Canadians prefer Merry Christmas to other greetings

Christians are upset because the business and secular worlds are trying to change the ever used phrase Merry Christmas to the less offensive Happy Holidays. The business world and non-Christians are offended that they have to hear and are expected to say Merry Christmas, preferring to use more generic terms as Happy Holidays or Season’s Greetings.


I, for one, am a bit weary of the argument. Aren’t you? So I decided that as much as I love to study words, I would see if the battle is really worth all the chagrin. Here’s what I found:


“Christmas” derived from an Old English word Cristesmaesse or “Christ’s Mass,” a day set aside to celebrate the birth of the Son of God Incarnate.


“Holiday” derived from an Old English word Haligdaeg or “Holy-Day,” used to denote religious and sacred days set aside for celebration or worship.


“Season’s Greetings” reminds me the Almighty and Sovereign God promised that “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer and day and night shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22 He IS the God of the Seasons.


Across the provinces, residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, at 80 per cent, are most likely to favour the term Christmas.


British Columbians come in at a close second with 78 per cent, followed by 77 per cent of Albertans and Ontarians, and 74 per cent of those living in the Atlantic provinces.


Quebecers, however, are less likely to prefer the term Christmas Season and are more likely to favour using holiday season.


Sixty-one per cent of Quebec residents prefer Christmas, while 39 per cent side with holiday season.


On what the holiday season means to them, a slim majority of 56 per cent of Canadians thinks Christmas is a time for family, down three points from last year.


For many Canadians, Wright said, Christmas is akin to American Thanksgiving, a time when people go home to reconnect with their family.


“It’s not about religion,” said Wright. “The No. 1 reason is really about family.”


Fourteen per cent think Christmas is a time for exchanging gifts this season, up from last year’s nine per cent.


Nineteen per cent think Christmas is a time to reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ, while 12 per cent see the holiday as just “a nice festive season in the middle of the winter.”


Women are more likely to see Christmas as a time for family, with 59 per cent, compared with 52 per cent of men.


Men, at 15 per cent, are twice as likely as women, at eight per cent, to see Christmas as a nice holiday in the middle of dreary winter.


Thirty-five per cent of Atlantic Canadians see Christmas as a time to reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ. The rest of Canada isn’t far behind, but just six per cent of Quebecers agreed, which Wright said could have to do with Montreal’s multicultural population.


The online poll of 1,021 Canadians from an Ipsos Reid online panel was conducted between last Dec. 14 and 19. The poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.