this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2023
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Today I Learned

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Happy Holidays to you all! Get bent, FOX news. Let everyone celebrate the season. Now, I am off to prepare for Festivus at my house.

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[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 34 points 10 months ago (7 children)

That whole debate is one of the dumbest things to come out of America.

The rest of the world doesn't worry about it, because Christmas is like 90% secular. The Christians do their thing today, and leave the rest of us to celebrate Christmas with friends and family and too many cold cuts of meat. You can say happy holidays and nobody's gonna get upset, but even as a non-Christian I'm more likely to wish you a merry Christmas.

(The poms and their "happy Christmas" are weird though. Just sounds wrong.)

[–] SorteKanin@feddit.dk 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

In Danish you don't even have a way of saying "happy holidays". It's just "glædelig jul".

[–] themurphy@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago

And 'jul' comes from the nordic word 'yule' which means Christmas before religion high jacked it.

Yule is much older than Christmas, dating back to the viking age. And they have similar traditions.

[–] clearleaf@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

The whole thing is tilting at windmills. Nobody gives a shit what you say but they want to fight this supposed force out there trying to control what people say. It doesn't exist in a way where it will ever matter.

[–] andthenthreemore@startrek.website 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

(The poms and their "happy Christmas" are weird though. Just sounds wrong.)

As a Brit I've never heard happy Christmas. It's always merry Christmas. Then it's happy new year.

[–] tegs_terry@feddit.uk 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] andthenthreemore@startrek.website 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Must be regional. Definitely not a thing in the southeast.

[–] tegs_terry@feddit.uk 1 points 10 months ago

My dad's from lincs my mom's frum brum and they've always said it so it's definitely midlands

[–] bitwaba@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Fyi, "happy Christmas" is just the normal phrasing in the UK. "Merry Christmas" didn't start to spread until A Christmas Carol was published.

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It just proves you can convince conservatives to be angry and scared about literally anything.

[–] Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Will you be going on holiday?

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[–] bhamlin@lemmy.world 25 points 10 months ago

How dare you take jesus out of my culturally appropriated pagan celebration!

[–] Marsupial@quokk.au 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Breakfast is the first meal you eat after breaking your fast.

[–] PoisonedPrisonPanda@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You mean that without sleep we would eat all the time?

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[–] thann@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Which is why, to piss of the Christians this year, we all have to say "happy solstace"

[–] sab@kbin.social 25 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

In Scandinavia we never stopped calling the holiday by it's pagan name - jul.

We've been told for a thousand years now that it's somehow supposed to refer to the birth of Christ, but the celebration is older than Christianity and nobody knows for sure the origin of it's name. As far as me and my family is concerned, it's a pagan holiday.

Happy to celebrate with my Christian friends though, there's nothing wrong with being inclusive.

God jul!

[–] DashboTreeFrog@discuss.online 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Woah, I'm guessing that's where yule as in yuletide in English comes from. A lot of Christmas traditions came out of Scandinavia so makes sense if true. Gonna look up some Jul info now.

God Jul!

[–] sab@kbin.social 10 points 10 months ago

Bingo!

Christmas traditions are a fun mix of things. The modern Santa Claus is mostly a mix of Saint Nicholas and a bunch of continental European traditions, but the pointy red hat is the product of being what we refer to as a nisse - a mythical creature closely related to gnomes.

We have long traditions of leaving food out for the nisse living in the barn for Christmas. And Santa is not named after Saint Nicholas over here - we call him julenissen. The Christmas gnome, if you will.

[–] lemmie689@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

One origin is The Wild Hunt on the solstice. I don't think I saw in this article, but I have seen mention of jul logs being associated with bonfires being lit on the solstice to guide Odin during the hunt.

https://norse-mythology.org/the-wild-hunt/

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[–] EmoDuck@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago

Jovial Saturnalia

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

I like to say that and blessed yule. I figure if Christian’s get to throw a hissy fit about it being their religious holiday my pagan ass gets to wish other people to have a nice version of my religious holiday.

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[–] FrankTheHealer@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

There are some Christian denominations that celebrate Christmas in January.

Also for some countries, they do Christmas Day on the 24th. Poland for instance tends to have the big family get together dinner on the 24th.

But yeah, you can also have Hanukkah, Diwali, Kwanza, New Years, Eid/ end of Ramadan, you could even throw in Lunar New Year which can be early January. Also St.Stephens Day/Boxing day, Los Posadas. Even the Satanic Temple has the festival of Sol Invictus if you wanted to include that too lol.

[–] themurphy@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I think nearly all European countries except the English speaking, celebrates at 24th.

[–] AnagrammadiCodeina@feddit.it 4 points 10 months ago

In Italy we are split between terroni (24th evening celebration and 25th lunch celebration) and polentoni (25th lunch and 26 lunch)

At the end happens often that families are mixed so you do all the 3. On top of that you have friends to meet and what's best than another lunch/dinner?

[–] morhp@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

In Germany, we usually have presents on the 24th in the evening, but the big family gatherings are often on the 25th (and 26th, as you're typically part of multiple families).

[–] themurphy@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Same in Denmark, but not everyone will do a traditional thing the 25th or 26th. Most will though.

24th is very traditional.

[–] Sanyanov@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Orthodox Christians celebrate on 7th of January

[–] webadict@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

True. Happy holidays was accidentally inclusive, as opposed to it being designed that way. It was just used as another way to say Merry Christmas.

[–] S_204@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago

We also celebrate yalda night in there.

Winter solstice time tends to be culturally significant for most.

[–] MartinXYZ@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago

for some countries, they do Christmas Day on the 24th. Poland for instance tends to have the big family get together dinner on the 24th.

It's the same in Denmark, I wonder if it's a Northern European thing? I think Poland is mostly Catholic whereas Denmark is Lutheran protestant, so it's not just denomination.

[–] OpenStars@kbin.social 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I thought originally it meant like Merry Christmas + Happy New Year, bc professionals might take that whole week off so like "see ya next year Bob, enjoy your holidays!" (plural)

Then some people started using it to throw in like Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Eid al-Fitr / end of Ramadan, plus there's Buddhist, Hindu, Hispanic / Latin American (Las Posadas), Scandinavian (Lussinatta), German (Krampusnacht), Chinese (Dongzhi Festival), and in UK/Canada/Australia/New Zealand. there's Boxing Day afterwards, etc.

Okay so Diwali is a bit of a stretch, being more than a month earlier but it still feels like it fits:-). The rest all occur within about a month of one another, so saying "Happy Holidays" is by definition inclusive of others who may or may not share your particular religious belief structure.

Which ofc is why Faux News had to go to war against it, promoting instead the Christmasgasm that Jesus most definitely invented (/s btw bc rather, everything He ever said or did goes directly against what they are trying to claim it is all about). But fuck Fox, do what you want, and I wish you Happy Holidays (whatever form they may take for you:-).

[–] tegs_terry@feddit.uk 1 points 10 months ago

Pancha Ganapati

[–] Rhaedas@kbin.social 8 points 10 months ago

Word usage changes over time, often not retaining its original meaning, as the article points out. I find it more interesting how the European use is more broad, where Americans separate the individual recreation from work or school into the term vacation.

[–] MartinXYZ@sh.itjust.works 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Some of these, especially Valentine's day, could also be labeled "commercial" but I guess that's the nature of capitalism to commercialize any kind of festivities.

[–] Crashumbc@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Tbf, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Father's Day at least were created specifically by Hallmark to sell cards. So they were created as capitalistic commercial scams...

[–] OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Valentine's Day was originally a celebration of Saint Valentine. Like Christmas, it got rolled under the capitalist machine until the modern holiday became completely unrecognizable from its roots.

[–] EssentialCoffee@midwest.social 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I think they're thinking of Sweetest Day.

[–] CCL@links.hackliberty.org 6 points 10 months ago
[–] CCL@links.hackliberty.org 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

St. Valentine's day did not start as a secular celebration. St. Valentine lived in what is now Turkey, he became known as the patron saint of love because he used to marry Christians in secret when it was illegal to do so under Islamic rule.

[–] Lizardqueen@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

According to Wikipedia St Valentine was a bishop in modern day Italy about 300 years before Islam even formed. So while that is a nice story I don't think it's true.

[–] CCL@links.hackliberty.org 1 points 10 months ago

well crap. now I wonder what story I got today confused.

[–] nutsack@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

nothing is holier than my ass

[–] justlookingfordragon@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

"Goodbye" exists because of 15th century chatspeak. It's a highly abbreviated version of "God be with ye"

[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 1 points 10 months ago

But this would upend the entire war on xmas narrative.

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