To think Christmas should not be treated differently from Eid and Diwali?

[RUNFAST11]

We are hearing the government could allow a few days meeting during Christmas. While I understand this may be necessary, this could lead to spikes of COVID again and put pressure on the NHS (nearly 600 deaths yesterday) we aren't out of the woods yet.

When it was Eid in May Muslims were warned not to congregate and meet other households. A similar message was said in Diwali to have a stay at home Diwali.

YABVVU

Eid was almost at the height of the pandemic. As was Easter. Both were effectively 'cancelled' because of the time of the year they fell

This is also a Christian country. And anyone arguing this point must not live here

My best friend is Hindu and her and her family celebrate Christmas. I don’t think this is unusual.

Quite hypocritical to ignore the fact that an extremely large portion of the population celebrates Christmas (not limited to 'Christians attending church regularly').
So whilst it is sad that some celebrations can't happen, trying to keep the one important to most of the population makes sense.

YABU. I'm Jewish, and I wasn't able to travel to see relatives at Passover in the Spring, or New Year & Yom Kippur in September. It was devastating. But I also 'celebrate' Christmas in the way a lot of us from other religions or of no religion do. It's the darkest time of the year, and it's natural to seek human warmth, light, good food and company. It's also a time when loads of us have holidays from work and the time to travel and get together. I hope some way will be found to allow some movement and indoor meeting or it's going to be a very bleak midwinter indeed.

Christmas is far more than a religious celebration. It’s the most important cultural festival in the U.K., predating Christianity.

It gets its own holiday, it’s own TV schedule, am address from the queen. It’s an economic event in its own right. It’s not comparable to anything else.

We are or at least were a Christian country .
A larger proportion of us celebrate Christmas and we have done for hundreds of years .
Of course they would always try and make exceptions for the biggest British holiday of the year .

@39weekswithno2

We were in full lockdown at Easter remember.

I have every sympathy for people who have had their religious festivals curtailed, particularly with such little notice for eid - that seemed very unfair.
I'm upset I can't take my son to Sunday school and we won't get to have our usual church service at Christmas Eve. I don't think we'll be allowed in house socialising in my part of Scotland at Christmas anyway tbh.

However for many people in this country Christmas is a secular activity and indeed celebrated by people or different or no religion. It is celebrated by a higher proportion of the country. It would be purely an economical decision by governments.

you cant compare the amount of people that meet during xmas and during easter. xmas time moves so much people than easter.

I totally agree OP, feels like xmas and those that celebrate it are more than important than those that are muslim or sikh

Restrictions should depend on numbers at the time. You can’t compare Christmas to anything yet because we don’t know what the infection rate will be at that point.
It shouldn’t be a case of ignore the numbers so that x can go ahead & this should be the rule across the board.

With relation to this Govt - it’s always been obvious they will ‘allow’ Xmas - if they don’t a large % of the population will simply ignore the rules. The govt don’t want it to seem that most of the country are ignoring them so they will change the rules to make themselves seem more in control.

I thought the restrictions were given because the stats were showing BAME communities being more at risk and the lack of engagement with the social distancing rules due to their own beliefs.

No it's completely different - as others have said Christmas is more than just a religious festival, it is the most important event in our calendar.

Having said that, I think it was really shitty of the government not to have given people more notice about the rules changing the night before Eid.

I don’t think there should be an ease of restrictions over Christmas, regardless. Not because of my race or religion but because hundreds of people are still dying of this virus daily.

Totally agree op. Where for many the religious side of it is irrelevant it is still social gatherings that weren't allowed for other cultures.

They should just say now 2 households max of 10 people and be done with this constant speculation.

YABU.

Christmas is not given special licence because it’s a Christian festival - it’s because it is celebrated by a huge majority of the country (regardless of religion actually) and is focussed of family time. It’s an important time for many.

@loobyloo1234

YABVVU

Eid was almost at the height of the pandemic. As was Easter. Both were effectively 'cancelled' because of the time of the year they fell

This is also a Christian country. And anyone arguing this point must not live here

Eid was at the end of July soo not really at the height of the pandemic if right not we're not at the height of the second wave then why are we only making exceptions fr 5 days

We weren't allowed to celebrate Easter, so if you're feeling aggrieved on behalf of other religions, perhaps that evens it out a little for you? No one made a fuss about that, about three weeks after the first lockdown began.

It doesn't have to be cancelled. Instead those that hate hosting, but moan on and do it anyway, have been given a pass to not do it.

They would have to come out with some utter gaslighting bollocks to convince us that suddenly CV has gone away and the community stuff was all made up. And another spin story that kept you all away from your relatives for the past however long.

And with classrooms cold, non CV related hospital admissions will rise.

I have friends from Indian religions that celebrate Christmas as it's more of a cultural thing. It's a really fine line - the economic implications of skipping Christmas would be dire, but so would the health implications of letting millions of people travel round the country. I think there needs to be something around bubbles so that nobody has to spend it alone. Christmas is a really tough time for many people mentally anyway

People were still buying Easter eggs. I remember reading the outrage at people going out to buy them on here haha. Easter, or at least the commercial part of it was still done.

I’m one of those selfish ones that’ll be breaking rules no matter what. Most people who have died from Covid are 80+. Lockdown was to avoid pressure on the NHS. The nightingale hospitals are gathering expensive dust in the south of the country. No, I want to do what I can to make sure people’s livelihoods can keep going and they keep their homes and jobs, as well as the mental health of myself and my friends by going out, meeting friends and celebrating Christmas as I normally do. These things are more important to me than rather saving the lives of the over 80s, who should be managing their own risk profile and be at home shielding. Parks in London are full of people meeting up, most people I know have their friends over for dinner/lunch at weekends. At this point, I really couldn’t give a fiddlers whether “Christmas is cancelled” or not. I certainly won’t be following the Science since the number of people under 60 with no underlying conditions are not even at 1000.
Back to the original point, if we really are locking down to follow science, then of course Christmas should be cancelled. The reality is that SAGE is fabricating at worst, misinterpreting at best the data and figures. This lockdown should never have happened. I “did my bit” the first time. Not anymore.

@EasterIssland - that's because Christmas is more important to the UK than the other festivals. The vast majority of people in the UK celebrate Christmas. There seems to be a number of posters who do not know the origin of this important holiday and the celebrations that go along with it. This, like Easter, are intrinsic to life in the UK and are so much more than religious belief.

I was on the Eid threads under my previous username objecting to what they did to Eid.

You could say the same about the more well off who got their ski trips and their Cheltenham. The reasons we locked down late with Lockdown 1 in the first place.
The rich had their ski trips They had their Cheltenham (whats the betting there is a lockdown to save Cheltenham 2021) They had their holidays in the summer. As someone who rents, who has done these lockdowns in a tiny flat who hasnt been abroad since the 80s, does not go to pubs or restaurants I want my family Christmas.

This will only be 3 households and six people at MOST.
Obvs if anyone tested positive for Covid this would all be off. But believe me the way it looks from here is that its ppl lower down the socio economic scale expected to give up the little they do have.
Sick of it!

If we had a Prime Minister who was even vaguely competent, the timings of the initial restrictions and the second set would have been such that it would not have been an issue, as they would have been earlier, missing out these particular religious festivals.

It does not care whether it is Christmas, Diwali, Eid etc..

Exactly and that is why we were in lockdown for Diwali, Eid and Easter. It’s why we will, at best, be heavily restricted no matter what for Christmas and probably back in a situation close to lockdown for new year. Many people have also experienced birthdays and other celebrations in lockdown and many have missed out on weddings and funerals.

The restrictions are to save lives and support the NHS, and are not racist.

I think most people celebrate christmas in this country regardless of religion. Xmas if you want to distance yourself from the religous aspects.

Even harking back to my school days Muslim/ Hindu children celebrated. Only ones who didn't were Jehova witnesses.

I'm at atheist but I celebrate Christmas. It's not about religion for many people who celebrate. Also, the bank holidays make it a good opportunity for many people to get together with their families. People also spend money over xmas, which is important to many businesses.

So I get why it's treated differently to other religions holidays. Anyway, I don't think restrictions should be lifted significantly. The risk is too high. Maybe allowing two family groups to get together as a one off, but only allowing one family group to do this with one other family group. Personally, I'd accept not seeing any family to keep the virus numbers down.