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Do ‘Christmas’ people actually know the origin of the word ‘holiday’?

Our local newspaper had a feature today about some women who created big buttons for people to wear which say something like, "It's OK to Tell Me 'Merry Christmas'." All part of the bizarre notion well-meaning people have obsessed over that saying "Happy Holidays" diminishes the religious value of the greeting.

Do these people understand anything at all about the origin of the world "holiday"? It's a contraction of the words "holy" and "day." It originally meant a religious observance, then expanded to include all the modern meanings we have associated with it.

Good grief, folks. Get a life! Why do you persist in this silly notion that "holiday" somehow cheapens the "Christian" value of the season? For that matter, why do you persist in the misguided notion -- if you're truly doing all this because you are a Christian -- that a special season or dates on the calendar really connect to serious "biblical" Christianity. Are you aware that actual laws in America back in the founding days of this "Christian" nation -- made Christmas celebration illegal?? If you are clueless about this, check out this story about the legal prohibitions on Christmas celebration by the Puritans.

Oh, I forgot, the "Christmas war" people insist this nation was founded on Christian principles. "Christmas war" folks insist that "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays" is absolutely vital to their faith. Therefore, this nation could never have made Christmas celebrations illegal. Thanks to such reasoning, we have just rewritten actual history to conform to 20th-21st century "Christian political correctness."

Ah, well, what do I know? I'm just a guy who reads the papers
[tags]Christmas war, definition of holiday, just a guy who reads the papers[/tags]

December 22, 2007 | Filed Under Holiday News 

Comments

9 Responses to “Do ‘Christmas’ people actually know the origin of the word ‘holiday’?”

  1. Tina Kubala on December 23rd, 2007 11:44 pm

    I never thought about the ‘holy day’ thing, but you are right. I think all sides need to chill out just a touch. I’ll celebrate anything that means I get a festive meal.

  2. Karen on December 24th, 2007 10:42 pm

    Wow! I never even thought about it this way. I was just irritated that it was becoming uncool to say Merry Christmas. Thanks for the great post.

  3. The Pond » Happy Holy Day on December 24th, 2007 10:51 pm

    [...] I thought it was funny or maybe enlightening to read a fellow bloggers post on the subject. Gary has a few words to say in his post titled Do “Christmas People Actually Know the Origin of [...]

  4. Ann on December 25th, 2007 12:26 am

    Great post! I’m glad I’m not alone in realizing the meaning of “holiday”! So, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

  5. Meg on February 4th, 2008 7:25 pm

    on the same token, why do atheists offended by “Merry Christmas” say “happy holidays” at all if they don’t believe in anything “holy”

  6. Dippydooledoo on February 4th, 2008 8:23 pm

    I just think the ‘Happy Holidays’ thing, was a way of taking ‘Christ’ out of the Christmas Holidays.

  7. Meg on February 4th, 2008 8:31 pm

    Meg that would be an application of logic. It also uses there logic against them. At this point they usually take there ball and go home.

  8. Jake on February 4th, 2008 10:05 pm

    Maybe I’m ignorant, but didn’t the Puritans only have control in certain areas, not over all the American colonies? By the 1660’s and 1670’s when the first generation of Puritans in America were beginning to die, the entire group starting dissolving. The witch trials didn’t help either. To me, this is the same as arguing that because the Mormons formally accepted polygamy in the Utah, the entire United States is based on these ideals. This was just a small group with views that later changed.

  9. GG on December 18th, 2008 5:25 am

    The funny part to me…

    ——————————————————————————–

    …is that most people who say “happy holidays” have no clue about the origin of the word “holiday”…so I agree with you.

    Of course, those who trip all over themselves to be “politically correct” and use that term so as to not “offend” others, are in fact unknowingly acknowledging that Christmas is a holy day (see definition below)….and thus, that perhaps would be even offensive to use to those who reject Christianity.

    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/holy

    Hmmm….

    Anyway, I absolutely do say “Merry Christmas” and/or “Happy Holidays” to others…even my Muslim friends. After all, even they claim that Christ was a “great prophet”, so why not?

    I have to assume that those who get bent out of shape about the use of “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” are doing so because they understand the motives of those who are doing this…and are not thinking of what the word “holiday” means.

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