Various holiday greetings...help?

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Sandi Bowman

It's somewhat awkward to know how to wish someone greetings for their particular beliefs sometimes. Christians wish Merry Christmas or Happy Easter, Jewish is Happy Chaunukkah (sp?) and I don't know all the others, but what greeting or wish do we express for Kwanzaa and how do we know when these events occur if they vary from year to year?

Hi Sandi,

I was talking with a friend a couple weeks ago about a similar issue... Which is, where I live, some city councils try to get rid of "official" Christmas celebrations. The reason give is usually so as not to "offend" non-Christians (though when asked, most people of other religions are not "offended" at all - even though they're used as the "excuse")...

Anyway, if people are concerned with "not offending", my friend suggested - why not celebrate and respect multiple religious traditions? (This friend of mine is a very religious Christian. He was a Benedictine monk, within the Anglican/Episcopalian church - he's now in his 50s - he left the monastic life to help care for his ageing mother, but he's still very religious.)

I just thought I'd "throw" that out there... I realize it's not what you were asking about, but I thought his comment was interesting nevertheless...

Best wishes,

Dien