Here is part 2 of my “they’re cancelling Christmas” debunk. I will try and cover as many of the ludicrous rage bait claims as I can, so you have the facts to hand when your Facebook-indoctrinated relative brings up these myths over the festive period.
In part 1, I debunked the claims that Tesco had renamed their plastic Christmas trees ‘Evergreen Tree’, that their Christmas cakes had been renamed ‘iced fruit cake’ and explained that this year’s Royal Mail stamps weren’t full of secret Muslim crescent Moons (they were, in fact, halos around Mary and Jesus!).
Go and have a read of that first if you can…
Latest Christmas ‘outrage’ stories
To show how industrial this has become, here is just one week of ‘Christmas outrage’ stories in the mainstream press. Most of these stories were covered in more than one right-wing newspaper.
Daily Mail 10 Dec Mistletoe and whine! Tesco are ridiculed over their Top Iced Fruit Cake and Winter Town cards missing the word Christmas
This was basically a re-run of their 19th Nov article (Tesco’s infuriates shoppers AGAIN as it ‘renames’ Christmas cake ‘fruit cake’… after sparking outrage with its ‘evergreen trees’), which I covered in Part 1.
As in, it is literally complaining about the same Christmas cakes being called ‘Top iced fruit cake’ as the previous article, alongside lots of people’s Twitter comments on the matter. It also bemoans one pack of Christmas cards that don’t feature the word Christmas…
Just like with the Christmas tree explanation, Tesco sell different types of Christmas cake – Fruit cake, iced fruit cake, top iced fruit cake slices, stollen, yule logs, etc – in a section covered with ‘Merry Christmas’ signage, and stacked in shelf boxes that say ‘Tesco Christmas’. They aren’t shying away from the word Christmas!
Daily Mail 8 Dec: Two-word message on Christmas tree display sparks outrage: ‘Meaningless PC rubbish’
This is about a Dolce & Gabbana-sponsored Christmas tree in the Central Business District in Sydney with banners in amongst the decorations showing: ‘Warm Wishes’, ‘Season’s Greetings’, ‘Happy Holidays’, and ‘Happy New Year’.
The Daily Mail was reporting on a tweet by an Australian tech millionaire:
The Christmas Tree at the MLC centre in Sydney says “Happy Holidays”
Australia, if we do not begin to push back now, we will lose everything that made our nation great.
It’s Merry Christmas!
Anything less is offensive to Christians, and Australia is a Christian country.
The article then simply reported on lots of random Twitter comments, either in support of the tweet or pushing back. That was the whole article!
The Sun 5 Dec: Popular DIY store BANS staff from putting up Christmas decorations on shop floor, sparking fury from workers
This story was triggered by a single, unnamed Screwfix staff member telling The Sun they “were told this week they can put up tinsel and baubles in their staff area, but they must not be visible to customers.”
That was quite literally the entire story. Of course, it blew up on Twitter, with Screwfix having to come out and clarify:
Festive vibes are at Screwfix!
Colleagues are free to add decorations where there’s space, and you’ll see plenty of Christmas jumpers (and maybe a few hats too)!
And:
We’ve clarified to our colleagues that they are welcome to put up decorations – as our busy stores are small, we’re asking that they make sure they are put up where there is space to do so.
Reform councillor, Joseph Boam, took the story further on his Facebook and Twitter page (tweet now deleted) to say:
SCREWFIX BANS CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS – BECAUSE THEY MIGHT OFFEND
Screwfix has told staff, no Christmas decorations unless you hide a few in the staff room, as long as customers can’t see them.
Reason given?
“We don’t want to offend other religions.”
This is Britain.
A Christian country where Christmas has been celebrated for CENTURIES.
Yet big companies are now too scared to put up a few lights up in case someone complains.
It’s cowardice. Enough is enough.
We must MAKE CHRISTMAS GREAT AGAIN!
No credible (or even non-credible) source had made that claim that he put in quotation marks. An elected Reform Party politician entirely fabricated the ‘offend other religions’ angle.
Express 5 Dec: Fury as HSBC bans Christmas jumpers over worry they could trigger customers
Headlines across the newspapers that covered this story included words like: “Fury”, “Bah Humbag”, “BANNED” (in capitals, obviously), and “Triggered”.
The story?
Following customer complaints from people going into branches to discuss sensitive issues such as bereavements and financial worries, HSBC has asked customer-facing staff not to wear Christmas jumpers. The branches will still be decorated, Christmas parties will still take place, and non-customer-facing staff can still wear them. However, when people come in to discuss sensitive financial issues, they won’t be talking to someone with a giant comical red reindeer nose or ‘Ho Ho Ho’ emblazoned across their jumper.
Needless to say, the comments sections were full of vitriol against immigrants and Muslims.
Daily Mail 3 Dec: Bargain Hunt’s David Harper blasts ‘woke Christmas cancel culture’ and festive ‘virtue-signaling’ as he issues word of warning to BBC fans.
David Harper complains that the Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle host a Winter Market and not a Christmas Market and actually calls for families to boycott anywhere that uses the words ‘winter’ or ‘festive’ rather than ‘Christmas’:
The antiques expert hit out that families should boycott anywhere that has decided to substitute the word Christmas for phrases like the ‘festive season’ and ‘winter festival’, and instead spend their money elsewhere.
For reference, the Bowes Museum event was also called a winter market in 2024, but it seems no one was outraged by it then. Barnard Castle has already had a Christmas light switch-on event with Father Christmas, Carol singers and Christmas trees.
So there you have just one week’s worth of mainstream news stories. This kind of Christmas rage bait has existed in right-wing online spaces for several years now, but it hasn’t bled into our newspapers like we’re seeing this year.
So you may come across a relative at Christmas who has read one or more of these stories and genuinely believes (despite the evidence when they actually step outside their front doors) that somehow Christmas is being diminished or ‘replaced’. And they may be under the impression that Muslims are somehow to blame…
To understand why these claims are so absurd, it helps to look at the history of Christmas itself and the language we use around it, so here is your handy guide and history lesson to enable you to gently challenge those claims.
The ‘Festive’ and ‘Holiday’ Season
The idea of the ‘Festive Season’ dates back to 567AD, when the Medieval Roman Catholic Church declared that “every day is a festival” between Christmas Day and Epiphany (6th Jan), the 12 days of Christmas.
Newspaper archives show the term ‘Festive Season’ being used during December and early January, right back to 1804 – 221 years ago!
“Old Christmas” by Washington Irving, published in 1819, included the line:
“Even the poorest cottage welcomed the festive season with green decorations of bay and holly”
Ironically, he is bemoaning the eroding of Christmas traditions, which he also refers to as ‘holiday customs’:
One of the least pleasing effects of modern refinement is the havoc it has made among the hearty old holiday customs. It has completely taken off the sharp touchings and spirited reliefs of these embellishments of life, and has worn down society into a more smooth and polished, but certainly a less characteristic surface. Many of the games and ceremonials of Christmas have entirely disappeared, and like the sherris sack of old Falstaff, are become matters of speculation and dispute among commentators.
Yup, over 200 years ago, people were complaining that Christmas wasn’t being celebrated like it was in the good old days!
The terms ‘holiday’ and ‘festive’ to directly describe Christmas, date back over two centuries. Their use predates the founding of modern Australia by about 100 years, so I think Australia will survive having a tree that includes “happy holidays” in amongst its decorations!
Cancelling Christmas
It really does blow my mind that anyone believes that Christmas is being ‘cancelled’. And rest assured, it really isn’t!
But Christmas actually was cancelled in 1647 by Protestants who believed that festivities were too closely linked to Catholicism, and some Puritans objected to the celebrations as there was no mention of such things in the Bible, and therefore couldn’t be justified. This parliamentary ban on Christmas lasted until 1660, 13 years during which Christmas festivities, Church services and closing of businesses on Christmas day were all banned, albeit not very successfully, as many people continued to celebrate in secret.
A very far cry from the “they’re cancelling Christmas” claims we see today.
Muslims being offended by Christmas
It is true that Muslims do not celebrate Christmas as a religious festival. But that doesn’t mean they are “offended” by others doing so. In fact, many majority Muslim countries celebrate Christmas in all its glory. Christmas is officially recognised in Syria, Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, and is celebrated to some extent in many other Muslim majority countries.
Senegal, a country with a 95 per cent plus Muslim population, is renowned for its Christmas celebrations, with trees, tinsel, and lights all over towns and cities. Muslims take part in Christian celebrations, and Christians take part in Muslim celebrations.
Even in Muslim countries that don’t have Christmas Day as a recognised public holiday, Christmas is still celebrated by Christians, and others use lights, Christmas trees, decorations and gift giving to celebrate other parts of the festive season, such as the New Year or Midwinter.
Ironically, Reform’s Richard Tice’s partner, Isabel Oakeshott, told Talk TV this week:
Christmas is celebrated here in the United Arab Emirates without any embarrassment or apology.
She then questioned why “the United Kingdom can’t seem to celebrate Christmas without apologising.”
Of course, in reality, no one is apologising for, or embarrassed about, celebrating Christmas. And she is absolutely spot on that in many Muslim countries Christmas is freely celebrated. (I’m not sure she was aware she was debunking her own usual rhetoric on this subject!)
The idea that anyone is ‘offended’ by Christmas Trees or Christians celebrating Christmas falls apart with the smallest scrutiny.
In fact, in 2013, the Muslim Council of Britain issued 2 posters to try and tackle the misconception that Muslims wanted to ban Christmas
Christmas Markets
One common feature of Christmas rage bait (as seen in the Barnard Castle Daily Mail story) is to complain about the names of the markets that appear at this time of year.
GB News political commentator, Christopher Hope, did just that last week when he tweeted a picture of the Southbank Centre Winter Market sign (which is surrounded by stars and twinkly Christmas lights) with the words “Christmas surely?”
Of Visit London’s best Christmas markets 2025, 14 are called ‘Christmas Market’, one is called ‘Festive Market’, and one is called ‘Winter Market’. And yes, that’s the Southbank Centre Market GB News decided to comment on – obviously.
While Christmas markets are widespread nowadays, they are a relatively new import from Europe, arriving in the UK in 1982, when Lincoln decided to recreate a German Christmas market after visiting its twinned town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße.
All over the country, these markets, ice rinks, rides and grottos run from mid-November to early January. And some of them have the word Christmas in the title, and some of them don’t, and it has always been that way.
The famous Hyde Park ‘Winter Wonderland’ has always had that name since it began in 2007.
The absence of the word Christmas in the place name does not mean it is not obviously Christmas-themed.
The same goes for Christmas trees, Christmas cakes, and Christmas decorations. They don’t need the actual word ‘CHRISTMAS’ on the packaging for you to know they are meant for Christmas.
Here are decorations sold by Woolworths from the 1930s and 1950s that don’t mention the word ‘Christmas’, a food pamphlet from the 1940s that everyone knew was about Christmas without needing the word, and two Woolworths Christmas catalogues from the 1990s referring to their ‘Winter Wonderland’.
Every one of these items would trigger the online Right nowadays, and almost certainly find some write-up in the Daily Mail!
Far from cancelling or even diminishing Christmas, every year we have a phenomenon called ‘Christmas creep’, where shops and brands start their Christmas advertising, special offers and limited edition items earlier and earlier. Brands aren’t going to do anything to harm their bottom line when they know how lucrative the festive period can be. The idea that Muslims (or anyone else, for that matter) are going to persuade them to stop promoting Christmas is utterly ridiculous.
Celebrations in December and January in all customs and faiths have been around far longer than modern Christianity. It is not a right unique to Christianity to hold celebrations at this time of year. And non-Christians celebrating does not in any way diminish Christmas for Christians.
Modern Christmas traditions are a glorious mish mash of customs and creations from all over the world, some pre-dating Christianity and others appearing far more recently.
Decorating houses with Evergreen trees was originally a pagan tradition, which was adopted by German Lutherans in the 16th Century. The tradition was brought to the UK by Queen Charlotte and then Prince Albert in the 1840s.
Poinsettias are native to Mexico and were incorporated into Christian celebrations after the Spanish conquest. They gained in popularity in the late 1800s.
The first commercial Christmas cards were sold in the UK in the 1840s.
Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer was created by a secular Humanist Jew in the 1930s.
The food eaten at Christmas varies massively across the globe and has very little to do with Christianity. This includes Christmas cake!
Giving gifts at this time of year pre-dates Christianity, with Romans exchanging gifts during Saturnalia between the 17th and 23rd December.
Father Christmas was originally associated with adult feasting and merriment in England in the 15th Century. He morphed into the more modern version, bringing presents for children, during Victorian times, as the myth of Santa Claus came to the UK from the USA, which was itself based on the 4th-century Greek Bishop, Saint Nicholas…
Very few of the modern Christmas traditions that people are creating outrage over have anything to do with Christianity. Christmas trees labelled ‘snowy pine cone tree’, Christmas cakes called ‘iced rich fruit cake’, Christmas markets taking place within ‘winter festivals’, are not diminishing Christianity, and have all been this way for years now.
Yet this year there have been 7 Daily Mail stories that cover the “they’re cancelling Christmas” outrage, and it’s only the 12th December! Last year in the same period there was only one story about a school Pantomime not having Christian references.
None of the newspapers reported that Tesco Trees were called Evergreen trees, or that Christmas cakes were called Rich fruit cake, or that we should boycott Barnard Castle’s Winter Festival, despite these all being the case last year (and some for well over a decade.)
Something has changed this year.
I covered the anti-Muslim messaging that is intrinsically linked with every one of these stories online in part 1, so I won’t repeat it here.
I want to end by pointing out 3 salient points that stood out to be during my extensive research into Christmas:
- Christmas survived an actual 14 year ban by Christians in the 1600s.
- Most of these complaints are based on commercial marketing decisions, rather than Christianity
- And people have been moaning about ‘loss of Christmas traditions’ longer than most modern Christmas traditions have existed!
This article was first published on Emma’s Substack, Monk Debunks, to which you can subscribe.
