Well … Holiday comes from the Old English hāligdæg, meaning holy day. So it closer to it than one might think. But on the other hand … conservative christians might not get that connection
It was also the default greeting in the 1800's.
They changed it somewhere at the start of 1900's to force Christianity on more people.
I don't get why they are allowed to keep "News" in their name.
Nothing "news" about opinions.
I’ve never understood this.
I’m a Christian, but I don’t make the connection on purposely avoiding greeting someone’s religious celebration.
I have no problem saying ‘happy Diwali’ to my Hindu neighbours. Do you think they feel uncomfortable saying ‘merry Christmas’ to me?
It's when you're dealing in an official capacity or speaking to a broad audience or when you don't know the person's culture.
The CEO saying Merry Christmas to his 140 employees, when 5 of them are Jewish is going to be not feel so great for those 5 Jewish people. Happy Holidays should be fine for everyone.
But if you know the person is Christian (or celebrates Christmas) it should be perfectly fine to tell them Merry Christmas.
Of course in some places that may be considered insensitive because a Jewish person might be hearing it. Which is absurd and that level of sensitivity is not acceptable IMO.
I wonder how much Hispanic people squirm when they hear Father Christmas referred to as Santa.
Just saying that transgender people in popular Christian culture seem to have been around for a significant amount of time….
“Santa” is the Spanish term for a female saint. Hence Santa Anna, Santa Barbara, etc.
And then there’s Santa Claus, AKA Father Christmas, named after Saint Nicholas.
(Of course, there’s also Sinter Klaus, but I’d rather go with calling a very masculine saint “santa”)
I usually roll out the "Merry Xmas, Happy Hanukkah, Rockin' Ramadan, Cheery Kwanzaa, and Sassy Saturnalia!"