Holiday greetings

Holiday greetings are a selection of greetings that are often spoken with good intentions to strangers, family, friends, or other people during the months of December and January. In the United States, holidays with greetings include Christmas, New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Ramadan (which falls at a different time each year; every year it goes back a month) and recently, Kwanzaa. Some greetings are more prevalent than others, depending on the cultural and religious status of any given area.

Typically, a greeting consists of the word "Happy" followed by the holiday, such as "Happy Hanukkah" or "Happy New Year", although the phrase "Merry Christmas" is a notable exception. In the United States, the collective phrase "Happy Holidays" is often used as a simple way to refer to all of the winter holidays, or to the three major American holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. Some controversy has arisen regarding the phrase "Happy Holidays" as an alleged attempt to diminish Christmas although its use promotes other holidays commonly celebrated in the United States.

Merry/Happy Christmas

The greetings and farewells "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Christmas" are traditionally used in North America, the United Kingdom, and Ireland beginning a few weeks prior to the Christmas holiday on December 25 of every year.

The phrase is often preferred when it is known that the receiver is a Christian or celebrates Christmas. In the beginning of the 21st century, as Christians in increasingly multi-cultural societies continue becoming more sensitive to and respectful of non-Christians and non-Christian faiths, the phrase has become somewhat less ubiquitous than it was in the 20th century. The nonreligious sometimes use the greeting as well, however in this case its meaning focuses more on the secular aspects of Christmas, rather than the Nativity of Jesus.

Its meanings and variations are:
* As "Merry Christmas", the traditionally used greeting for Americans, composed of ("jolly, happy") and Christmas (Old English: "Cristes mæsse", for "Christ's Mass").
* As "Merry Xmas", usually used to avoid the length of "Merry Christmas", with the "X" (sometimes controversially) replacing "Christ". ("see Xmas")
* As "Happy Christmas", an equivalent that is commonly used in the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as "Merry Christmas".
* As "Feliz Navidad", which is the Spanish language equivalent of "Happy Christmas", but is frequently used in English context. The phrase "Felices Fiestas", the Spanish language counterpart of "Happy Holidays" has also been used in some Spanish speaking communities. This is not simply to be politically correct but simply to include all winter holidays that are celebrated in relation to Christmas in the Spanish-speaking world.

As of 2005, this greeting still remains popular among countries with large Christian populations, including, among others, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, and Mexico. It also remains popular in non-Christian areas such as the People's Republic of China and Japan, where Christmas is still widely celebrated due to Western influences. Though it has somewhat decreased in popularity in the United States and Canada over the past decades, polls from 2005 indicate that it is more popular than "Happy Holidays" or other alternatives.cite web | year = 2005 | url = http://businessknowledgesource.com/blog/merry_christmas_beats_happy_holidays_in_actual_2005_consumer_usage_021216.html | title = "Merry Christmas" beats "Happy Holidays" In 2005 Usage | format = html | work = | publisher = BusinessKnowledgeSource.com | accessdate = 2006-06-12]

History of the phrase

"Merry", derived from the Old English "myrige", originally meant merely "pleasant" rather than joyous or jolly (as in the phrase "merry month of May").

Though Christmas has been celebrated since the 4th century AD, the first known usage of any Christmastime greeting, "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" (thus incorporating two greetings) was in an informal letter written by an English admiral in 1699. The same phrase appeared in the first Christmas card, produced in England in 1843, and in the popular secular carol "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

The then relatively new term "Merry Christmas" figured prominently in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" in 1843. The cynical Ebenezer Scrooge rudely deflects the friendly greeting and broods on the foolishness of those who utter it. "If I could work my will", says Scrooge, "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding." After the Spirits of Christmas effect his transformation, he is able to heartily exchange the wish with all he meets. The continued popularity of "A Christmas Carol" and the Victorian era Christmas traditions it typifies have led some to credit Dickens with popularizing, or even originating, the phrase "Merry Christmas" [cite web | year = 1998 | url = http://www2.jsonline.com/letsgo/daily/1129dickens.stm | title = Dickens' Christmas Sequels | format = stm | work = | publisher = LetsGo Online | accessdate = 2006-06-11] .

The alternative "Happy Christmas" gained wide usage in the late 19th century, and is still common in the United Kingdom and Ireland. One reason may be the alternative meaning, still current there, of "merry" as "tipsy" or "drunk". Queen Elizabeth II is said to prefer "Happy Christmas" for this reason [cite web | year = 2004 | url = http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/38/messages/1398.html | title = Christmas Words and Phrases | format = html | work = | publisher = The Phrase Finder | accessdate = 2006-06-11] . In American poet Clement Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (1823), the final line, originally written as "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night", has been changed in many editions to "Merry Christmas to all", perhaps indicating the relative popularity of the phrases in the United States.

Happy Holidays

"Happy Holidays" is a seasonal greeting common in the United States and Canada, and is typically used during the holiday season. "Holiday" is derived from Middle English "holidai" meaning "holy day" [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=holiday] . It is used as an inclusive greeting during the holiday season around Christmas to those who do not celebrate it, but instead other winter holidays like Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Festivus.

In the United States, it can have several variations and meanings:
* As "Happy Holiday", an English translation of the Hebrew "Hag Sameach" greeting on Passover, Sukkot, and Shavuot
* As "Happy Holiday", a substitution for "Merry Christmas"
* As "Happy Holidays", a collective and inclusive wish for the period encompassing Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter solstice, Festivus, Christmas, and the New Year

In the United States, "Happy Holidays" (along with the similarly generalized "Season's Greetings") has become the common greeting in the public sphere within the past decade, such as department stores, public schools and greeting cards.

Some advocates of the phrase view it as an inclusive and inoffensive phrase that does not give precedence to one religion or occasion. Critics view it as an insipid alternative to "Merry Christmas", and view it as diminishing the role of Christianity in Christmas, or part of an alleged secular "War on Christmas". Others consider the controversy to be itself hysterical. [ cite web | year = 2004 | url = http://www.reason.com/news/show/32013.html | title = Why "Happy Holidays"? | format = html | work = | publisher = Reason Magazine | accessdate = 2008-06-29 ]

The phrase 'Happy Holidays" also considers the fact that New Years and Boxing Day occurs shortly after Christmas. Hence, "Happy Holidays" is effectively a short form for the greeting "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."

A popular commercial variant is depicted in Honda ads that air during the holiday season. The automaker uses the slogan "Happy Honda Days", as wordplay on the phrase.

"Happy Holiday" is also the name of a popular song by Irving Berlin.

eason's Greetings

"Season's Greetings" is a greeting more commonly used as a motto on winter season greeting cards than as a spoken phrase. In addition to "Merry Christmas", Victorian Christmas cards bore a variety of salutations, including "Compliments of the Season" and "Christmas Greetings." By the late 19th century, "With the Season's Greetings" or simply "The Season's Greetings" began appearing. By the 1920s it had been shortened to "Season's Greetings," [cite web | year = 2005 | url = http://www.antiquesandthearts.com/TT-2005-11-15-12-06-16p1.htm | title = Maryland Historical Society Library Devotes Exhibit To Holiday Cards | format = html | work = | publisher = Antiques and the Arts Online | accessdate = 2008-06-29] and has been a greeting card fixture ever since. Several White House Christmas cards, including U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1955 card, have featured the phrase. [cite web| year = | url = http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/holiday/cards/06.html | title = Season's Greetings from the White House | format = html | work = | publisher = The White House | accessdate = 2008-06-29 ]

Some people believe that the "Season" in "Season's Greetings" is referring to the Christmas season. Due to this some people consider replacing "Merry Christmas" with "Season's Greetings" as an attack on their religion. Others say that it is pandering to a plurality of consumers by businesses so that they will make more money by hopefully not offending anyone by saying "Merry Christmas". Similar controversy has surrounded use of the phrase "Happy Holidays".

A differing opinion states that this saying is much more neutral and avoids elevating any one "holy" day over another. It may even be used to be more inclusive of other winter holidays (such as Kwanzaa or Hanukkah), or to acknowledge the possibility that the sayer does not believe in anything holy, including "holy-days".

Technically speaking, "Season's Greetings" could apply throughout the year, as each season has its own particular set of accepted behavior and greetings.

List of holiday greetings

Winter greetings are often strung together. The English greetings often begin with saying "Have a...", written "Wishing you a..." or sometimes end in "...to all!" as a declaration.

*"Happy Holidays" - Canada, United States
*"Buon Natale" - Italian for Happy Christmas
*"Buone Feste" - Italian for Happy Holidays
*"Feliz Natal" - Portuguese for Happy Christmas
*"Boas Festas" - Portuguese for Happy Parties
*"Bon Nadal" - Catalan for Happy Christmas
*"Feliz Navidad" - Castilian lit. "Happy Nativity"
*"Felices Fiestas" - Castilian for Happy Parties
*"Season's Greetings" - United Kingdom Christmas cards, not usually spoken
*"Happy Halloween" - Canada, United States
*"Trick or Treat" - Canada, United States , the combined threat and request for candy of children at each door they visit on Halloween.
*"The sky is blue, the grass is green, may we have our Halloween" - Scotland
*A common greeting on Halloween is to make any form of what would be considered a spooky sound or greeting such as "Goood Eeeeveniiiing". Often, a goal is to catch someone by surprise there by scaring them.
*"Happy Thanksgiving" - Canada, United States
*"Happy Turkey", short for "Happy Turkey Day" - United States (informal), referencing the traditional meal.
*"Merry Christmas" - United Kingdom, Australia, United States, The phrase is often immediately followed by "and a Happy New Year".
*"Happy Christmas" - United Kingdom
*"Merry Xmas" - Written English (often informal), referencing the Greek word "Χριστος", for Christ.
*"Merry Yuletide", "Good Yuletide" or "Happy Yuletide" - English, can generally refer to the period of cultural festivities surrounding Yule, Winter solstice, Christmas and the New Year.
*"Merry Midwinter" - English greeting, generally for the period of the winter solstice.
*"God jul" - Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, lit. "Good Yule"
*"Hyvää joulua" - Finnish
*"Prettige Kerstdagen en een gelukkig nieuwjaar - Dutch
*"Geseënde Kersfees en 'n voorspoedige nuwe jaar" - Blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year - Afrikaans speaking South Africans
*"Glædelig jul" - Danish
*"Joyous Yule" - Usually a Wiccan or Neopagan greeting for the Winter solstice
*"Joyeux Noël" - France, Quebec, Louisiana, Switzerland
*"Frohe Weihnachten/Fröhliche Weihnachten" - German for Merry Christmas
*"Mele Kalikimaka" - Hawaiian, is preferred over the traditional American "Merry Christmas" in the U.S. state of Hawaii; made popular worldwide by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters in 1950 in song
*"Nollaig Shona Duit" - Ireland, (Irish Language), Gaeilge, lit. "You have a happy Christmas".
*"S'Rozhdestvom Kristovym!" (С Рождеством Христовым!) or, more commonly, simply "S Rozhdestvom!" for the informal Christmas greeting, while the traditional religious greeting is "Khrystos razhdayetsya!" (Христос рождается, meaning "Christ is born!") and the traditional response is "Slavite!" (Cлавите!, meaning "Let us glorify him!"). - Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic countries
*"Happy Kwanzaa" - English greeting used before Kwanzaa.
*"Wesołych Świąt" - Polish greeting used before Christmas (literally 'Happy Holidays').
*"Habari Gani" - Swahili for "What's the news?" is the daily greeting for each of the seven days of Kwanzaa.
*"Happy Hanukkah" or "Happy Chanukah" - English
*"Chag Sameach" - Hebrew for "Joyous festival", used for most Jewish festivals.
*"Gut Yontiff" - Yiddish for "good holiday" used for non festival holidays.
*"L'Shanah Tovah" - Hebrew, Lit. "a good year". Common greeting during Rosh Hashanah and Days of Awe. It is derived from "L'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem", lit. "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year".
*"Have an easy fast" - the solemn greeting for Yom Kippur.
*"Happy New Year" - often yelled at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.
*"It's a Festivus for the rest of us!" - often yelled enthusiastically to explain the meaning of the holiday Festivus
*"Milad Majeed" - Arabic for "Merry Christmas" as used in Syria and several other countries
*"Kul 'am wa enta bi-khair" - Arabic for "May every year find you in good health"
*"Taqabbala Allahu minna wa minkum." - "May God accept from us, and from you."
*"‘Īd mubārak" - "Blessed Eid" is used to greet at the end of Ramadan on Eid ul-Fitr
*"‘Īd sa‘īd" - "Happy Eid"
*"Bayramınız Mübarek Olsun" - Turkey - "(is a celebration of Ramadan (religious holiday)"
*"Iyi Seneler" - Turkey - "Happy New Year"
*"Selamat Hari Raya" or "Salam Aidilfitri" - Malay and Indonesia
*"maaf zahir dan batin" - Lit. "Forgive my physical and emotional (wrongdoings)"
*"Bon Carnaval" - A French, Creole, or Cajun carnival greeting often used for Mardi Gras.
*"Happy Easter" - English
*"Christ is Risen", replied to with "He is Risen Indeed" - Spoken in various languages, Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic countries - "Christos Voskresse!" (Христос возкресе) replied to with "Vo istina voskresse!" (Во истина Воскресе!) - Bulgarian
*"Saehae Bok Mani baduseyo" - Korean "Happy New Year"
*"Linksmų Šv. Kalėdų ir Naujųjų Metų" - Lithuanian "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year"
*"Gëzuar Krishtëlindjen dhe Vitin e Ri" - Albanian, "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year"
*"کریسمس مبارک" - Persian "Merry Christmas"
*"Vrolijk Kerstfeest en Gelukkig Nieuwjaar" - Dutch, "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year"
*"С Новым Годом (S Novim Godom) " - Russian, - Happy New Year Lit. "With a New Year"
*"Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon!! Filipino, greeting for "merry Christmas and Happy New Year"
*"Среќна Нова Година и Божиќни празници", "Srekna Nova Godina i Bozikni praznici " - Macedonian (Makedonski)
*"Boldog karácsonyt/Kellemes karácsonyi ünnepeket" : "Merry Christmas"/"Pleasant Christmas Holidays" in Hungarian, "Kellemes húsvéti ünnepeket": "Pleasant Easter Holidays"-- in Hungarian( Magyar)

References

* Marling, Karal Ann. "Merry Christmas! Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday" (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000).
* [http://www.etymonline.com Online Etymology Dictionary]
* [http://www.phrases.org.uk The Phrase Finder]

ee also

*Christmas
*Christmas card
*Christmas Eve
*Winterval
*Paschal greeting