In recent years, winter holidays, such as Christmas, have been celebrated earlier and earlier. While some winter celebrations, including Hanukkah, are not always on the same date each year, the celebration of winter holidays has been intruding on the festivities of Thanksgiving, and in extreme cases, Halloween. Mariah Carey’s propaganda has led to Christmas being quickly celebrated immediately following Halloween. To understand people’s opinions on this topic, we sent out a poll in which volunteers filled out a form with questions. Some people do not mind the early celebration of winter holidays; however, others strongly believe that the other holidays should not be overlooked.
What about Halloween???
Starting with the effect of early celebration on Halloween, the majority of people do not support celebrating or decorating for winter holidays before October 31st. Ms. Eklund, an English teacher at Mountain Lakes High School (MLHS), expresses that, “it’s just too early and interferes with spooky season.” Ms. Eklund feels, like many others, that observing winter holidays before Halloween takes away from the Halloween spirit. In our poll, 85.7% of people did not support celebrating winter holidays prior to Halloween. Furthermore, no participant started to decorate for the winter holidays as early as October 10th to October 31st. Another participant encourages people to “enjoy where [they] are, don’t rush it,” supporting the idea that moving through holidays like Halloween is not appreciative of the present. In addition, Cate Conklin, a student at MLHS, points out how she “[loves] a good long holiday season, but it’s so much more fun when it’s not dragged out.” On the other hand, a participant in the minority of people who are okay with the early celebration of holidays, “[likes] supporting what makes others happy, not just what matches [their] beliefs.” This person does not care what people do and instead wants others to be happy.
Carey’s Christmas
On November 1st of every year, Mariah Carey releases a video in which she exclaims it is time for Christmas. With 143.1 million people seeing this year’s video, Thanksgiving is pushed to the side, and Christmas is brought into the foreground. According to our survey, 32.1% of participants stated that they decorate for the winter holidays from November 1st to Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, the remaining majority of people said that they decorate only after Thanksgiving. Although most people do wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate and get ready for the winter holidays, 82.1% of respondents claimed to support celebrating before Thanksgiving. Jason Dimitrov talks about how, “after Halloween, it is already basically winter, so it is a good time to start preparing for the winter holidays. And as far as holidays go, nobody decorates for Thanksgiving anyway.” The shift in support for the observance of winter holidays is clear in relation to Thanksgiving. Even though Thanksgiving is toward the end of November, many believe that celebrating winter holidays at the same time does not overpower Thanksgiving. Ms. Paccioretti states that, “while I personally don’t do it, and might consider it too early, life is too short to not celebrate what makes us happy. You do you, boo.”
Local Opinions
Within the mix of people choosing to support the celebration of winter holidays prior to Halloween and Thanksgiving, Mr. Ziccardi, a teacher at MLHS who is experienced with AP history courses, explains that “the money would be spent more logically on AP World History Review books or vinyl copies of Blizzard of Ozz….. Perhaps funding etiquette, literacy, or work ethic programs for MLHS students?” Mr. Ziccardi is an example of someone who wants to focus his support on the community and the education of his students. He also explains his encouragement of music, specifically Ozzy Osbourne and his debut album.
While many people have mixed opinions on when the right time to celebrate and start decorating for the winter holidays is, the majority of people believe that festivities should at least wait until after Halloween. No matter when someone starts to observe winter holidays, most participants did not mind what made others happy. Especially after Halloween, responses to the form did not seem to completely oppose celebrating winter holidays in November. Everyone celebrated holidays with their own traditions and in their own ways. While sometimes it can be annoying seeing something like Christmas lights in mid-fall, letting everyone honor holidays is important to allow the winter spirit to be felt during the holidays themselves.
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