discussing the etiquette on their various blogs and journals, I am hearing it discussed publicly, etc.
I don’t know if I am just becoming more aware of the same conversation that takes place every year, or if people are actually trying to move away from the phrase.
Personally I celebrate Christmas the same way I celebrate New Year’s: as a secular, international holiday. So Merry Christmas 🙂
I find people are saying Merry Christmas more than ever.
I’d suggest the questioning of Merry Christmas is mainly under-graduate-itus, that peculiar time of life when one questions the insignificant things too much. Only the most strident get their stockings in a bunch about “merry christmas” vs. Happy Holidays and my Jewish friends seem to have no problem wishing merry christmas and all the secular blessings. etc.
This topic is both interesting and stupid.
The TTC was very happy to wish people Merry Christmas back in the day.
“Personally I celebrate Christmas the same way I celebrate New Year’s:”
In a warehouse, loaded with E?
I find the people who are questioning the saying the most are the people who celebrate Christmas. I’ve found (at least from my friends) that many plain don’t care.
Friends whose religious views wouldn’t normally celebrate the religious Christmas that is.
As a Real Live Jewish Person, a secular one, but one who doesn’t celebrate Christmas–I’d suggest that questioning the act of wishing people Merry Christmas is an important thing for any social-equity interested person living in our “multicultural” society to do.
When someone wishes me Merry Christmas, I recognize that it is meant to be a kind gesture, and so I happily say the same in return–knowing that by doing so, I’m also playing a role in helping that person celebrate their holiday. It’s a nice feeling. It’s also nice to feel included–even momentarily–in the dominant culture. If there is one time of year when it’s glaringly apparent that we live in a Christian Society, regardless of how much we keep telling ourselves that ours is a secular, multicultural one where we afford everyone the same rights and opportunities, regardless of cultural/religious difference–it’s Christmastime. It’s easy to feel somewhat alienated, or lost in the shuffle of a city that is socially, culturally and institutionally organized around the Christian holiday. And it’s also easy to become complacent and not even notice it because it’s something most of us have had to live with for decades.
I appreciate efforts to be more inclusive at this time of year, but I think it’s important to note that in most cases, being more inclusive has meant modifying Christmas to recognize that other holidays and cultures exist. This means that other holidays and cultures are forced to exist within the Christmas holiday “infrastructure”: A menorah might be added to the traditional Christmas decorations, the word Christmas might be dropped from the end-of-December office party, and Jesus might be banished from the holiday altogether. And I think these gestures miss the point of respecting cultural diversity. Personally, I don’t want to strip anyone’s holiday of the very things that make it important to them–that’s not how I want to be included. Even if you take the Christ out of Christmas, it’s not my holiday, so I think it’s a lose-lose situation. What I would like is for the city to celebrate all of our city’s cultures in the various ways that our residents celebrate them, from old-world-traditional, to the many hybrid practices people have developed.
I think the focus on the “holiday spectacle” means that a lot of cultures are left out simply because they haven’t developed the same kind of secular symbolic culture around their various holidays as the Christians have. Just because there is no Muslim equivalent of Santa, shouldn’t mean that we ignore Eid altogether. Instead we should be thinking a bit harder about what it would mean to be inclusive in a respectful way without resorting to hanging “Eid lights” and decorating the “Eid Tree.” And I think the best way to begin a serious rethinking of religious holiday celebrations in the context of multiculturalism is to continue questioning the simple things, like wishing people Merry Christmas. It’s when we stop questioning that we stop being a progressive society.
But these are just my opinions, and this is a VERY personal issue. I don’t pretend to speak for anyone other than myself here.
As far as I’m concerned, wishing someone “Merry Christmas” is not that big a deal, and is generally a nice thing to do. However doing so and just assuming that everyone is totally fine with it is REALLY ignorant.
Oooo Goldsbie’s nails are out even on Christmas day!
10 comments
Okay, is it just me or is the sentiment against saying “Merry Christmas” increasing? It seems like all my friends are discussing the etiquette on their various blogs and journals, I am hearing it discussed publicly, etc.
I don’t know if I am just becoming more aware of the same conversation that takes place every year, or if people are actually trying to move away from the phrase.
Personally I celebrate Christmas the same way I celebrate New Year’s: as a secular, international holiday. So Merry Christmas 🙂
I find people are saying Merry Christmas more than ever.
I’d suggest the questioning of Merry Christmas is mainly under-graduate-itus, that peculiar time of life when one questions the insignificant things too much. Only the most strident get their stockings in a bunch about “merry christmas” vs. Happy Holidays and my Jewish friends seem to have no problem wishing merry christmas and all the secular blessings. etc.
This topic is both interesting and stupid.
The TTC was very happy to wish people Merry Christmas back in the day.
“Personally I celebrate Christmas the same way I celebrate New Year’s:”
In a warehouse, loaded with E?
I find the people who are questioning the saying the most are the people who celebrate Christmas. I’ve found (at least from my friends) that many plain don’t care.
Friends whose religious views wouldn’t normally celebrate the religious Christmas that is.
As a Real Live Jewish Person, a secular one, but one who doesn’t celebrate Christmas–I’d suggest that questioning the act of wishing people Merry Christmas is an important thing for any social-equity interested person living in our “multicultural” society to do.
When someone wishes me Merry Christmas, I recognize that it is meant to be a kind gesture, and so I happily say the same in return–knowing that by doing so, I’m also playing a role in helping that person celebrate their holiday. It’s a nice feeling. It’s also nice to feel included–even momentarily–in the dominant culture. If there is one time of year when it’s glaringly apparent that we live in a Christian Society, regardless of how much we keep telling ourselves that ours is a secular, multicultural one where we afford everyone the same rights and opportunities, regardless of cultural/religious difference–it’s Christmastime. It’s easy to feel somewhat alienated, or lost in the shuffle of a city that is socially, culturally and institutionally organized around the Christian holiday. And it’s also easy to become complacent and not even notice it because it’s something most of us have had to live with for decades.
I appreciate efforts to be more inclusive at this time of year, but I think it’s important to note that in most cases, being more inclusive has meant modifying Christmas to recognize that other holidays and cultures exist. This means that other holidays and cultures are forced to exist within the Christmas holiday “infrastructure”: A menorah might be added to the traditional Christmas decorations, the word Christmas might be dropped from the end-of-December office party, and Jesus might be banished from the holiday altogether. And I think these gestures miss the point of respecting cultural diversity. Personally, I don’t want to strip anyone’s holiday of the very things that make it important to them–that’s not how I want to be included. Even if you take the Christ out of Christmas, it’s not my holiday, so I think it’s a lose-lose situation. What I would like is for the city to celebrate all of our city’s cultures in the various ways that our residents celebrate them, from old-world-traditional, to the many hybrid practices people have developed.
I think the focus on the “holiday spectacle” means that a lot of cultures are left out simply because they haven’t developed the same kind of secular symbolic culture around their various holidays as the Christians have. Just because there is no Muslim equivalent of Santa, shouldn’t mean that we ignore Eid altogether. Instead we should be thinking a bit harder about what it would mean to be inclusive in a respectful way without resorting to hanging “Eid lights” and decorating the “Eid Tree.” And I think the best way to begin a serious rethinking of religious holiday celebrations in the context of multiculturalism is to continue questioning the simple things, like wishing people Merry Christmas. It’s when we stop questioning that we stop being a progressive society.
But these are just my opinions, and this is a VERY personal issue. I don’t pretend to speak for anyone other than myself here.
As far as I’m concerned, wishing someone “Merry Christmas” is not that big a deal, and is generally a nice thing to do. However doing so and just assuming that everyone is totally fine with it is REALLY ignorant.
Oooo Goldsbie’s nails are out even on Christmas day!