The Christmas season is one of the biggest seasons and holidays of the year. This holiday season actually celebrates a lot of other things, related and not related to Christianity. This is the reason why there are some who insist on not using the merry Christmas greeting as a standard greeting. There are other forms of greeting which may be politically correct during this holiday season. Some are related to other traditions or events which may be celebrated during the holiday season while others are alternatives which do not focus on religion and do not mention merry Christmas.

Holiday Greetings

Merry Christmas has many different variations and alternatives. Not only is the greeting, merry Christmas, said in various languages and dialects but there are also greetings which are said in reference to the season and not particularly to Christmas. The merry Christmassalutation is often replaced by happy holidays or season's greetings; this is usually a written greeting. These are apparent in cards and other written correspondence between people who have no Christian leaning and others.

Some people say happy New Year instead of merry Christmas in anticipation of the changing year. This greeting is usually said towards the end of the year starting around the 30th of December up to the first or second day of January. In some cases, this greeting can be said when people meet up for the first time of the year. There are many different variations of the happy New Year greeting, in different languages. One of the more well known is the Chinese, Xin Nian Kuai Le, literally translated to Happy New Year.

Another greeting that may be said instead of merry Christmas is happy Hanukkah. Hanukkah is actually a Jewish holiday which is celebrated close to the Christmas season. This greeting may extend to the time when people start to celebrate Christmas. Another greeting that may be said during the period of Christmas and the New Year is the Chinese gong xi fa cai. This greeting translates into congratulations and prosperity to you. One can use this in the Chinese community to greet people for the holiday season instead of the standard merry Christmas. Feliz Navidad is also another greeting which is translated into happy nativity in Spanish.

In reality, the English versions of merry Christmas are still the most commonly accepted and understood. The reason why Spanish and Chinese greetings may be acceptable is due to the fact that these languages are also commonly spoken all over the world. - 39969