Christmas with religiously and ethnically diverse with community

[mids2019]

So I work in a trust where possibly 20% of staff are Muslim and there are plenty of other religions represented too with some Christians .

This year with the traditional Christmas parties and general Christmas build up there have been conversations about our holiday period being centred around one religion to the detriment of others. There are no bank holidays associated with Eid or Diwali and people for instance.

I think in general people do get in the general communal Christmas spirit but for instance the traditional meal and drinks which is meant to be a celebratory time for staff has maybe maybe feel staff feel excluded with many junior staff members of non Christian faith feeling uncomfortable with going so simply didnt. There were a subgroup of staff that organise a large meal with the alcohol flowing but it really is becoming obvious that there needs to be a more inclusive event of the Christmas do is partly to show gratitude to hard working staff.

Do we need to reflect at Christmas not everyone celebrates it and with the continued Christ in the name it is still a relgous festival and as such people with strong faith in other religions may be a little reluctant to embrace the festoval?

Yeah keep dropping the normal stuff. Absolutely will end up well. Not fueling racism at all.

X posted🙈

As I said often people do just get into the Christmas spirit but I think the alcohol fuelled Christmas party this year given our staff make up has been a little divisive and exclsuionary. Some people do not feel comfortable where alcohol is being drunk in copious amounts possibly due to faith reasosn.

They can lump it!

I think you are over thinking.

I live in a very multicultural town, and people celebrate their religious days as they would normally do, yes they may have to use their holiday entitlement.

With in my own children friends we have Eid, Diwali, Hanukkah and Christmas celebrations.

Do they say Happy Holidays on other religious festivals or just the Christian ones?

You say there was a staff organised meal, well if staff of other faiths want to take the lead on a Diwali party or an Eid party then surely it's up to them?

Despite increasing secularism, over 80% of the U.K. to identify as culturally Christian remember, worth baring in mind.

Our Christmas parties are definitely not a Christian celebration. Our household Christmas isn’t a religious celebration either!! Christmas celebrations predate Christian ones and for many people this isn’t a religious holiday. The UK isn’t even a Christian country anymore, less than half admit to being Christian.

I think your company need to do a bit of training, it’s not acceptable to bully people because of their faith (or lack of it).

Unless you are all worshiping god at your parities, I don’t see why they are Christian. As far as I am aware alcohol isn’t a major part of a Christian celebration (apart from wine at communion, but I doubt you are doing that).

Maybe it’s time to put the party to a vote, have some options of places to go and see which the majority prefer.

Has anyone actually asked for this? Stuff like this really feeds in to right wing hate

So everyone has to adapt to suit one religious group? That's not inclusive either.

I think free flowing alchohol is tricky in any workplace and quite old fashioned these days. People that enjoy more to drink usually go onto the pub following the work xmas do. Staff that have young children/older staff like me ususally leave fairly early after the meal and a couple of glasses, before alchohol becomes a big part of the celebration. That has been my experience at many workplaces over the years. As a young 'un I'd be with the late night drinking crew, now I'm buying a big cup of tea for my train journey home

I do think not centering alchohol for workplace events is general good practice. A meal where those that enjoy a drink can head on somewhere is ideal. Apart from that, I think people enjoy participating the xmas traditions of this country. I enjoy learning about thanksgiving/diwali etc from colleagues. I don't think there is any need to make this a divisive issue - encouraging colleagues to understand and particpate in local traditions is appropriate and welcoming.

Nigel???

This smacks of someone making something into an issue when it isn’t. The only people a “rebrand” or “banning” would benefit are the likes of Reform who would thrive on this kind of nonsense. I work with lots of Muslims who have absolutely no issue with the way Christmas is celebrated.

An NHS Trust dropping the word Christmas from a Christmas party is a sure fire way of getting the story on the front page of the Daily Mail.

Yawn

Where are you getting 80% from?!!! I doubt it was even that 200yrs ago!! These are the actual statistics:

Religion in England and Wales (2021 United Kingdom census)[1]
Christian (46.2%)
No religion (37.2%)
Muslim (6.5%)
Hindu (1.7%)
Sikh (0.9%)
Buddhist (0.5%)
Jewish (0.5%)
Other religions (0.6%)
Not stated (6.0%)

The majority of England and Wales do not follow the Christian religion.

DH is not attending his Xmas party. He also doesnt drink because he cant tolerate alcohol as he gets older. And he is brown.
People might assume he is not attending because of religious or puritan reasons but it's actually because he hates parties! Many people hate parties. They should not be forced.

Reform will definitely come in with this PC gone mad nonsense.

If someone said happy holidays, I would deck them. Not with boughs of holly either!
If someone doesn't like happy christmas, say nothing.

Yes, I think being offended on someone's behalf is pointless, because there might be no actual reason to even be offended. I'm not brown, but do share your OHs feelings on parties! 🤣

I prefer the more traditional Merry Christmas. 🎄

I think there is an element of this.
I have a few atheist friends and they are all happy celebrating Christmas. Its our culture, and if I was living abroad I would celebrate whatever festivity they do, i would actually be excited and curious to see how other cultures build their traditions, and would join them.
To me it's very American this thing of "Happy Holidays" so nobody is offended. Its like a grey canvas where you wipe all the history of centuries.

And by the way, people of other faiths do celebrate Christmas, I have friends of other faiths, dh works for an international company based in a non Christian country and everyone celebrates, in fact they had him send a large artificial Christmas tree over a few years back because the ones you can buy there are rubbish.

This idea that people are uncomfortable is usually projection by well meaning people rather than the people of other faiths themselves. The boozy meal however is something that is uncomfortable for many so perhaps focus on that element (though being nhs and staff led and paid for I don't see really the harm) plus don't assume different faith = don't drink, dh's senior Muslim colleague drinks a lot!

In the 80s my Dad ran a factory. He used to give the staff 2 weeks off for their religious festivals. You could take it round Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid, Diwali, whenever. His staff were happy and his factory was staffed all year round.

If it's an NHS trust with a diverse workplace, then they should have dumped the alcohol years ago.

Nobody minds a Christmas party. A significant number will be excluded by the focus on alcohol, not just Muslims.

Finally! I knew jt was somewhere in my phone.

It's every year like clockwork btw