Christmas and holiday season

"Merry Christmas" and "Christmas season" redirect here. For other uses, see Merry Christmas (disambiguation) and Christmas season (disambiguation).

Christmas and holiday season
Christmas tree in Japan. Christmas is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians around the world.
Also called
SignificanceChristian and secular festive season
Observances
  • Gift giving
  • family gatherings
  • religious services
  • parties
  • other holiday-specific traditions
BeginsEither in late November or December (in the United States, the season specifically begins on the fourth Thursday in November, or American Thanksgiving)
EndsEither on Epiphany (January 6) or after the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, in some traditions 2 February (Candlemas),[1]
Related to

The Christmas season[2] or the festive season;[3] also known as the holiday season or the holidays, is an annual period generally spanning from late November or December to early January. Incorporating Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the various celebrations during this time create a peak season for the retail sector (Christmas/holiday "shopping season") extending to the end of the period ("January sales"). Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies are customary traditions in various locales.

In Western Christianity, the Christmas season is traditionally synonymous with Christmastide,[4][5] which runs from December 25 (Christmas Day) to January 5 (Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve), popularly known as the 12 Days of Christmas.[6][4] As the economic impact involving the anticipatory lead-up to Christmas Day grew in America and Europe into the 19th and 20th centuries, the term "Christmas season" began to also encompass the liturgical Advent season,[7] the period observed in Western Christianity from the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day until Christmas Eve. The term "Advent calendar" continues to be widely known in Western parlance as a term referring to a countdown to Christmas Day from the beginning of December (although in retail planning the countdown to Christmas usually begins at the end of the summer season, and the beginning of September).

Beginning in the mid-20th century, as the Christian-associated Christmas holiday and liturgical season, in some circles, became increasingly commercialized and central to American economics and culture while religio-multicultural sensitivity rose, generic references to the season that omitted the word "Christmas" became more common in the corporate and public sphere of the United States,[8] which has caused a semantics controversy[9] that continues to the present. By the late 20th century, the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the new African American cultural holiday of Kwanzaa began to be considered in the U.S. as being part of the "holiday season", a term that as of 2013 had become equally or more prevalent than "Christmas season" in U.S. sources to refer to the end-of-the-year festive period.[8][10][11] "Holiday season" has also spread in varying degrees to Canada;[12] however, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the phrase "holiday season" has been the subject of some controversy.[13]

  1. ^ "When does the Christmas season end?". Aleteia. January 6, 2020. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  2. ^ Christmas traditions around the World – JamTide. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
  3. ^ Definition of festive season – Collins Dictionary. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  4. ^ a b Truscott, Jeffrey A. (2011). Worship. Armour Publishing. p. 103. ISBN 9789814305419. As with the Easter cycle, churches today celebrate the Christmas cycle in different ways. Practically all Protestants observe Christmas itself, with services on 25 December or the evening before. Anglicans, Lutherans and other churches that use the ecumenical Revised Common Lectionary will likely observe the four Sundays of Advent, maintaining the ancient emphasis on the eschatological (First Sunday), ascetic (Second and Third Sundays), and scriptural/historical (Fourth Sunday). Besides Christmas Eve/Day, they will observe a 12-day season of Christmas from 25 December to 5 January.
  5. ^ Christmastide – Holytrinitygerman.org. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  6. ^ Christianson, Stephen G. (January 1, 2000). The American Book of Days. H.W. Wilson. ISBN 9780824209544. The last evening of the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas is known as the Twelfth Night, or Epiphany Eve.
  7. ^ Dan Andriacco (2001). "Holy Day Vs. Holiday". Archived from the original on April 4, 2014.
  8. ^ a b Don Tennant (November 23, 2011). "Dealing with the 'Christmas' vs. 'Holiday Season' Issue". Archived from the original on June 12, 2013. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  9. ^ 68% Prefer 'Merry Christmas' Over 'Happy Holidays' – Rasmussem Reports. November 27, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  10. ^ "Christmas season" vs. "Holiday season" – Google Ngram Viewer. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  11. ^ Poll: U.S. Split On 'Happy Holidays' Vs. 'Merry Christmas' – HuffPost. December 16, 2010. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  12. ^ Humbug to Holiday: 7 in 10 Canadians Prefer '[ Merry Christmas]' Archived September 22, 2013, at the Wayback Machine – Canada.com. December 20, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2013.– Canadian Olympic Team Official Website. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  13. ^ "The origins of 'Happy Holidays' – and why it makes people so angry". The Independent. December 23, 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2018.