Our school has banned the word Christmas?

[Fayethefair]

I’ve heard from a friend on my DD’s school’s ptfa that our Cambridgeshire school has banned the word Christmas to make the school events feel more inclusive. So now it’s Festive Party, Festive Fayre etc. I’m happy to let mumsnet know the name of the school if they don’t feel this post is genuine so they can check this themselves but I won’t put names on here as this is my child’s school, I just don’t think this right and want to see what others think.

My daughter attended a Diwali lunch put on by the school recently and I genuinely thought this was lovely. I feel everything should be represented equally, I don’t understand or agree that the head should be picking and choosing what’s allowed and what isn’t. Surely this isn’t right?

Oh the war on Christmas rears its head again!

I live in a very diverse area of the US, everything is "winter". No one is banned from saying Christmas, they just don't use it for events. School crafts etc are generic winter themes and they don't sing religious carols.

Well, being a christians supposedly follow christianity, the two are linked. Following a book written by a few random folk.

I live in a liberal states in the USA. Have done for nearly two decades. Me DC have always had “holiday parties” and “winter break” on their academic calendar. This is because Jewish people celebrate Hannukah around the same time. School close for Eid and Diwali and Rosh Hashanah and Good Friday, and those holidays are called by their names. The reason is because there’s no other religious festival at the time to be ignored by Christianity having a holiday at the same time and taking precedence.

This all makes sense in a secular society. In a constitutional monarchy where the head of state is also the head of a Christian church, I think it speaks well of that church to say “festive period” or “holiday season”. Nobody is banning Christmas, whoever wants to celebrate it can. The festive fayre is supposed to be Christmas+, and isn’t that lovely. Presumably there’ll be egg nog and mince pies and baubles for a tree, but also dreidels and menorahs and blue/white decorations as well as red/gold.

"Use the words I want you to use or shove your charity fundraising up your arse".

I don't remember seeing that in the Bible, but if that's the Christian attitude, fair enough.

How do you think we witches who celebrate Yule (tree, feast, lights) feel? Christmas was intentionally merged with Yule and now it’s been overtaken. You find people today saying things like why do you even celebrate Christmas if you aren’t Christian, I’m not celebrating Jesus birthday which likely wasn’t even in December, it’s first a festival around midwinter to brighten and warm up the time. 🌲 ✨ 🍷

This is all talking away from the traditions of the noble beaker folk. People have no respect these days.

🤣🤣🤣

It has everything to do with pc codswallop and the nanny state. I used to run the PTA Christmas Fayre 25 years ago. Had the Head ventired renaming it in the name of inclusivity, she'd have been told to find someone else to do the legwork and co-ordination. Someone else could have raised the £3.5k.

Some people, my white Christian self included, find people who rant against inclusivity offensive. So maybe consider losing the snowflake boo hoo, I'm being censored Little England chip on your shoulder?

It's amazing how the censored contingent can only whinge about their persecution on X, GB News, The Telegraph, almost all the Tabloids and on every social media platform known to man.

Definitely, renaming something the winter festival will ruin it and the country for eternity.

If this is genuine why is Divali being named and celebrated but not Christmas would be my perspective

Christmas is really suffering from all those attempts to ban it. You hardly hear about anyone still celebrating Christmas and absolutely nothing happens in December related to it.

If that's true, then they can have generic winter events and ban Divali as well. Or not, as the case may be.

Christmas has a religious meaning for some people. We deserve to be respected as well.

Oh it's Birmingham Winterval all over again and that went well didn't it...

Please can I watch you saying this to other religions as well? Either we respect all religions or we don't respect any of them.

Do you raise funds for causes you disagree with? If not, then why do you expect anyone else to do so?

Ive only read OPs posts

If this is true and other religious or cultural festivals are named with their traditional/cultural/historical name then of course thats wrong but I can guess there are tons of people tying themselves in knots to explain why you can have Divali celebrated, named, experienced but Christmas is unnamed/misnamed, celebrated and experienced.

Christmas is Christmas even for us atheists. It doesnt stop being Christmas just because there are other festivities happening at the time or people of other belief systems and cultures experiencing it.

Call it the right name. Its bad enough all the other things that Christmas incorporated arent really named either but then we're talking thousands of years ago rather than just in the last 30 years.

To all those banging on about Diwali: the point is that the JEWISH FAITH celebrates a critical festival at the same time (give or take a day or two) as Christmas. It’s got nothing to do with town people religious holidays. It’s to do with white people religious holidays not being drowned out by Christmas. Does that make you feel better?

There was definitely a bit of a movement at my school a few years ago to generalise the Christmas period but one staff member decorates a common area for every big religious festival. We have an Equalities person who runs other events, plus a Jewish person, Hindi and now a Christian group. It’s very inclusive, as well it should be, given where we are/our intake.

What does renaming school fairs and discos have to do with respecting the religoust meaning of Christmas, or Xmas as some people like to call it?

It's for the PTA; the cause is the school. If the PP disagrees with raising funds for the school, why is she on the PTA?

Schools all break up for Christmas, people celebrate it then.

I guess I'm not understanding what you mean by that?

I mean, I agree that if a school was having the type of all-hands-on-deck, using massive PA and school resources that Christmas/Winter festivals tend to do, Festival of Light is more inclusive than Diwali and would support that.

I can't help an incorrectly worded earworm. It's there and there is nothing I can do about it.

I do however, hope your now earworm is lyrically correct.

But surely the 'cause' is the PA pot, which presumably benefits all the kids in the school? It's not like you're raising actual funds for the eradication of Christmas. Seems a bit churlish to refuse based on a pretty anodyne name change.

Gbeebies and ai videos

We have a winter fair and winter concert at our school which no doubt will having people accusing us of 'banning' Christmas. The fact that we have wreath making and Father Christmas at the fair (and cover the place in tinsel) and sing Christmas songs at the concert is probably no defence. We are absolutely banning Christmas and none of the children will ever understand the meaning of Christmas.....