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?

Without a link to the school's website and a letter from the HT, I don't believe this post.

I don’t think it actually really matters if the word has been banned a little bit or a big bit.

It's not been banned though, you can't ban something a little bit they've just changed the names of some events. Let's be honest the fact you used the word banned was to get a reaction. You know it's not been banned but knew it would stir up responses.

I beg to differ. But carry on anyway.

Pliny the Younger complained that Saturnalia seemed to start earlier and last longer every year ....

@DressOrSkirt well clearly you can

Bit hard for her to be outraged though, now she's realised the word Christmas ISN'T actually banned after all.

All that mock outrage. Click bait

Our history and culture of having to sit through the same awful Nativity bored to tears just to see your kid say one line?

I’m reminded of the time some council (Birmingham?) decided to rename Christmas as ‘Winterval’, which only provoked much derision, and the policy was later dropped.

They were evidently under the impression that the C word was offensive to people of other faiths, which I gather is/was not the case at all.

For many years we lived in Oman, which is Muslim, and no objection was ever made to Christmassy things/events. On one memorable occasion the Royal Oman Police even lent a ceremonial camel so that Father Christmas could arrive at the English Speaking Primary School in style!

He told the children that he’d left his reindeer at the airport because they didn’t like the sand. 😂

There’s rumours like this every year - don’t say Christmas, people will get offended, Muslims are offended by poppies, X company has removed their Christmas branding because people are offended.

I have never in my life met a black or brown person, a Hindu, Muslim or Sikh, an immigrant or anyone else for that matter who is offended by, or seeks to ban, these things. I do have a family member who posts all of this on Facebook and they’re racist as fuck.

At best it’s someone well meaning but hard of thinking trying to promote inclusion at worst it’s a calculated attempt to create a division. I’m cynical though and I tend to believe the latter.

So is it banned or not?

What other religious celebrations take place during Diwali?

Whereas during Christmas, there are other celebrations taking place. Hanukkah, Kwanza, Yuletide for example.

Calling things Winter celebrations is thus inclusive and not exclusive.

Christians love nothing more than to feel persecuted, when they aren't being. Instead, they hijack other festivals then moan if people don't call them by the Christian-imposed name.

If you want to celebrate Christmas exclusively, then you can hand back the yule log, Father Christmas and the Christmas tree etc, and focus on Jesus. Perhaps move your celebration of his birth to somewhere Autumn, since scholars generally agree he was born then, and not in December.

And if they say 'Christmas' or even 'Christ' the chip detonates. It's a cunning plan.

It was the plan all along, back when they had the Chinese and Fauci create covid in that lab. Labour is expert at the long game, planned and executed with utter precision.

Former pta chair and organiser of MANY school events here

The relationship of "Christmas" meal or "Christmas" fair to actual Christianity= virtual zero.

These are not religious festivals at all, they are just a way to bring a community together and raise funds. They just happen to take place at a particular time of year, same as the summer fair.

Many schools have changed the names of these types of events, and in one school I was involved in, it was the school chaplain who suggested the name change as they felt a commercialized spending spree was NOT representative of the faith.

If the school tried to rename actual Christian festivals, eg Christmas carol service, then that's a very different matter, but it seems not what is happening here.

Reform are desperate

If you aren't allowing this to be independently verified by sharing the name of the school it can only be because you're lying or wildly misrepresenting the reality. Bad faith poster stirring up shit.

All of this. But sadly, this thread is becoming over-run with people bashing and mocking Christians, and Christmas, and Christanity, and patting themselves on the back, and LOLing at how hilarious they all are. 🙄

These threads always go this way sadly.

As has been said, most people in other (non Christian) religions are not offended by Christmas, and some celebrate it happily. It's only the left wing and woke social justice warriors (who are usually atheist) who think it should be banned. It would be funny if it wasn't so infuriating!

I'm out. Off to the Remembrance Day service in a minute. This thread is knocking me sick to be honest........

.

To be fair a lot of the bigoted nonsense is quite funny. Or at least it would be if people didn't actually believe it

When the word "inclusive " is bandied around it seems to be inclusive to everyone except white Christians. Lefty virtue signallers bending themselves in two so as not to offend anyone, mainly people who are not offended in the least.
As Noddy Holder would say Its CHRISTMASSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Ok. Happy holidays.

Ok. How many adverts have you seen on television for Diwali over the course of this entire year? How much did you see in supermarkets for it? Genuinely, please list them. If you can.

Now how many adverts or other related publicity have you seen for Christmas in the last week?

I've seen Asda (too many times), Pandora, M&S, the inescapable John Lewis, Aldi, Barbour, Sainsbury's, I've had leaflets through the door from Dukes Hill and the local farm shop and advertising the upcoming late night shopping / Christmas markets in town, the Range is already full of decorations, and whenever you go into a supermarket the "seasonal" aisles are totally overflowing and making a spirited bid to take over the entire operation.

And you think Christmas is conceding to Diwali? And that it's not lauded?

Christmas isn't just lauded, it's everywhere you turn for approximately three months of the year.

The idea that Christianity and British traditions are a faint little guttering candle struggling valiantly against the flamethrower onslaught of other religions is absolutely laughable.

Nobody on this thread has mocked Christians or Christianity

Not any more it's now IT'S WIIIIIIINNNTERRRRR

She said in her first post, that she would name the school. Obviously that is not going to happen, as she is talking nonsense.

No. That’s untrue. Birmingham city council’s head of events produced a brochure in 1997 and 1998 trying to get people into the city centre for all winter events from Diwali to Chinese New Year, including Christmas shopping, a Christmas market, the turning on of the Christmas lights etc. The word Christmas was used throughout the brochure. It was just about other festivals too.

Cambridgeshire County Council refers to the upcoming holiday as the Christmas Holiday (and the spring one as Easter).

Panic over.