National Trust calendar - no Christian festivals

Ramadan moves 9-11 days earlier each year. It is all to do with the luna month, Ramadan occurs in the 9th luna month of the Islamic calendar.

We had a teacher at the school I worked at who was Islamic. He said Ramadan was fine in the winter but very hard in the summer.

( Ramadan occurs in the 9th luna month of the Islamic calendar.
A very wicked thought. Does the Islamic calendar show Christmas and Easter? 🙄 )

MaizieD

We had a teacher at the school I worked at who was Islamic. He said Ramadan was fine in the winter but very hard in the summer.

( Ramadan occurs in the 9th luna month of the Islamic calendar.
A very wicked thought. Does the Islamic calendar show Christmas and Easter? 🙄 )

Easter falls in The middle of Ramadan in 2024.

Our neighbours are Muslim, they give us gifts on their holy days as well as Easter & Christmas, we tend to reciprocate (which is why I try to know when they are)

fancythat

That sounds bad op.

They pull the stunts as they, along with others, want to change things.
It is all backfiring[Dutch result, riots in Ireland] but that wont stop them trying I dont think.

Right wing politics and horrible protests about migrants? How on earth is that connected to the NT internal staff calendar?

Joseann

Not far from us, on Dartmoor, is what I think is the last UK castle to be built in the early 20th century. The owner was something to do with importing tea from India, but his uncle (?) was on the organising committee of the anti-slavery conventions. It's a NT Trust property, but I find it very dark and chilly despite it being a new build!

Castle Drogo - architect Edwin Lutyens. I haven't managed to get there yet.

The 2024 National Trust diary, a copy of which I have, lists St Brigid's Day, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday (which is also St Valentine's), St David's Day, St Patrick's Day (and the public holiday in Ireland the next day), Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, St George's Day, Halloween, All Saints' Day, St Andrew's Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day (which is also St Stephen's Day). I think this is a reasonably representative selection of Christian festivals. The non-Christian religious festivals are also listed, as are the secular Bank Holidays.
The business about the calendar for volunteers - and for their guidance only - has been wildly exaggerated.
Incidentally, at the AGM we were all asked to stand, if we were able, to observe the two minutes' Silence, as it was Armistice Day. We also saw a brief film showing a field full of silhouetted soldiers and poppies commemorating WWI.

Oh, and there's a lovely picture of a Christmas tree beside the spaces for the week 23-29 December.

Yes, Dinahmo, Castle Drogo. To be fair, last time I went it was undergoing a makeover because it leaked! It has taken nearly ten years and cost £15 million, as you do! Father Christmas is back this year - now there's a non religious figure acceptable to all. 🎅

PS let me know if you're down this way to visit.

Joseann

Yes, Dinahmo, Castle Drogo. To be fair, last time I went it was undergoing a makeover because it leaked! It has taken nearly ten years and cost £15 million, as you do! Father Christmas is back this year - now there's a non religious figure acceptable to all. 🎅

Except that Father Christmas isn't a non-religious figure 😁

I've never really understood it MaizieD, but to me Father Christmas isn't religious, but Santa Claus is?

Oooh, now there’s a discussion point, Maizie.

I think Father Christmas in the whole red-suit-white-beard-Rudolph-and-his-mates incarnation is decidedly secular.

I’d maybe go further, but I have no evidence to support this: it’s possible that the majority of people in this country who tell their children the Father Christmas story /visit grottos/sneak presents to their kids and celebrate Christmas in some way are not actively, or at all, Christian, so can he really be seen as religious in any sense, regardless of his origin story?

I thought Father Christmas and Santa Claus were the same person?

Both based on St Nicholas who did good works, rescued people and gave away his wealth to the poor.

How did he get from this, to this?

Joseann

How did he get from this, to this?

I expect in the same way that the christian festival of Christmas became secularised.

He's still known as Santa (Claus) by thousands of people, if not millions.

I think Father Christmas in the whole red-suit-white-beard-Rudolph-and-his-mates incarnation is decidedly secular.

It is now, Siope, but he was still originally a christian saint. Who gave presents anonymously...

www.biography.com/religious-figures/saint-nicholas

Joseann

Maybe the calendar is just a timetable or chart for volunteers, and you only pay attention to what actually concerns you.

'A schedule of events.' is one of the definitions of calendar So it need not be a printed one to hang on the wall, buy from a NT shop etc. Here it seems simply to be a document to help staff and volunteers know when other festivals happen.

No-one involved is rejecting or banning the mention of Christmas.

Thanks, choughdancer.

Siope - nice to see that Hilary McGrady has a sense of humour at least!

This years Age Concern calendar shows no dates for Easter, Christmas, Mothers Day, Bank Holidays, when to alter clock etc - most unhelpful!

It's just the DT doing what they do best, inventing stories to advance their agenda
So many NT properties have Christmas decorations and events and they always have Easter things on.
It's a solitely eidiculous

I don’t need a calendar. I use my phone, which gives the dates of all the major festivals every year.

Synonyms of calendar
schedule.
agenda.
program.
timetable.
docket.
organization.
bill of fare.
card
Maybe the NT should have chosen a different word to describe their internal memo. Incidentally, my local council provide lists of dates for refuse collections which they call refuse calendars. No mention of any festivals on it, religious or otherwise!

Original meaning of 'calendar' - division of the year into months and days.

Like Santa, it's deviated considerably from its roots

It is now, Siope, but he was still originally a christian saint. Who gave presents anonymously

Well… that’s Santa Claus (from St Nicholas via Sinter Klaus, probably taken to America by the Dutch when they established New Amsterdam).

There is an entirely separate, English, history for Father Christmas, a symbol for adult enjoyment of Christmas, not one bit religious, and nothing to do with present-giving either. Christmas was seen as primarily an adult festival here.

The change comes in Victorian Britain, when there was a shift to more family focused Christmases and Santa Claus began to merge with Father Christmas.

www.english-heritage.org.uk/christmas/the-history-of-father-christmas/