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Winter fair.

(41 Posts)
kircubbin2000 Thu 13-Nov-25 19:48:26

I've just seen the grandsons school leaflet for December. They are having a winter fair and a holiday celebration. No sign of Christmas!

LadyBridgerton Fri 14-Nov-25 22:42:26

StripeyGran

It's the end of civilisation as we know it folks.

Sacking as all other religion's festivities are renamed, no Divali, Eid, Ramadan etc but I don't see that happening.
I once worked in a school with a Head of Modern Languages who was a Kenyan Asian, at this time of the year he was given Christmas cards, some pupils asked him about his Christmas time and he was happy to engage, saying how his children insisted on presents etc. He had no problem with Christmas.

Stepgranonabroomstick Fri 14-Nov-25 22:21:26

Sago

The usual majority bowing to the minority.

It’s CHRISTMAS, the birth of Christ.

It was originally the celebration of the winter solstice which was taken by the early christians.

mulberry7 Fri 14-Nov-25 21:09:43

I believe that the X in Xmas comes from the Greek for Christos, Christ. However, talking about the Maji, where did the Holy Family carry the gold, frankincense and myrrh when they went to Egypt on a donkey? It's all a myth, and that is what we cele4brate in the Christmas story. Many children love it, with their delightful innocence. There are worse stories.

Deedaa Fri 14-Nov-25 20:54:59

My grandson's grammar school has a large number of Asian boys. Every year they hold the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in the school chapel. with all the boys joining in the carols and the readings. The headmaster is ordained so there is no chance of Christmas being ignored.

I remember people sending cards that just said "Season's Greetings" when I was a child. I think it was thought to be more sophisticated than "Happy Christmas"

GrannyGravy13 Fri 14-Nov-25 20:42:18

Whitewavemark2

Winter Fairs are a tradition in the U.K. that goes back hundreds, if not thousands of years. They celebrated the solstice and Yule, and later the Christian’s decided to grab the dates.
There were also frost fairs.
There is art work showing these fairs on the Thames.

I think we are being too precious over the naming of these fairs and markets.

I agree in part, but, the nativity has been an integral part of the end of term celebrations for many years.

Keep the nativity, include Diwali, Hanukkah and Eid celebrations in the curriculum.

Lathyrus3 Fri 14-Nov-25 20:15:03

Just have to point that Biblically we don’t know how many Magi there were, nor their ethnicity. The only thing we know is that they saw the star in the east and followed it. So presumably we’re from the west of Bethlehem.

PaperMonster2 Fri 14-Nov-25 20:08:47

Thanks for pointing that out Whitewavemark2 I was going to do the same thing, but it’ll probably go over their heads tbh.

Mojack26 Fri 14-Nov-25 19:57:38

Sick of all this pcness,you hear about Diwali nationally...personally that's fine if you celebrate it! I celebrate Christmas, Easter etc and it should be a Christmas Fair.... annoys me that people also say Happy Holidays!

Whitewavemark2 Fri 14-Nov-25 19:49:15

I would have thought that the children almost certainly enjoyed celebrating and learning about other cultures, especially if it meant fun and gifts!

Whitewavemark2 Fri 14-Nov-25 19:47:19

Winter Fairs are a tradition in the U.K. that goes back hundreds, if not thousands of years. They celebrated the solstice and Yule, and later the Christian’s decided to grab the dates.
There were also frost fairs.
There is art work showing these fairs on the Thames.

I think we are being too precious over the naming of these fairs and markets.

Usedtobeblonde Fri 14-Nov-25 19:37:42

Happy holidays?
Bah humbug.

DrWatson Fri 14-Nov-25 19:37:27

Well Kircubbin, complain to the school, and the education authority. Copy in the local paper and TV station for local news too if you like.

This country does Christmas, like most of the 'western world' and a fair subset of other countries too. If folk want to come and live here, then they need to fit in. If they want this country to follow the traditions and beliefs of wherever they have come from, to the exclusion of our usual ones, then there's a simple and quite brief solution for them?

StripeyGran Fri 14-Nov-25 19:17:25

GrannyGravy13

Christmas is the December festival in the UK.

It can be inclusive by pointing out the ethnicity of the three wise men etc.

Next we will be wishing people ^Happy Holidays^

As a humanist, how does that work then?

2507C0 Fri 14-Nov-25 19:10:43

kircubbin2000

It's a normal city primary school. The odd thing is they celebrated Eid not long ago.

Then that makes it doubly bad. The head needs to get a grip.

jocork Fri 14-Nov-25 18:42:30

I worked briefly in a Church of England primary school. There was a family whose Muslim girls were taken out of anything Christian and I did wonder why they didn't send the children to a different school. They were also the only children taken home for lunch. All the others either had school dinners or took a packed lunch. One of my duties was to escort these children to the front entrance to be picked up by their father.
After that I worked in an all girls secondary school. About 80% of the students were Muslim as their parents wanted them to attend a girls only school. At Eid we had to put classes together and do general activities as so many were absent we couldn't do any teaching of normal subjects. However we still celebrated Christmas.
In other schools I worked in some of the non-muslim students took the day off for Eid despite it counting as an unauthorised absence. They argued that it was only fair as the muslims still got Christmas holidays as well!
I was never aware of anyone being offended by celebrating the festivals of other religions.

Emeraldforest Fri 14-Nov-25 15:15:54

I'm pretty sure everyone knows it's about Christmas, no need to be too enraged.

StripeyGran Fri 14-Nov-25 14:41:26

It's the end of civilisation as we know it folks.

WithNobsOnIt Fri 14-Nov-25 14:35:44

There was a lot people in the Sixties who were almost apologetic with rage when Christmas started to be referred to as Xmas.

Looks like they saw the shape of things to come.

Wokeism is the only religion nowadays

WelshPoppy Fri 14-Nov-25 14:28:34

My granddaughter's class, mixed years 5 and 6, sing with other schools at our local cathedral in a Christmas celebration. Her Muslim friend is always first to sign up!

lizzypopbottle Fri 14-Nov-25 14:19:31

Did the school celebrate (or even name) Diwali and Eid? If not, then celebrating Christmas might be seen as exclusionary. If they did...

StripeyGran Fri 14-Nov-25 14:11:10

eazybee

It will be someone posing, thinking they are showing how multi-cultural and diverse they are.
Shortly to be followed by letters to the papers requesting shops, (and gyms apparently), to be open on Christmas Day for the benefit of the non-Christians, obviously.

No it will be somebody thinking " I'm incredibly busy, how can I make this easy and fun for the staff and the children"

Our corner shop is open all day on Christmas. A few of us take bits and pieces to the staff to make their day a bit more pleasant,
Seems to work well.

alita Fri 14-Nov-25 14:10:53

kircubbin2000

It's a normal city primary school. The odd thing is they celebrated Eid not long ago.

Three of my grandchildren go to infant/junior schools where Eid is celebrated. I think its quite common now.

eazybee Fri 14-Nov-25 13:58:03

It will be someone posing, thinking they are showing how multi-cultural and diverse they are.
Shortly to be followed by letters to the papers requesting shops, (and gyms apparently), to be open on Christmas Day for the benefit of the non-Christians, obviously.

Granmarderby10 Fri 14-Nov-25 10:35:59

Oh! This crops up annually. None of the Muslim men and women or the quite a few of other none Christian or no religion make a stand about their respective religious festivals or beliefs and enter into the general spirit of festivity around Christmas and the build up.
We all by now know that Christmas hails from pre Christian paganism and sensibly in my opinion the Romans was it? who gradually allowed it to be incorporated into Christian culture.
Winter is a good time for pretty lights and foodie delights in cold counties isn’t it.

Homestead62 Fri 14-Nov-25 10:17:33

We celebrate Christmas here.