🎄Should we wish people a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? 🎄
Many people pause at this time of year to know how to share well wishes with others without causing offence. Christmas as the name suggests is a Christian observance linked to the time believed to be the birth of Christ. We don’t know the actual birth date, so the 25th was chosen by committee in 300AD to overshadow other pagan festivals such as Winter Solstice.
But there are many other religious and cultural observances at this time. We do not always know when we meet someone if Hannukah is going to be more meaningful, or Bodhi day, or Zarathosht Diso or Yule.
Happy Holidays is seen as a more appropriate secular greeting, if we are sending out general wishes to an unknown audience. If however we do know the people and that their observance is Christian, or they enjoy the culture of Christmas without the religious attachment then wishing them a Merry Christmas is fine.
From a Diversity & Inclusion perspective the advice is to be aware that not everyone observes Christmas and may in fact celebrate some other event that is much more meaningful to them. If you are unsure, then a simple ‘Happy Holiday’ greeting is more than enough.
Want some more tips on multi-cultural awareness? Read a free chapter from The Inclusion Edge here
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