Post by Mack A. DamiaOn Mon, 9 Apr 2018 08:53:37 -0600, Jerry Friedman
Post by Jerry FriedmanPost by CherylPost by Jerry FriedmanSome do.
https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2005/12/06/dont-wish-me-a-merry-christmas/
https://books.google.com/books?id=N007mXyw5RQC&pg=PA286
http://www.jagritbharat.com/index.php/opinions/160-vsociety/674-christmas-enthusiasm
Some, clearly. Whether it's a common enough issue to justify the annual
hoo-haw, I don't really know.
Post by Jerry FriedmanI don't it offensive, just thoughtless, as if I were to wish you a
happy Independence Day on July 4.
My sentence on thoughtlessness was thinkless.
Post by CherylIf you did it in Canada, I would think it a bit odd. If I were in the
US, I wouldn't consider it either odd or thoughtless even though I
probably wouldn't be celebrating July 4.
I was thinking of the current situation, so the wish would be by e-mail
or in this group.
Post by CherylI suppose I might go out and
observe the festivities, but on the other hand, I generally avoid large
crowds, parades, fireworks etc.
When I was little, my family would sometimes drive around to look at the
Christmas lights.
Post by CherylI would think it really odd if you sent me some kind of generic
"Congratulations on the founding of your country" card in July, and not
only because it isn't the custom here to exchange cards on July 1. A
"Happy Independence Day" card could be taken as an expression of your
enthusiasm for July 4; the other is just strange.
I think the justification for "Season's Greetings" and "Happy Holidays"
is that Jews celebrate Hanukkah, some black people celebrate Kwanzaa
now, and most people celebrate the New Year. (At some point someone's
going to notice that according to some Muslim authorities, Muslims
aren't even allowed to celebrate the New Year, much less the others.)
Post by CherylI don't think I'd be offended either way, even if I did put down the
generic card as merely an odd thing to do on the occasion of either July
1 or July 4.
I'd be impressed if you knew enough about Canadian history to realize
that July 1 is also a day for remembering the war dead in Newfoundland.
I do now.
How about "Season's greetings to Americans and Newfoundlanders"?
The Puritan lawmakers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony started the war
on Christmas in 1659 by issuing this edict outlawing the observance of
"For preventing disorders arising in several places within this
jurisdiction, by reason of some still observing such festivals as were
superstitiously kept in other countries, to the great dishonor of God
and offence of others, it is therefore ordered by this Court and the
authority thereof, that whosoever shall be found observing any such
day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting,
or any other way, upon such accountants as aforesaid, every person so
offending shall pay of every such offence five shillings, as a fine to
the county."
I believe that the practice of not observing Christmas started in
England with the Puritans, but it was peculiar to their religion and
was not legislated.
As the Puritans under Cromwell ruled England it was indeed
legislated ...
In January 1645 a group of ministers appointed by parliament
produced a new Directory of Public Worship, which set out a
new church organisation and new forms of worship to be adopted
and followed in England and Wales. The Directory made clear that
Sundays were to be strictly observed as holy days, for the worship
of God, but that there were to be no other holy days – ‘festival
days, vulgarly called Holy Days, having no warrant in the Word of
God, are not to be continued’. Parliamentary legislation adopting
the Directory of Public Worship, initially as one of several forms
which could be followed in England and Wales, but then as the
only form which was legal and was to be allowed, abolishing and
making illegal any other forms of worship and church services,
therefore prohibited (on paper at least) the religious celebration
of all other holy days, including Christmas. In June 1647 the Long
Parliament reiterated this by passing an Ordinance confirming the
abolition of the feasts of Christmas, Easter and Whitsun, though
at the same time parliament said that the second Tuesday in each
month was to be kept as a non-religious, secular holiday, providing
a break for servants, apprentices and other employees.