Shops have been de-Christmassed

[CharityShopChic]

And it's WONDERFUL. They must have had the elves in over the last couple of days because in both the Asda and Waitrose I was in this morning had no decorations, no festive aisles full of tat, no screeching Noddy Holder on the tannoy.

Fabulous. At last back to normal.

Next had their clothing shop floor screened off with black curtains on Christmas Eve getting ready for the sale.

Mate, what are you on about? You’re just looking to be offended. Do you think UK retailers should take down their decs before 6th Jan and if so, why?
What if Christians find it offensive that this happens? That our second most holy holiday is made into a commercial pantomime? But antiChristianism is okay, right?

@Weepachu - we aren’t all religious so celebrate Christmas in different ways - there is no right or wrong - just different. For us the lead up to Christmas Day is parties, shopping and special meals and drinks. We are away on holiday this year but at home we only have Christmas Day as the Bank Holiday so the Christmas celebrations are now over and we look forward to the NY.

I wouldn't mind the Christmas stuff hanging about a few more days, because near ours it's all Easter eggs now

If you’re not Christian then you’re not really celebrating Christmas are you? The Mass of Christ?

You’re celebrating something more along the lines of Saturnalia, so just say that and don’t say you celebrate Christmas.

Next you’ll be piling in on Eid and commercialising that religious festival.

For most of my christian family, Christmas is about family, hope and support (whatever you can manage). Meals are simple and gifts are tokens.

We're probably all aware that originally it was a pagan way to get through the long dark winter and look forward to better days with a bit of a party and we continue that spirit too, (sort of).

The commercialism is a mixed bag, it's un-needed pressure on the consumer but provides a living for a fair few people. You just have to keep your head and get through some of it.

it does matter what you call them

Christmas may have at its heart a Christian celebration, but people of other faiths, and of no faith, also celebrate with presents and turkey on 25th December. You don't have to "prove" you are a practising Christian to participate. Similarly, the christian church of whatever persuasion does not get to dictate the right/wrong way to do christmas.

In fact, the Free Church in Scotland is very anti-Christmas as it sees it as a pagan celebration. www.heraldscotland.com/news/13043634.church-members-reject-christmas/

You keep your decorations up to 6th January, or 6th February, or Easter. Nothing stopping you. Just as there is nothing stopping Asda or Waitrose deciding that actually, by 24th December they've had enough.

46% of the UK population may define themselves as christian as in "raised in a broadly christian ethos". That is not the same as being a PRACTISING christian, which is far more of a minority pursuit.

I think the shops could wait until after 12th Night. I cannot believe anyone starts to think about Valentine's Day, Mothering Sunday or Easter yet?

And many of us like to keep the festive flame of Christmas alive for at least another week.

They don't appear to do Christmas decorations until Twelfth Night like a lot of us. The shops have had them up since end of November to be fair.

Haven't seen any eggs yet.

We celebrate Christmas our way - parties, shopping and seeing friends and family. We just don’t believe in the religious side it. Nothing wrong in the way we celebrate - it’s just different from your celebration.

Christmas ending on 5/6 January has always been the norm in the UK. That's twelfth night. When I was a child, nobody would have CONSIDERED putting up decorations before the start of December.

In other countries things are done differently. In Germany, my friends put up their decs a couple of days before Christmas and leave them up for the whole of January.

Sure, you’re celebrating in and around similar dates. But you’re not celebrating Christmas. You’re celebrating Yule/Saturnalia and that’s totally fine, but it’s not Christmas 😊

Christmas is celebrated around the winter solstice because there were existing Pagan festivals at that time; there are various theories as to when the birth of Christ actually took place.

It's up to the individual when they want to celebrate it personally, if at all.

Retailers will make commerce the driving factor in when to decorate and so on. There's nothing wrong with that; all businesses exist to make money, otherwise they wouldn't survive. I imagine they want the emphasis to be on the post-Christmas sales to attract customers looking for bargains; with the theory that people still in 'Christmas mode' probably won't be sales shopping until New Year, if at all.

I don't think I ever heard the phrase "twelfth night" growing up in Scotland. Wasn't a thing. Decorations usually stayed up in our house until New Year's day, removed on the second for a new start to the New Year.

I figure that consumer pressure drives the market, if shops actually sell Christmas, Easter, Eid, Channukah, Diwali, Vaisakhi stuff outside the 'official' times and people buy it they'll keep doing it. I can choose not to buy into it just as I can choose any other purchase.

The twelve-day midwinter festival comes from the much older Pagan celebration of Yuletide and the winter solstice. This has been the case for many, many years before Christianity coopted that festival as Christmas. Paganism was a European tradition; Christianity, middle-eastern.

To me, it's fascinating how all these ancient stories of our civilizations grew, and overlap and intersect. Included in this history is also the violent persecution which has been a part of that story, and which in no small part has emanated from Christianity. Pagans don't tend to celebrate the new year on January 1; nor do many of the eastern spiritual faiths. There are no directives on when and how decorations are put up, or for how long.

I'm not quite following the rigid stance that 'this is the right way, and different = bad'. Particularly, of course, when it takes the form of ugly prejudice such as anti-Semitism. The December celebrations are for everyone who chooses to celebrate them. When, where, or how they see fit.

@Weepachu - we celebrate Christmas our way and will continue to do so. No - we’re not going to call the celebration anything other than Christmas!

NB. Re the my last paragraph a disclaimer is needed: I'm not suggesting you@SqueakyDinosaur have in any way been party to this.

In the United States, many stores decorate and have Christmas tat well before Thanksgiving. It’s rushing the season. I do want an exception for craft and fabric store displays of Christmas kits and fabrics in August, because making Christmas takes time.

My mum was one of those elves, took her to work at 9pm last night and picked her up at 7am. 3 people dechristmasing an entire supermarket and already putting out the Easter stuff!

As my name suggests, I am a charity shop volunteer. We put Christmas fabric and craft kits out year round as we know that crafters are busily making year round too.

Easter tat will be up in the morning...

Me too. They could at least leave it to 2nd/3rd January! How miserable, taking it all down on/by 27th December. It's still Christmas FFS. @CharityShopChic YABU.

They pinched Ostara, the festival celebrating the Spring Equinox, from Pagans too.

Likewise was the coopting of Candlemas from Imbolc.

The hare and painted eggs are all Pagan symbols. None of it has anything to do with Christianity.