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.

Are we allowed mass gatherings in Churches yet?

Funny how talk of a religious event talks more about the socialising and spending side

@RUNFAST11

Of course more people celebrate Christmas in the UK. But that is not the point. The point is you cannot have one rule for one group and one for the other the virus does not discriminate. It does not care whether it is Christmas, Diwali, Eid etc..

Boris Johnson just wants to be known as the guy who saved Christmas rather than taking into account the costs it could have on more deaths, infections and pressure on the NHS.

You can have whatever rules are appropiate at any particular time. It's really a different situation now, because a mass vaccination programme is becoming a reality. There's no real need to drive the infection rate down very low, as long as growth continues to reduce slowly.

I voted YANBU but not because I think we should "play fair" to all the religions. I voted because Covid won't go away just because it's Christmas. They said at the press briefing today that every one day of relaxation would require two days of much tighter restrictions to correct and I don't think it is worth the trade off. At all.

@feelingverylazytoday if that’s the case ... why is it that only we will be allowed to have 10 people from 4 households as per the news for only 24-28th dec. does the virus get weaker over those days and stronger before abs after ? It’s not cuz of the current situation of the wave. It’s because the economy needs a boost and they prefer it.

I also know people of other faiths who celebrate Christmas - not the religious aspect obviously, but they have presents and a tree!

To a couple of pp. I'm not saying I think it's a good idea if millions of people suddenly start mixing in others homes over Christmas. I don't think Scot gov will allow it in most of Scotland anyway.
I was simply stating what I think the uk governments reasoning could be if they do allow it.

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

I actually was making more of a comparison between Easter to Eid and Diwali in terms of numbers of people who would have wanted to meet up with families or have weekends away.

Well in Wales I think you will get a two family bubble and no more. We had that from August until lockdown.

I would rather we focused on getting the virus under control, than on protecting any religious festivals.

I totally agree that the same approach should be taken for Christmas as for Eid and Diwali.

It’s a national holiday.
It’s nothing to do with what religion it may or not be ( was always a pagan festival before Christianity took it over).

HNRTT but I recall a lockdown here for the main/primary Christian festival, Easter. Theologically, Christmas is relatively insignificant, IMO. Christmas is a secular celebration and draws more from pagan celebrations so I don't think drawing comparisons and conflict with Diwali and Eid is appropriate OP though, to be fair, the Daily Mail, Torygraph and Tory party have little resonance with true Christianity so may not realise.

I love Christmas but I agree with you.

Very little mention of Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur. Is that you Jeremy?

Easter was cancelled together with other religious festivals since the onset of the first lockdown. However, I would say that Christmas is in a different league really. It's essentially a national holiday for the whole country. It's not quite the same as celebrating a specific missed religious day of observance but surely it will be a time for everyone to get together, regardless of their religion, and celebrate in whatever way they see fit?

I would rather we focused on getting the virus under control, than on protecting any religious festivals.

Here’s an idea. All the Oliver Cromwells and Scrooges on this thread, who think Christmas should be cancelled in the name of getting the virus under control, can stay home. And the rest of us can go and visit friends and family and celebrate as we normally would.

Oh I hadnt thought about it like that. But I personally think it's more to do with the fact 99% of the country is closed for xmas anyway and Boris knows so many people are just going to do what they want anyway. Easter was obviously a different kettle of fish because we were still in "proper" lockdown which had higher compliance rate.

Completely agree OP, and thought how outrageous it would be when I’ve heard them talking about it.

It doesn’t matter that Christmas is culturally more predominant in this country, it’s still just a religious festival that is celebrated by people, and some people are not more important, or more deserving than others.

@Dongdingdong

I would rather we focused on getting the virus under control, than on protecting any religious festivals.

Here’s an idea. All the Oliver Cromwells and Scrooges on this thread, who think Christmas should be cancelled in the name of getting the virus under control, can stay home. And the rest of us can go and visit friends and family and celebrate as we normally would.

Yes, and then after Christmas when people go back to work, school, university, shopping, medical appointments etc. all the people who have stayed at home will be catching the virus off the people who've been spreading at around at Christmas.

The vast majority of the UK celebrate Christmas whether for religious or cultural reasons, that is not the same for Eid or Divali which are religious celebrations largely celebrated by those belonging to the faith.

We have two Eids and the first was during the height of lockdown, Eid isn't as commercial as Christmas is (at least in the uk) it is about family and celebrating with them. Some people did break the rules, just as many have said they will do at Christmas but we didn't and neither did members of our family and wider friends. It was hard not seeing mil for her first eid without my fil, the woman was beyond devastated anyway and then couldn't see her son or grandkids which made it so much worse for her. We still celebrated Eid although dh couldn't go to the mosque to pray, we contacted family over watsapp or facettime and got sent lots of pics of everyone's meals. We sent presents directly to their homes instead of dropping them off ourselves. We still put decorations up and got dressed up to sit at home. We made it as fun as possible for our kids, to celebrate the end of Ramadan and whilst it was sad not to see family and friends we made it special in our own way.

Lots of people have suffered during lockdown, I will be working over Christmas anyway but would still like to be able to do fun stuff with the kids over Christmas.

What is annoying is that people go on about Christmas being cancelled, it isn't or won't be. It will just be different and like the rest of us you will have to adapt and celebrate within the guidelines at the time. That doesn't mean it will be shot just different.

@TikTokFinger

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.

I'm afraid to admit that I agree with this. But I do. And that's just looking at the science. Christmas is more than a Christian celebration. I wouldn't go and live in a Muslim country and demand that everyone did as I dictated as per my Christian beliefs. I'd get short shrift.

Oh I would be absolutely fine if only the superstitious and die hard commercial idiots got to celebrate Christmas. But as long as the NHS can use that information when making care decisions.

*shit

Totally agree. I celebrate xmas and think its really unfair how it's been looked at that xmas is more important than other holidays.

Why do you have to be there in person?
Whatever video calling services you have and all eat at the same time. Prop device(s) around the table and they are there.

I've had to do this before. Rather than focusing on the negatives, we looked at the positives. Just because we couldn't be together in person didn't mean we couldn't be together. Was much harder before we had all this amazing tech around us.

@Sceptre86

The vast majority of the UK celebrate Christmas whether for religious or cultural reasons, that is not the same for Eid or Divali which are religious celebrations largely celebrated by those belonging to the faith.

We have two Eids and the first was during the height of lockdown, Eid isn't as commercial as Christmas is (at least in the uk) it is about family and celebrating with them. Some people did break the rules, just as many have said they will do at Christmas but we didn't and neither did members of our family and wider friends. It was hard not seeing mil for her first eid without my fil, the woman was beyond devastated anyway and then couldn't see her son or grandkids which made it so much worse for her. We still celebrated Eid although dh couldn't go to the mosque to pray, we contacted family over watsapp or facettime and got sent lots of pics of everyone's meals. We sent presents directly to their homes instead of dropping them off ourselves. We still put decorations up and got dressed up to sit at home. We made it as fun as possible for our kids, to celebrate the end of Ramadan and whilst it was sad not to see family and friends we made it special in our own way.

Lots of people have suffered during lockdown, I will be working over Christmas anyway but would still like to be able to do fun stuff with the kids over Christmas.

What is annoying is that people go on about Christmas being cancelled, it isn't or won't be. It will just be different and like the rest of us you will have to adapt and celebrate within the guidelines at the time. That doesn't mean it will be shot just different.

Now you're just being silly with all the common sense you're speaking.

Christmas will be ruined if people have to stay home and use their phones or iPads to communicate. RUINED I tell you.

I celebrate xmas but don't believe in god its literally just tradition for presents and family time in my family.