The joy of the season
December 23, 2011 at 11:24 pm 6 comments
I’ve been in the US for two days and not one person while we’ve been out and about has wished me a merry Christmas. I was told to take care, have a good day, and come back and see them soon. A few wished me happy holidays. (The immigration officer at Washington-Dulles said nothing except, “You visiting relatives?” and then peered over his glasses, sussing out Scott and his level of danger to homeland security.)
I forgot about all that. I get why we don’t greet everyone with an assumption of their faith and/or what they celebrate. I used to say happy holidays too. But in England, you can’t get away from Christmas.
See the "Merry Christmas" on the sign?
When I was up at 4 am this morning with jet lag, I started thinking about this when counting to 100 didn’t put me to sleep.
Is it because Christmas is seen as more of a commercial holiday in the UK so it’s ok to plaster explicitly Christmas ads and signs all over shop fronts, magazines, newspapers, and TV?
Is it because the UK is just not as worried about being as politically correct as the US? (Remember the man-size Kleenex?)
Is it because saying “happy holidays” in the UK means “have a good vacation”?
Or is it because the UK is a Christian nation and they have no qualms about showing it?
It’s interesting because although a large percentage of people in Britain consider themselves Christians, only a small percentage of them are practicing Christians. (Someone who has taken the Life in the UK test more recently than me may be able to provide real figures here.) If you had to guess which country had separation of church and state, you’d definitely go for England over the United States. Not true! But the only thing that would make you think otherwise may just be Christmas.
I stopped at Harrods at Heathrow on Wednesday. As I was paying for my purchases, the salesman said, “May I wish you a happy Christmas, madam?”
I felt I should reply with something like, “You may, kind sir!” (I didn’t because I would have sounded like a total goober.)
“Yes, thank you. Merry Christmas to you too?” Halfway through my response, I changed it to a question, trying to show him the same courtesy.
He smiled, “Yes, thank you. Happy New Year, madam.”
Ah, happy new year. That’s the safest option, right?
Christmas tree made out of Lego in London
Entry filed under: expat, life. Tags: Christian, Christmas, England, holidays, United States.
1.
Melissa | December 24, 2011 at 2:40 am
I definitely think people are more afraid to say Merry Christmas in the U.S. because it’s not ‘politically correct’. I feel like we are basically told to say Happy Holidays or nothing at all (just my general feeling), so many just don’t say anything. We lived in London for a few years and, you’re right, everyone said it…I never really thought about it until reading your post.
2.
andrea | December 24, 2011 at 7:14 am
We were on the plane from Newcastle to Brussels on Tuesday and Finn didn’t want to turn off his show on the ipad. The flight attendant was standing there and she goes “Remember, Santa is watching and coming soon, you need to behave!” and I thought wow, you would never have someone you didn’t know say that to you in the States, because you may not celebrate Christmas, you may not do the whole Santa thing, whatever. It was interesting. I think Christmas is everywhere in the US, it is just not said, which I both think is sad and understand at the same time. My mixed faith neighbors put up lights outside, much to the Jewish husbands chagrin, and I was told to refer to them as ‘holiday lights’. Enjoy your visit!
3.
Abby | December 24, 2011 at 9:49 am
I agree, coming from a country where there is a clear separation of church and state, now that Milo is in school, it’s been an interesting season for us.
A few weeks ago, I was helping out at his {non religious, public} school, when the choir from the nearby {non religious, public} primary came over to sing the kids some carols. Every single song was religious, things like Mary’s Having a Baby, not a safe Jingle Bells or Rudolph in sight. Not to mention his nativity play. It’s just . . . weird! I cannot even imagine what would happen if a public school in the US did these things!
Enjoy your trip! xxx
4.
caitlin0210 | December 24, 2011 at 7:40 pm
I totally forgot about that aspect! So weird! I guess that’s why nativity plays also include non traditional characters like the lobster in Love Actually?! Merry Christmas!
5.
Kim | December 24, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Now that I’m back living here, I say ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah’. I guess I don’t feel like being very politically correct!
I remember the strange looks I got when I said ‘Happy Holidays’ in the UK. I’m not totally sold on saying ‘Happy Christmas’ though. That’s a little weird to me. The thing that probably annoyed me the most in the UK was that pretty much all my British friends were agnostic or non-practicing Christians and they would go nuts for the religious aspects of the holiday. I had an agnostic colleague who was so excited to give her son the new Advent calendar (her words) she had just bought him. I felt the need to explain to her that Advent is actually a religious season, not just a countdown to Christmas calendar. She totally didn’t get it.
6.
Lizzie | December 24, 2011 at 11:00 pm
In Ireland, as you would expect, everyone says ‘Happy Christmas’, and here I can understand that — the nation is run by the Catholic church in a lot of ways, if people want to acknowledge it or not. However, I still say ‘Happy holidays’ and people always say it back to me without an issue. They know what Americans are like and that I mean well; I just don’t want to assume to know their religious beliefs and it’s habit, you know?