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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. Holidays with greetings include Christmas, New Year's Day, Thanksgiving (in the USA), and (more recently) Hanukkah, Ramadan, and Kwanzaa in the United States. 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. When one wishes to convey a greeting to another regardless of which particular holiday the other may personally observe, 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 Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. However, some controversy has aroused regarding the phrase "Happy Holidays" as an alleged attempt to diminish Christmas.^[1]

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. "Merry" dominates in the United States; "happy" in the United Kingdom and Ireland. (See "History" for more on this.)

The phrase is often proffered 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. (However, the commercialization of the actual holiday continues unabated.) 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 merry (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 "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.
As "Joyeux Noël", which is the French language equivalent of "Merry Christmas". It is used in U.S. areas of New England, Louisiana and other French speaking communities.

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, 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.^[2]

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"^[3].

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^[4]. 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"[2]. 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 and Kwanzaa.

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, 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.

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.[3]

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.

Season'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,"[4] and has been a greeting card fixture ever since. Several White House Christmas cards, including President Eisenhower's 1955 card, have featured the phrase.[5]

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 - United States, Canada
Buone Feste - Italian
Felices Fiestas - Spanish
Season's Greetings - Usually refers to upcoming winter holidays, but technically could refer to any season.
Happy Halloween - United States, Canada
Trick or Treat - United States, Canada, 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 - United States, Canada
Happy Turkey, short for Happy Turkey Day - United States (informal), referencing the traditional meal.
Merry Christmas - Australia, United States, The phrase is often immediately followed by and a Happy New Year.
Happy Christmas - United Kingdom
Merry Yuletide, Good Yuletide or Happy Yuletide - English, can generally refer to the cultural festivities of the Yule, Winter solstice, Christmas and possibly even the New Years period.
God jul - Swedish, lit. "Good Yule"
Joyous Yule - Usually a Wiccan or Neopagan greeting for the Winter solstice
Joyeux Noël - France, Quebec, Louisiana
Buon Natale - Italy
Nollaig Shona Duit - Ireland, (Irish Language), lit. "You have a happy Christmas".
Merry Xmas - Written English (often informal), referencing the Greek word Χριστος, for Christ.
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!"). - Othodox and Eastern Rite Catholic countries
Feliz Navidad - Spanish lit. "Happy Nativity"
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 Years Eve.
Kul 'am wa enta bi-khair - Arabic for "May every year find you in good health"
Taqabbala Allahu minna wa minkum. - "May Allah 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
Selamat Hari Raya or Salam Aidilfitri - Malay and Indonesian
maaf zahir dan batin - Lit. "Forgive my physical and emotional (wrongdoings)"
Bon Carnival - 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, Othodox and Eastern Rite Catholic countries

References

^ [1]
^ ""Merry Christmas" beats "Happy Holidays" In 2005 Usage" (html). BusinessKnowledgeSource.com. 2005. Retrieved 2006-06-12.
^ "Dickens' Christmas Sequels" (stm). LetsGo Online. 1998. Retrieved 2006-06-11.
^ "Christmas Words and Phrases" (html). The Phrase Finder. 2004. Retrieved 2006-06-11.

Marling, Karal Ann. Merry Christmas! Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000).
Online Etymology Dictionary
The Phrase Finder
Christ Child

Link title==See also==

[1] [1]

[preferMC-2] ""Merry Christmas" beats "Happy Holidays" In 2005 Usage" (html). BusinessKnowledgeSource.com. 2005. Retrieved 2006-06-12.

[3] "Dickens' Christmas Sequels" (stm). LetsGo Online. 1998. Retrieved 2006-06-11.

[4] "Christmas Words and Phrases" (html). The Phrase Finder. 2004. Retrieved 2006-06-11.

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