Season’s Greetings: Merry Christmas and more

Hamburg / DE. (eb) The Australian Sunshine Coast Council has been criticised for axing the word «Christmas» from its corporate cards this year in an effort to send a more multi-cultural message. Instead the Council now is wishing people «season´s greetings» and «All the best for the festive season» because it is «mindful of peoples different backgrounds and beliefs».

German editors from bakenet:eu do not criticise the council from the other end of the world, because every opinion is a good opinion and the Australians will have their reasons to wish what they wish – as long as the wishes come from the bottom of the heart.

On the internet we read, that all around the world, a traditional Christmas increasingly means a German Christmas. Is that so? «In the 19th century, they (the Germans …) brought us the Christmas tree; in this century they bring us festive Christmas markets, smelling of pine forests and cinnamon». Wow!

Thanks to climate change today it is not very cold on a German Christmas market but we continue to slurp hot wine as if we were knee-deep in snow. We go there with our family and friends and hold on to our umbrellas because it´s rather raining than snowing. We know that the feast for a lot of people is and for some should be a religious feast – while we celebrate Christmas season in a very traditional German way.

And we do not only slurp hot wine on the market. We also like «Stollen» (… this heavy buttered fruitcake), «Lebkuchen» (something like gingerbread) and – what a surprise – «Rostbratwurst» (grilled sausage) in a real «Brötchen» (roll).

This is the secret of German Christmas: Times are changing, but traditions are primal and enduring. The pleasures – hot wine, Stollen and sausages – are simple while the symbols – trees and stars – are universal. And the traditions such as singing and gift-giving stretch way back, long before Christianity came to Europe. Religion, like communism in Germany´s Eastern from 1945 to 1989, has only changed the name of customs that are far more ancient, and whose echoes lie deep within us all.

So if you have German friends and they wish you a «Merry Christmas», accept it like it is meant: as a wish from the bottom of the heart. And if you answer with a «Happy Chanukka», «Happy Kwnazaa», «Happy Posadas» or whatever, your friends would be very happy – would know where you come from and where your roots are. They would know that you take pride in your traditions like they take pride in theirs.