In Germany, the Winterschlussverkauf (winter sale before the season ends) was one of two official sales periods (the other being the Sommerschlussverkauf, the summer sales). The January sales period starts on December 27 and can last up to 60 days.[52]. Christmas Carols. [63] [59], South Korea's population are 30 percent Christian[60] and Christmas is a Public Holiday. The term "Advent calendar" continues to be widely known in Western parlance as a term referring to a countdown to Christmas Day from the beginning of December, although in retail the countdown to Christmas usually begins at the end of the summer season, and beginning of September. People in Tier 4 should not mix with anyone outside their own household on Christmas Day, except support and childcare bubbles. This short Christmas season is preceded by Advent, which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, coinciding with the majority of the commercialized Christmas and holiday season. This is a separate holiday from Christmas, Bishop Saint Nick (Sinterklaas) and Santa Claus (Kerstman) being different people. The precise definition of feasts and festival days that are encompassed by the Christmas and holiday season has become controversial in the United States over recent decades. By the late 19th century, "with the season's greetings" or simply "the season's greetings" began appearing. For other uses, see, Period covering Christmas and other holidays, The examples and perspective in this article, "Happy New Year" redirects here. On the basis of the growing popularity of gift certificates, he states that "To get a true picture of holiday sales, one may consider measuring October, November, December and January sales combined as opposed to just November and December sales. Top synonyms for christmas period (other words for christmas period) are holiday season, christmastime and christmas holiday. In the Christian tradition, the Christmas season is a period beginning on Christmas Day (December 25). "[66] After the visit from the ghosts of Christmas effects his transformation, Scrooge exclaims; "I am as merry as a school-boy. Also, resistance to giving gift cards continues to decline: 19 percent say they don’t like to give gift cards because they’re too impersonal (down from 22 percent last year). Banks, post offices and public institutions were to do the same from December 15, with violators liable for fines of up to 200 rubles. This article is dedicated to my family as they experience and amplify the wonder of Christmas through their traditions, through giving, and especially through the children. For the Bing Crosby album, see, "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Christmas" redirect here. Christmas is a time for nostalgia, but it is also a time for making new memories. The word advent comes from the Latin term adventus meaning "arrival" or "coming," particularly the coming of something having great importance. "[20], The earliest source stating December 25 as the date of birth of Jesus was Hippolytus of Rome (170–236), written very early in the 3rd century, based on the assumption that the conception of Jesus took place at the Spring equinox which he placed on March 25, to which he then added nine months. The Christmas and holiday season, according to a survey by the ADA, is the second most popular reason, after birthdays, for sharing food in the workplace. They attribute this to people "shopping in stores and malls on the weekends, and ... extending that shopping experience when they get into work on Monday" by "looking for deals ... comparison shopping and ... finding items that were out of stock in the stores".[35]. Locals and tourists love to watch the 30-meter Swarovski Christmas tree in the Central as well as the Christmas light displays on buildings on Victoria Harbour. The Church also injected Christian meaning into the use of holly, making it a … [14] A similarly-timed Canadian poll conducted by Ipsos-Reid indicated that 72 percent of Canadians preferred "Merry Christmas".[17]. Secular icons and symbols, such as Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, are on display in addition to overtly Christian displays of the nativity. In some churches (e.g., the Lutheran Churches and the Anglican Communion), the season continues through Twelfth Night, the day before the Epiphany, which is celebrated either on January 6 or on the Sunday between January 2 and 8. Shanghai [63] In her annual Christmas messages to the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth has used "happy Christmas" far more often than "merry Christmas. "Happy Christmas", an equivalent greeting often used in Great Britain and Ireland. [50], In Croatia and Bosnia (predominantly Sarajevo) the sales periods are regulated by the Consumer Protection Act. Every business was ordered to have illuminated windows during the hours of 16:30 until 01:00. Traditionally, the predominant greetings of the season have been "Merry Christmas", "Happy Christmas", and "Happy New Year". Madeleine West thinks she's just stumbled across the NEW Meaning of Christmas 2020. [84], A survey conducted in 2005 found shopping caused headaches in nearly a quarter of people and sleeplessness in 11 percent.[36]. [citation needed] The phrase "happy holidays" has been used as a Christmas greeting in the United States for more than 100 years.[74]. The same phrase is contained in the title of the English carol "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and also appears in the first commercial Christmas card, produced by Henry Cole in England in 1843. However, unofficially, goods are sold at reduced prices by many stores throughout the whole of January. In addition to "Merry Christmas", Victorian Christmas cards bore a variety of salutations, including "compliments of the season" and "Christmas greetings." However, most people work on Christmas day unless it happens to fall on a weekend. For six weeks, mid-November to early January, the 2.2-kilometre (1.4 mi) stretch of Orchard Road glitters with lights from decorated trees and building facades of malls and hotels. For other meanings of "Season's Greetings", see, Sorted by occasions, purposes or attributes, Robertson Cochrane. However, in 2004 the VISA credit card organization reported that over the previous several years VISA credit card spending had in fact been 8 to 19 percent higher on the last Saturday before Christmas Day (i.e., Super Saturday) than on Black Friday. For other uses, see, "Happy Holidays" redirects here. During the Christmas holidays there's a tremendous amount of traffic between the Northeast and Florida. For other uses, see, "Merry Christmas" redirects here. [31] The expansion of the holiday season in the U.S. to encompass Thanksgiving is believed to have begun in the 1920s, when in major department stores Macy's and Gimbels were launched dueling Thanksgiving Day parades to promote Christmas sales. It tends to be defined as the period from Christmas Eve to Epiphany. The ADL and many school district authorities have published guidelines for schools and for teachers. Chan et al. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms: gambling was permitted, and masters provided table service for their slaves. The Netherlands and Belgium often do not start the Christmas season until December 6 or 7, i.e. More than half of it was spent on family shopping. and heartily exchanges the wish to all he meets. In 2006, the average US household was expected to spend about $1,700 on Christmas and holiday spendings. The British Columbia Safety Council states that if proper food safety procedures are not followed, food set out for sharing in the workplace can serve as a breeding ground for bacteria, and recommends that perishable foods (for which it gives pizza, cold cuts, dips, salads, and sandwiches as examples) should not sit out for more than 2 hours. In other churches (e.g., the Roman Catholic Church), it continues until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which falls on the Sunday following the Epiphany, or on the Monday following the Epiphany if the Epiphany is moved to January 7 or 8. Some stores in Canada hold Boxing Week sales (before the end of the year) for income tax purposes. Advocates claim that "happy holidays" is an inclusive greeting that is not intended as an attack on Christianity or other religions, but is rather a response to what they say is the reality of a growing non-Christian population. Hong Kong has a lot of seasonal activities and traditions to offer around Christmas time. It is defined as incorporating at least Christmas, New Year, and sometimes various other holidays and festivals. According to Axelrad,[8] the season in the United States encompasses at least Christmas and New Year's Day, and also includes Saint Nicholas Day. [30] Retailers in the UK call Christmas the "golden quarter", that is, the three months of October to December is the quarter of the year in which the retail industry hopes to make the most money. Yanovski et al. According to the Washington Post, "Koreans prefer cash Christmas gifts over more creative presents."[61]. However, voluntary sales still called "Winterschlussverkauf" take place further on in most stores at the same time every year. This caused a mixed reaction, with people objecting to being forced to put up decorations. Merry Christmas! Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers. Christmas is the Occidental celebration of the Nativity of the Lord, and the Epiphany is the Christmas of the Orient. Many people find this time particularly stressful. It is similar to Black Friday, but lasts longer. We all know that Christmas officially begins on Christmas Eve, but when does Christmas officially end? Beginning in the mid-20th century, as the Christian-associated Christmas holiday and liturgical season, in some circles, became increasingly commercialized and central to American economics and culture while religio-multicultural sensitivity rose, generic references to the season that omitted the word "Christmas" became more common in the corporate and public sphere of the United States,[13] which has caused a semantics controversy[14] that continues to the present. The average US holiday shopper spent on average $805. Traditionally, the predominant greetings of the season have been "Merry Christmas", "Happy Christmas", and "Happy New Year". So they recommended that retailers manage their inventories for the entire holiday shopping season, with a leaner inventory at the start and new winter merchandise for the January sales. [22] The earliest suggestions of a feast of the Baptism of Jesus on January 6 during the 2nd century comes from Clement of Alexandria, but there is no further mention of such a feast until 361, when Emperor Julian attended a feast on January 6 that year.[22]. [94], "Christmas season" redirects here. For other meanings of "Happy Holidays", see, "Season's Greetings" redirects here. [37], It is traditionally considered to commence on the day after American Thanksgiving, a Friday colloquially known as either Black Friday or Green Friday. It begins on the last Monday in January and lasts for 12 days, selling left-over goods from the holiday shopping season, as well as the winter collections. ... You can also stay in rented accommodation with people in your Christmas bubble during the period… It tends to be defined as the period from Christmas Eve to Epiphany. British the first day after Christmas Day, which is a public holiday in the UK and Canada. [13][15][16] "Holiday season" has also spread in varying degrees to Canada;[17] however, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the phrase "holiday season" is not widely synonymous with the Christmas–New Year period, and is often instead associated with summer holidays. [29][30] In the UK in 2010, up to £8 billion was expected to be spent online at Christmas, approximately a quarter of total retail festive sales. In Western churches, Advent begins on the Sunday nearest to November 30 (St. Andrew’s Day) and is the beginning of the liturgical year. For many of us, the festive season can be one of the most stressful times of the year. [40], In 2005, the kick-off to the Christmas and holiday season for online shopping, the first Monday after US Thanksgiving, was named Cyber Monday. [41] Four of the largest 11 online shopping days in 2005 were December 11 to 16, with an increase of 12 percent over 2004 figures. [71] "Happy Christmas" has been used on almost every broadcast since 1956. From 23 December to 27 December From 23 December to 27 December, you may choose to form a Christmas bubble. Advent season, then, is both a time of joy-filled, anticipatory celebration of the arrival of Jesus Christ and a preparatory period of repentance, meditation, and penance . In Sweden, where the week of the first Advent Sunday marks the official start of the Christmas and holiday season, continuing with Saint Lucy's Day on December 13, followed up by Christmas before the Mellandagsrea (between days sell off) traditionally begins on December 27 (nowadays often December 26 or even December 25) and lasts during the rest of the Christmas holiday. Black Friday itself has also gained publicity in Sweden since the early-2010s. "[74], "Season's greetings" is a greeting more commonly used as a motto on winter season greeting cards, and in commercial advertisements, than as a spoken phrase. [38] A survey conducted in 2005 by GfK NOP discovered that "Americans aren't as drawn to Black Friday as many retailers may think", with only 17 percent of those polled saying that they will begin holiday shopping immediately after Thanksgiving, 13 percent saying that they plan to finish their shopping before November 24 and 10 percent waiting until the last day before performing their holiday gift shopping. The Government of Alberta Ministry of Municipal Affairs[89] states that candle-related fires rise by 140 percent during the Christmas and holiday season, with most fires involving human error and most deaths and injuries resulting from the failure to extinguish candles before going to bed. "[63] "Merry Christmas" in this new context figured prominently in A Christmas Carol. They last 34–35 days. [21] There is historical evidence that by the middle of the 4th century, the Christian churches of the East celebrated the birth and Baptism of Jesus on the same day, on January 6, while those in the West celebrated a Nativity feast on December 25 (perhaps influenced by the Winter solstice); and that by the last quarter of the 4th century, the calendars of both churches included both feasts. Some greetings are more prevalent than others, depending on culture and location. They have concluded that the health changes that occur during the Christmas and holiday season are not reversed during the rest of the year and have a long-term cumulative effect over a person's life, and that the risks of several medical problems increase during the Christmas and holiday season. According to the Deloitte 2007 Holiday Survey,[46] for the fourth straight year, gift cards are expected to be the top gift purchase in 2007, with more than two-thirds (69 percent) of consumers surveyed planning to buy them, compared with 66 percent in 2006. Barry W. Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, has stated the uproar is based on "stories that only sometimes even contain a grain of truth and often are completely false. In the United States, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States has had significant legal impact upon the activities of governments and of state-funded public schools during and relating to the Christmas and holiday season, and has been the source of controversy. Singapore widely celebrates Christmas which is a Public Holiday in this country. For other uses, see, "Christmas Greetings" redirects here. [64] "Merry Christmas and a happy new year" (thus incorporating two greetings) was in an informal letter written by an English admiral in 1699. The Philippines has the longest Christmas season, reportedly. Colorado Law and the Christmas and holiday season", "Seasonality and Competition in Time: An Empirical Analysis of Release Date Decisions in the U.S. Motion Picture Industry", National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation, Holidays, observances, and celebrations in Algeria, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christmas_and_holiday_season&oldid=998958626, Articles with dead external links from September 2017, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with dead external links from May 2016, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with limited geographic scope from August 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Gift giving, family meetings, religious services, parties, other holiday-specific traditions, Early January (usually after either New Year's Day or, "Merry Christmas", the traditional English greeting, composed of. Christmas in Beijing is mainly commercial; it is a busy shopping season. The Anglican Communion follows the Christmas season with an Epiphany season lasting until Candlemas (February 2), which is traditionally the 40th day of the Christmas–Epiphany season;[23] meanwhile, in the Lutheran Churches and the Methodist Churches, Epiphanytide lasts until the first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday. However, in the event of an exceptionally long cold season, it is industrial users, signed on to interruptible supply contracts, who would find themselves without gas supply.[88]. What does christmastide mean? Consumers are also spending more in total on gift cards and more per card: $36.25 per card on average compared with $30.22 last year. Christmas is the perfect season to reach out to others when laughter and good tidings are in … [53][54] Since a legislative reform to the corresponding law in 2004,[55] season sales are now allowed over the whole year and are no longer restricted to season-related goods. Because of the cold weather in the Northern Hemisphere, the Christmas and holiday season (as well as the second half of winter) is a time of increased use of fuel for domestic heating. [19] The poet Catullus called it "the best of days. Enjoy the fellowship of new friends, and cherish the company of family in this season of loving and sharing. A selection of goodwill greetings are often used around the world to address strangers, family, colleagues or friends during the season. In the mid-to-late 20th century in the United States, more generic greetings such as "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" began to rise in cultural prominence, an… singular noun. 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