In the spirit of inclusivity, Aberdeen school describes cards made at Christmas as Winter cards

[cakeorwine]

Children at this school have been making cards in the run up to Christmas for ages.

Many children still make Christmas cards during this activity and they are free to call them Christmas cards

However, the school announced they would be adopting the phrase "winter cards" to show "value and respect" to different cultures.
The email sent to families said: “To reflect this inclusivity in our communications, we refer to seasonal cards as “winter cards” rather than “Christmas cards”.
“This terminology helps ensure that our language is welcoming and inclusive of all members of our school community.
It added that families were still free to use the phrase Christmas cards if they preferred.

You can imagine the online reaction. The Deputy Headteacher received a threatening phone call

"Unfortunately, following the communications, our deputy head teacher received an abusive and threatening telephone call.

"This was followed by disappointing comments on social media suggesting that Christmas was somehow being removed from our school.
"I want to reassure you that is simply not the case"

We had Winterval in Birmingham. Haven't people learnt? I can imagine it's been done with the best intentions but I bet they didn't consult with the parents before doing this. It has come at the worst possible time for relations with other communities and it's spreading like wildfire online.

I'm an atheist I have no problem with schools making Christmas cards. Just don't try and force a religion on my son.

I am sure most people, regardless of faith or lack of faith, have no problem with Christmas Cards.

Winter cards is a stupid idea

The problem is that Christmas cards do mark a religious festival, some people do object to this, others feel offended on behalf of others who don’t even care

If Christmas is religious why do many non Christians celebrate it?

Personally it's a nice festival to have when it's dark in the evening at winter time.
It's the one time in the UK we can come together as a family, enjoy a nice meal, go and see relatives, have an extended time off work at home, spend time with the children and unwind.

There's good classic films on TV, I quite the Carols at Kings, the houses are all lit up and it's a nice time of year.

I don't do God but I can still enjoy and celebrate Christmas time.

But most cards have reindeer, snowmen, Santa etc on them,

I haven't ever received a religious themed card at Christmas, Not even from the Catholics in my family

Not sure what you mean about learning from winterval in Birmingham - it was just a name and Birmingham still have Christmas markets

I only send Christmas cards with a religious theme because it’s a religious festival but if you’re so not bothered by the religious aspect why do you care what it’s called?

id love some links or something to back up your post

Christmas is basically the winner solstice stolen by Christianity anyway so maybe this is just going back to its roots.

Answers from a Hindu and a Muslim-certain people, like Jesus, can be valued by other religions, even if not seen in the same way as Christians do.
Special time of peace and goodwill-common to many belief systems.
Britain can still be classed as a Christian country (Sunday trading laws) and the holiday pattern follows this.
People like it, and there's lots of charitable things which help everyone, regardless of belief, themed around Christmas.

Yawn, there are cards for every other religious celebration

So let let the children make a picture of a house, a doll, a robon, some trees and write Season's Greetings inside.

Unless this was consulted on with the school community, this represents the view of a handful of woke governors and senior staff.

It isn't acceptable. They should all be given 100 Hail Mary's, and not be allowed a kneeler at Mass.

It seems both foolish and unnecessary on the part of the school. I taught in a very multi ethnic town for twenty years. Over 50% of our children were Muslim, others African etc. We celebrated Christmas. Our Muslim parents came along to our Christmas performances, and gave us Christmas cards and gifts. Jesus is a prophet in Islam so in general they have no problem with celebrating his birth.

Of course we also marked Eid and Diwali. And after 'big Eid' parents would kindly send in food for us the next day!
Diwali was close to Christmas one year, but we didn't combine the two. That in itself seems disrespectful to me.

In the present rather fraught environment, regarding race, l think it was very unwise of the school to feed the frenzy when it's so unnecessary.

What absolute bollocks. If anyone is offended by the word Christmas then they are welcome to go and live in a country which does not have it. I lived in a muslim country for some years and would not in a million years have been 'offended' by that country's own religious practices and traditions let alone expect anyone to change them one iota for my benefit. WTF.

Don't blame the parents for this! As I explained above, it's highly unlikely that any Muslim families care! In twenty years of teaching in an area where half our pupils were Muslim, not a single parent complained about our celebration of Christmas. They just joined in.

Your comment is the exact reason that I think it was a stupid decision by the school. It's feeding division which results in posts like this all over social media, and making life hard for those who are not to blame.

I don’t know why this needed a big announcement. We’ve called them holiday cards for years. A decent number of our families are Muslim and our sales improved when we gave the children the option of making a card for whatever holiday they chose (my son makes the only christmikkah card!). It’s lovely to see the range. The wee ones are still helped to draw a Christmas tree with a template, but the older ones do whatever. There are Christmas parties and a nativity play and Christmas presents so there’s still plenty of Christmas.

But this is all just what you like and what you think. You wouldn't like it if the season just focused on Channukah and pretended Christmas didn't exist.

Making effort to find the commonality so everyone can enjoy the season doesn't take away from anyone's enjoyment and should be encouraged to make a kinder and more cooperative society.

Virtue signalling at its finest. I'm cringing for them. 🙄 This shit would NOT be tolerated in my area. And you know different faiths and religions (other than Christianity,) are not the ones complaining about CHRISTMAS cards... It's the middle class, champagne-socialists and social justice warriors who are usually atheist.

.

Here's a link

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=school+winter+cards+

Winterval

Birmingham, England (1997–1998)

• What it was: A secular and religious marketing umbrella launched by Birmingham City Council to promote winter and holiday events (including Christmas, Diwali, and New Year).
• The Controversy: Church of England leaders criticized the name as a secular attempt to sideline Christmas, though the council stated Christmas remained central.
• The Myth: Discontinued after 1998, the term turned into a persistent UK cultural myth and shorthand—promoted heavily by British tabloids—falsely claiming the council banned or renamed Christmas

100% this. Muslims and people of other faiths are not complaining. See what I said above!

Can't help wondering how many of the school staff will be going to work then, so that the hypothetically offended can be sent to school whilst everyone else is at home on Christmas Day.

"Just don't try and force a religion on my son."

Ehhh? Genuinely trying to work how this (admittedly probably slightly ill advised) decision is in any way forcing anything on anyone.

That;s my view of Christmas when asked why non Christians celebrate Christmas. Completely unrelated to Winter cards

I know what winterval is I lived in Birmingham in 1998 I just wondered what needed to be learned from it?

easy to google so not sure why you didn’t just add a link in your OP to the ‘news’ story about the storm in a tea cup? The school have said families can refer to them as Christmas cards 🤷‍♀️

I am sure most people, regardless of faith or lack of faith, have no problem with Christmas Cards.

Yes, I agree with you. So no biggie then😊

It is not ‘inclusive’ to deny children their Christian culture. And saying parents are ok to call them Christmas cards does not override the fact that a school is teaching children it is wrong.

Families can call them Christmas cards but school is teaching children that doing so is bad as it is not inclusive?

Because people have used Winterval when they assume Christmas had been replaced by Winterval. I have read countless times people saying Birmingham replaced Christmas with Winteval.

Right wing and Far Right groups online are sharing the email screenshot this school sent out as part of their anti Muslim, white Christian Nationalist propaganda.

This is giving ammunition to the far right.