# Should Christmas still be a federal holiday? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 9, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341 "2012-02-09T20:27:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/1 "2012-02-09T20:27:08Z")
I was thinking about this the other day. Why does the US Gov formally recognize Christmas as a holiday, including shutting down the gov in recognition? I believe it’s the only federal holiday that honors a specific religion by giving US government employees a paid day off. Should Christmas still be a federal holiday or should it be renamed something else? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/2 "2012-02-09T20:30:15Z")
I’ve never liked “because that’s the way we’ve always done it” as a reason to do something. But in this case I think that’s valid enough. It’s so deeply ingrained in the collective American consciousness that to do away with it would upset too many people. And everyone would end up taking it off anyway. It’s just not worth the effort to legislate it. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/3 "2012-02-09T20:39:22Z")
As **tdn** says, it’s such a part of American culture at this point that it’s as much a secular holiday as it is a religious one. So many people are travelling or taking time off anyway that there’s not really much reason to change it. Even as someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas, I’ve never heard of anyone being offended by it or give an argument toward removing or renaming it, so even if it were the right thing to do, and I don’t really think it would be, there’s so few people who are pushing for it and so many people that would be opposed to it that it would end up being way more trouble than it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/4 "2012-02-09T20:41:13Z")
Is it officially Christmas that’s a day off, or December 25? ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/5 "2012-02-09T21:06:00Z")
I’m okay with Boxing Day Eve. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/6 "2012-02-09T21:17:44Z")
My school district starting giving us Rosh Hashana off at some point in the late 90s, under the unassailable logic if that more than 20% of the students were going to be staying home anyway, they might as well just shut down the school because nobody was going to be teaching anyway. I have no problem with making that a blanket rule for government holidays. If a religious holiday is going to make you lose 20% of your workforce, might as well just make it a federal holiday. eta: Or maybe it was Yom Kipur. I dunno, I’m not Jewish. Just insert whatever one makes the most sense there. ---
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/7 "2012-02-09T21:19:54Z")
Who wants to work on Christmas? ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/8 "2012-02-09T21:23:43Z")
How about we just call it ‘Festival of the Returning (or Unconquered) Sun’ which is what it was originally? No? Ok, how about Santa Claus Day? No? OK, what about Christmas? Is THAT OK? You people are a hard crowd. Is this mike on? ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/9 "2012-02-09T21:45:22Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Should Christmas still be a federal holiday or should it be renamed something else? I absolutely think we should rename Christmas. It’s also discriminatory to have a state named after the Virgin Mary, so we’ll need to rename that to something non-religious like “Voltaireland”. [And here are some other church-state issues that we need to get cracking on](http://theblogthatwasthursday.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/if-we-want-to-separate-church-and-state/). ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/10 "2012-02-09T21:48:25Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > How about we just call it ‘Festival of the Returning (or Unconquered) Sun’ which is what it was originally? > No? > > Ok, how about Santa Claus Day? > No? > > OK, what about Christmas? Is THAT OK? > You people are a hard crowd. > > Is this mike on? Festivus, for the rest of us. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/11 "2012-02-09T21:48:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Is it officially Christmas that’s a day off, or December 25? It’s Christmas - so sayeth OPM, and in my city, the word of OPM is the Word of God. [Federal Holidays](http://www.opm.gov/operating_status_schedules/fedhol/2012.asp) ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/12 "2012-02-09T21:50:37Z")
> [@ITR Champion](#): > > It’s also discriminatory to have a state named after the Virgin Mary [Ahem.](http://www.netstate.com/states/intro/md_intro.htm) > [@](#): > > The charter that Lord Baltimore received from King Charles I of England specified a name for the new colony. It was to be called Maryland to honor King Charles’ wife Queen Henrietta Maria (Queen Mary). ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/13 "2012-02-09T21:52:13Z")
Yes, if only because I don’t need to hear more complaining about a “War on Christmas”. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/14 "2012-02-09T21:58:34Z")
Or **ITR Champion** could be confusing the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth, the namesake of Virginia with the Virgin Mary. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/15 "2012-02-09T22:00:16Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > [Ahem.](http://www.netstate.com/states/intro/md_intro.htm) The Virgin Mary was probably named around 18 BCE. Maryland was indeed named long after that. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/16 "2012-02-09T22:01:31Z")
Yes, but presumably the name Mary existed prior to the Virgin. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/17 "2012-02-09T22:17:31Z")
Miriam was a common name back then, as were Yeshua and Yoseph. Maybe the very common nature of the names helped make them more acceptable to the gentile population, especially when Hellenized into the words we now use. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/18 "2012-02-09T22:20:08Z")
I think the main issue on point here (as well as with the other Church/State issues) is that there’s a venn diagram between culture and religion. A government would be absolutely stupid to ignore the prevailing culture of its constituents. The question that arises is that how much of this overlap needs to be ignored? I think it’s silly to say that 100% of the culture that touches religion should be ignored\*, but at the same time you have to draw a line to keep religious freedom intact. I think Christmas in particular has been sufficiently secularized that we can say it’s in the “okay” group. I mean, most atheists I know at least tokenly celebrate Christmas, hell I know American Jews that participate in the Christmas season. - If you want to get absolutely absurd, should the Library of Congress refuse to stock culturally significant works if they’re about religion? ---
**Author:** ![2sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e47774/32.png) [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/19 "2012-02-10T07:46:31Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > [Ahem.](http://www.netstate.com/states/intro/md_intro.htm) Hurm. It’s my understanding that it’s no coincidence that a colony founded as a haven for Catholics was named Maryland and that the claim that it was named for Henrietta Maria was a polite fiction. But I can’t find anything about it poking through Google and I don’t have the gumption to wade through my library for it. As for the OP, I think Christmas is pretty secularized. ---
**Author:** ![Scholar\_Beardpig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Scholar\_Beardpig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scholar_Beardpig)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341/20 "2012-02-10T08:07:56Z")
If people really want to keep Christmas, then we can define it as the state commemoration of George Washington crossing the Delaware River and defeated the Hessians. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-christmas-still-be-a-federal-holiday/612341.md?page=2)