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.

Christmas is by far the biggest holiday of the year. Schools close and pretty much everything shuts down for a couple of weeks. Decorations go up in cities, shops are full of Christmas goods - in fact December is the month which many shops depend on all year round - Xmas songs are played on the radio, and Xmas ads are on the telly. Almost everyone's life is impacted by the Christmas season, whether or not they are practicising Christians or members of an entirely different faith.

No other celebration - including the Christian feast of Easter - even compares. So YABVU.

YABU

Christmas in this country is more than a religious celebration,it is a national holiday
And I do think we are a Christian country

I think they will ease the restrictions at Christmas. Not because they should or because the science says so, but because they have to build the compliance level into their modelling. They know people are going to ignore it over Christmas so if they say 3/4 households of no more than x number of people they'll be hoping that people will stick to that rather than going compeltely all out and disregarding all of the precautions.

I just wonder if they'll do it sensibly. Scotlands rule of 6 - 6 adults from no more than 2 households meeting indoors - was much more sensible than England's 6 people from up to 6 households.

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

Cool. As long as the tax is removed from the Christmas food and presents being bought.

Less than a million people attend church regularly in the UK, and less than a third of UK citizens identify as Christian. We are not a Christian country.

The Queen is head of state and head of the church. We are a Christian country. It's not about how many people attend church. Many people identify as Christians regardless of going to church.

The Christmas Day martyrs should be rejoicing. They finally have that break from doing crap that no-one is really bothered about, whilst threatening to stop doing it.

Here's your chance to sit back like the rest of us and enjoy it.

Don't like the relatives? Awesome, what better way to get out of dealing with then.

The spoilt ones who aren't happy no matter what, awesome, you have a get out card.

Yes it will be sad that there will be people alone. The ones I know do get down because they can deal with their family/loved ones for the rest of the year, but it's really cutting at Christmas.

Christmas is not a religious occasion for the overwhelming majority, it is a cultural tradition. A tradition that around the darkest most miserable time of year we take some time off work, eat, drink and be merry with our family and friends. As others have pointed out it was a thing before Christianity came along and still is after it has mostly died out.

I don't know anyone who is paying any of the rules now any heed so it's not like many will pay heed over Christmas to whatever absurdity Boris and co come up with.

@RUNFAST11 Why are you making this political and racist?

The point is that other festivals coincided with lockdown and peaks.

If the numbers are still climbing or not falling enough, I expect Christmas will have lots of restrictions.

There is already rumour of only 4 people meeting, or not travelling between different Tiers. It's all in the melting pot.

I don't care either way. I'd rather stay safe and have my family safe and we can have a turkey dinner and give gifts anytime it's safe.

Let's be honest, how many people in the UK actual view Christmas as a CHRISTIAN celebration? Very few people I know attend church regularly. Christmas is no exception.

I'm a devout Catholic but I would not be heartbroken if I could not attend Christmas Eve mass with my family this year. It's ONE year. I think we can make the sacrifice.

I don't know anyone who is paying any of the rules now any heed so it's not like many will pay heed over Christmas to whatever absurdity Boris and co come up with.

Where do you live? Everyone I know IS paying heed to the rules. It's only here on MN I read stuff like your post.

Maybe this explains the north-south divide.

@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.

Of course we all want to see our families (I’ve not been able to see them this year cuz they’re abroad )

But have you thought about what impact this is going to have in January? Does lockdown mean anything to you? If we all meet like we pleased ... then January we are going to be back to March / November

We all celebrate Christmas in our family - the Christian side and the Muslim side. Our neighbours had a fairly large Diwali bash at the weekend.

Christmas/New Year is a national holiday and people take advantage of a longer break and an opportunity to go and visit family or go away.

‘Christmas: it’s not just for Christians’

@JinglingHellsBells

I don't know anyone who is paying any of the rules now any heed so it's not like many will pay heed over Christmas to whatever absurdity Boris and co come up with.

Where do you live? Everyone I know IS paying heed to the rules. It's only here on MN I read stuff like your post.

Maybe this explains the north-south divide.

If I lived any further south it would have to be in a boat so I suspect it says more about our respective circles of acquaintance.

And this year everyone is staying home and we will have a zoom drinkiepoo our evening/family abroad latenight and lunch time.

I’m 100% with you OP. The fuss over the possibly cancelling Christmas is disproportionate. In a country where less than 50% of its population align themselves to a religion and the rest is divided up between several religions, I don’t see how you can call the UK a Christian country. Also Easter is nowhere close to the scale of Christmas and all those saying otherwise know it. It’s all about the money OP.

Where do you live? Everyone I know IS paying heed to the rules. It's only here on MN I read stuff like your post.

Everyone I know is pretty much sticking to the rules also. I don’t know why people on MN continue to make out where they are that life is normal. It’s far from that where I am

NameChange84- yes agreed as to single parents and solitary people being able to be part of support bubbles - using the care exemption is a bit of a manipulation of the rule though . Many elderly will not manipulate rules . When both my parents were alive they wouldn’t have done. I think giving people a limited permission will go a long way towards avoiding larger groups and hence more risk of spread . If Boris gives the green light to multi household festivities I’ll personally eat my hat 😏

Yabu. Because we don't tend to have hundreds of people gathering in temples / churches over Christmas. The risk of me having great auntie Dot round for a couple of hours on Christmas day just can't be compared to mingling with hundreds of people in one building then going on to have dozens of extended family members in my home.

And for what it's worth I've seen my DD twice since March. She's disabled and lives in residential care so we can't even bend the rules even if we wanted to. They will have to prise Christmas out of my cold, dead hands. We've done everything asked of us, to the point my DD is now angry with us as she doesn't fully understand whats going on and is refusing to speak to me on the phone. She thinks we like her brother more than her, because he still lives at home. They aren't taking away Christmas too. And if we have to shield for two weeks to get that then so be it.

@Bluejewel

NameChange84- yes agreed as to single parents and solitary people being able to be part of support bubbles - using the care exemption is a bit of a manipulation of the rule though . Many elderly will not manipulate rules . When both my parents were alive they wouldn’t have done. I think giving people a limited permission will go a long way towards avoiding larger groups and hence more risk of spread . If Boris gives the green light to multi household festivities I’ll personally eat my hat 😏

Sorry but I’m not understanding how the care aspect is a manipulation of the rules?

People who need the help still need fed, washed and dressed on Christmas Day! You are allowed to do this for a vulnerable family member.

@PucePanther

Christianity is the state religion of the UK. It makes sense the government would make exceptions for the state religion that weren’t made for other religions.

Christmas is more of a cultural and family festival than a religion one these days. It's celebrated by people of no faith and many different faiths. A hell of a lot more people than celebrate Eid and Diwali in the UK.

I don't understand why it's so inconceivable to some that small Christmas are still Christmas and taht it's ok to sometimes have them🤷🏻
Obviously allowances should be made for people who live by themselves so, if they want to, they can join another household, but there is simply no need to have 15+ people around. At least they have a proper warning, not like for Eid, which was a disgrace.

Because we don't tend to have hundreds of people gathering in temples / churches over Christmas.

I don’t live in a big city but my church has between 800 and 1000 attendees on EACH of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services, plus another couple of hundred at the dawn service. Easter is only slightly less. It’s standing room only.

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

I don’t care what Boris says, I’m not risking my family this year by mixing.

You are adults and have a choice

NameChange churches aren't open here and haven't been for months. They didn't open over Easter and probably won't open over Christmas. Only one exception was made when a local mother's entire family was wiped out in an accident. For that appointments could be made to attend church and light a candle for one of the local churches.