Christmas and holiday season

The Christmas season , the holiday season , or simply the holidays is an annual festive period that surrounds the Christmas holiday and other holidays. It is sometimes synonymous with the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere , and is usually said to occur between late November and early January . It has been found to have a proportionate effect on health, compared to the rest of the year. Its reference and naming by schools and governments has been the subject of controversy. It incorporates a period of shopping which comprises a peak season for the retail sector (the "Christmas shopping season"), and a period of sales at the end of the season (the "January sales"). The exact definition, name, and celebratory method of the period varies from culture to culture. According to Yanovski et al., in the United States the season "is generally considered to begin with Thanksgiving and end after New Year's Day ". According to Axelrad, the season in the United States encompasses at least Christmas and New Year's Day, and also includes Saint Nicholas Day . Fire Administration defines the winter holiday season as the period from December 1 to January 7. According to Chen et al., in China the Christmas/winter holiday season "is generally considered to begin with the winter solstice and end after the Lantern Festival ". Some stores and shopping malls advertise their Christmas merchandise beginning after Halloween or even in late October, alongside Halloween items. In the UK Christmas food appears on supermarket shelves as early as September. The precise definition of feasts and festival days that are encompassed by the Christmas/winter holiday season has become controversial over recent decades. Traditionally, the only holidays included in the "season" were Christmas Eve , Christmas Day , Boxing Day (in some countries), New Year's Eve , New Year's Day and Epiphany . In recent times, this definition has begun to expand to include Yule , Hanukkah , Kwanzaa , Festivus , Thanksgiving and Black Friday . Due to the phenomenon of Christmas creep and the informal inclusion of American Thanksgiving, the "winter" holiday season has begun to extend into late autumn and may include Halloween . (See also List of winter festivals .) Goff, Kristin. Ottawa shoppers are in the mood to spend this holiday season and could drop as much as $3.2 billion in retailers' tills, a new survey has found. John Lewis, too, has reported a fantastic start to the Christmas season, with sales up nearly 6 per cent on a year ago. PMID 10727591 . : CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link ) Allan M. PMID 14747208 . : CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link ) Heather Conrad and Deforest Walker (October 1, 2001). There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a template (see the help page ).

The Christmas season , also called the holiday season (especially in the U.S. and Canada), the festive season , or simply the holidays , is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and Western-influenced countries that is generally considered to run from late November to early January, defined as incorporating at least Christmas and usually New Year , and sometimes various other holidays and festivals. It incorporates a period of shopping which comprises a peak season for the retail sector (the "Christmas (or holiday) shopping season"), and a period of sales at the end of the season (the "January sales"). Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies when trees decorated with ornaments and light bulbs are illuminated, are traditions in many areas. Originally, the term "Christmas season" was considered synonymous with Christmastide , a term associated with Yuletide , which runs from December 25 ( Christmas Day ) to January 6 ( Epiphany ), popularly known as the 12 Days of Christmas . However, as the economic impact involving the anticipatory lead-up to Christmas Day grew in America and Europe into the 19th and 20th centuries, the term "Christmas season" began to become synonymous instead with the traditional Christian Advent season, the period observed in Western Christianity from the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day until Christmas Day itself. The term " Advent calendar " survives in secular Western parlance as a term referring to a countdown to Christmas Day from the beginning of December. Beginning in the mid-20th century, as the Christian-associated Christmas holiday became increasingly secularized and central to American economics and culture while religio- multicultural sensitivity rose, generic references to the season that omitted the word "Christmas" became more common in the corporate and public sphere of the United States, which has caused a semantics controversy that continues to the present. By the late 20th century, the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the African American cultural holiday of Kwanzaa began to be considered in the U.S. as being part of the "holiday season", a term that as of 2013 has become equally or more prevalent than "Christmas season" in U.S. sources to refer to the end-of-the-year festive period. "Holiday season" has also spread in varying degrees to Canada and Australasia, however in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the phrase "holiday season" is not widely understood to be synonymous with the Christmas–New Year period, and is often instead associated with summer holidays . Ottawa shoppers are in the mood to spend this holiday season and could drop as much as $3.2 billion in retailers' tills, a new survey has found. John Lewis, too, has reported a fantastic start to the Christmas season, with sales up nearly 6 per cent on a year ago. Wal-Mart sounds ominous note for holiday season – USA Today . Web retail a bright spot in tepid U.S. holiday season – Reuters India . Definition of festive season – Collins Dictionary . "Origins of the Christmas Holiday" . infoplease . PMID 10727591 . : CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link ) Allan M. "Dealing with the 'Christmas' vs. 'Holiday Season' Issue" . 68% Prefer 'Merry Christmas' Over 'Happy Holidays' – Rasmussem Reports . Regarding the Christmas and holiday season – Canadian Olympic Team Official Website. Christmas - the holiday season – Australian Government.

Christmas and surrounding holiday period "Merry Christmas" and "Christmas season" redirect here. The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays ) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late November to early January . It is defined as incorporating at least Christmas Day , New Year's Day , and sometimes various other holidays and festivals. It also is associated with a period of shopping which comprises a peak season for the retail sector (the "Christmas (or holiday) shopping season") and a period of sales at the end of the season (the "January sales"). Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies when trees decorated with ornaments and light bulbs are illuminated are traditions in many areas. In Western Christianity , the Christmas season is synonymous with Christmastide , which runs from December 25 (Christmas Day) to January 5 ( Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve ), popularly known as the 12 Days of Christmas , or in the Catholic Church, until the Baptism of the Lord , a Christmas season which can last for more or fewer than twelve days. As the economic impact involving the anticipatory lead-up to Christmas Day grew in America and Europe into the 19th and 20th centuries, the term "Christmas season" began to also encompass the liturgical Advent season, the period observed in Western Christianity from the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day until Christmas Eve. The term " Advent calendar " continues to be widely known in Western parlance as a term referring to a countdown to Christmas Day from the beginning of December, although in retail the countdown to Christmas usually begins at the end of the summer season , and the beginning of September. Beginning in the mid-20th century, as the Christian-associated Christmas holiday and liturgical season, in some circles, became increasingly commercialized and central to American economics and culture while religio-multicultural sensitivity rose, generic references to the season that omitted the word "Christmas" became more common in the corporate and public sphere of the United States, which has caused a semantics controversy that continues to the present. By the late 20th century, the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the new African American cultural holiday of Kwanzaa began to be considered in the U.S. as being part of the "holiday season", a term that as of 2013 had become equally or more prevalent than "Christmas season" in U.S. sources to refer to the end-of-the-year festive period. "Holiday season" has also spread in varying degrees to Canada; however, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the phrase "holiday season" has been the subject of some controversy. Christmas festivities around the World – Scholarsly . Definition of festive season – Collins Dictionary . As with the Easter cycle, churches today celebrate the Christmas cycle in different ways. Practically all Protestants observe Christmas itself, with services on 25 December or the evening before. Anglicans, Lutherans and other churches that use the ecumenical Revised Common Lectionary will likely observe the four Sundays of Advent, maintaining the ancient emphasis on the eschatological (First Sunday), ascetic (Second and Third Sundays), and scriptural/historical (Fourth Sunday). Besides Christmas Eve/Day, they will observe a 12-day season of Christmas from 25 December to 5 January. The American Book of Days . The last evening of the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas is known as the Twelfth Night, or Epiphany Eve. Split On 'Happy Holidays' Vs. 'Merry Christmas' – HuffPost .

Christmas and surrounding holiday period "Christmas season" redirects here. The Christmas season or the festive season , also known as the holiday season or the holidays , is an annual period generally spanning from November or December to early January. Incorporating Christmas Day and New Year's Day , the various celebrations during this time create a peak season for the retail sector (Christmas/holiday "shopping season") extending to the end of the period ("January sales"). Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies are customary traditions in various locales. In Western Christianity , the Christmas season is traditionally synonymous with Christmastide , which runs from December 25 (Christmas Day) to January 5 ( Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve ), popularly known as the 12 Days of Christmas . Christmas in Italy is one of the country's major holidays and begins on 8 December, with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception , the day on which traditionally the Christmas tree is mounted and ends on 6 January, of the following year with the Epiphany . As the economic impact involving the anticipatory lead-up to Christmas Day grew in America and Europe into the 19th and 20th centuries, the term "Christmas season" began to also encompass the liturgical Advent season, the period of preparation observed in Western Christianity from the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day until the night of Christmas Eve. The term " Advent calendar " continues to be widely known in Western parlance as a term referring to a countdown to Christmas Day from the beginning of December. Beginning in the mid-20th century, as the Christian-associated Christmas holiday and liturgical season, in some circles, became increasingly commercialized and central to American economics and culture while religio-multicultural sensitivity rose, generic references to the season that omitted the word "Christmas" became more common in the corporate and public sphere of the United States, which has caused a semantics controversy . By the late 20th century, the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the new African American cultural holiday of Kwanzaa began to be considered in the U.S. as being part of the "holiday season", a term that as of 2013 had become equally or more prevalent than "Christmas season" in U.S. sources to refer to the end-of-the-year festive period. "Holiday season" has also spread in varying degrees to Canada; however, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the phrase "holiday season" has been the subject of some controversy. Christmas traditions around the World – JamTide . Definition of festive season – Collins Dictionary . As with the Easter cycle, churches today celebrate the Christmas cycle in different ways. Practically all Protestants observe Christmas itself, with services on 25 December or the evening before. Anglicans, Lutherans and other churches that use the ecumenical Revised Common Lectionary will likely observe the four Sundays of Advent, maintaining the ancient emphasis on the eschatological (First Sunday), ascetic (Second and Third Sundays), and scriptural/historical (Fourth Sunday). Besides Christmas Eve/Day, they will observe a 12-day season of Christmas from 25 December to 5 January. The American Book of Days . The last evening of the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas is known as the Twelfth Night, or Epiphany Eve. Split On 'Happy Holidays' Vs. 'Merry Christmas' – HuffPost .