Montreal City Weblog

Kate 20:45 on 2021-12-22 Permalink Reply  

• Chris 22:04 on 2021-12-22 Permalink

  Christmas certainly was a Christian holiday. But do you honestly think it still is one? Perhaps the people I know are weird, but I don’t know a single person that goes to church on Chirstmas, but everyone I know either buys gifts, hangs with friends or family, or just generally enjoys some time off work. Nobody talks about Jesus or god, they all talk about shopping, partying, and family.

  Seems quite a stretch to frame this as some kind for special treatment for Christians.

• Ephraim 22:13 on 2021-12-22 Permalink

  Yes, it’s a Christian holiday… plenty of people buy no gifts, don’t spend time with friends and family, etc. And I’m working on Christmas day… and it doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t think I have ever really received a Christmas gift in my life… because I’m NOT Christian.

• Kevin 22:31 on 2021-12-22 Permalink

  Go by any Catholic Church on Xmas Eve (maybe not this year since many have cancelled mass) and be astounded at how many people are there.

• Kevin 22:32 on 2021-12-22 Permalink

  And.. a 6 pm news conference for just that!?

  The internal polling must have been terrible.

• jeather 23:02 on 2021-12-22 Permalink

  Yes, I hang with friends and family (as I do generally on holidays and weekends) because, well, what else am I supposed to do? Would I prefer to work Dec 25 and get a day off to use for my actual holidays, or have a longer shutdown period in a less expensive to travel (when that was a thing) time? Sure would. But I can’t.

  Things that are culturally Christian are not secular, despite how many religious and cultural Christians seem to wish it were otherwise.

  Related to polling: I would love to see how his popularity is.

• Joey 23:23 on 2021-12-22 Permalink

  If Saturday were the end of Ramadan or the first Seder, when would the six-person limit kick in?

• Kate 01:11 on 2021-12-23 Permalink

  Kevin, I know. I was expecting a real shutdown, serious measures, but it was just platitudes.

  Joey: it would’ve been immediate, is what it would’ve been.

• JoeNotCharles 11:38 on 2021-12-23 Permalink

  There are two cultures that celebrate Christmas – Christians, and people whose culture doesn’t have any major winter celebration that fills a similar role to Christmas, so feel free to co-opt the originally Christian celebration.

  That second group includes both people who were raised Christian but no longer believe, and people who were now raised to be secular, but earlier generations of their family were raised Christian. It probably includes some people from cultures that were never Christian, but don’t have any objection to Christmas, but I’d imagine those are vastly outnumbered by people who are from a formerly-Christian culture.

  Notably it doesn’t include people who are from cultures that have their own things unrelated to Christianity. Which is the crux of the argument: “It’s ok to favour this because it’s no longer technically Christian” vs “It’s not ok to favour this because it doesn’t apply to everybody’s culture, whether it’s always religious or not doesn’t matter.”

  Or, more broadly, “We only want people in this society who are just like us. Favouring things that don’t apply to everybody’s culture isn’t a bug, it’s a feature.”

• qatzelok 13:59 on 2021-12-23 Permalink

  The last two Xmases have felt more like Passovers in real time.

• Kate 14:04 on 2021-12-23 Permalink

  If only splashing some blood on the door would keep the plague away.

• ant6n 17:03 on 2021-12-23 Permalink

  Some “religious symbols” that Quebec laws try to eradicate are arguably culturally Muslim, etc.

  I’d argue that Christmas isn’t necessarily religious, but it’s definitely culturally Christian. And the Quebec laws try to eradicate/reduce non-christian cultures, while subtly encouraging Christian culture.

  (Don’t let me get started on language)