Happy Holidays: What are the origins of the alternative Christmas greeting – and why does Trump object to it? – The Independent

Its not actually a tradition as oldasChristmasitself, it just feels that way.

Every year, as December 25 approaches, certain groups of people take issue with those who sayhappy holidays,seasons greetings or some variant thereof.

So how did this seasonal controversy come about, and how does it manifest itself?

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

Initially, the phrase Happy Holidays was adopted either as a way of avoiding offence, or as a catch-all to include other celebrations like New Year, and other religions winter festivals - likeHannukah- along with Christmas.

Theres a caveat to the optimistic message of the songs title. War is over, sing a choir of children over festive tambourines, but only, they add, If you want it. Having analysed the success of his previous single, Imagine, the former Beatle noted, Now I understand what you have to do: Put your political message across with a little honey. On this, an anti-Vietnam war protest song wrapped up in sleigh bells, strings and an anthemic melody, he does just that. AP

Getty

Taking Harry Belafontes 1956 hit Marys Boy Child and singing it in medley with new song Oh My Lord, Boney Ms No 1 hit combined Christmas carol-like harmonies with Euro disco, steel drums and a reggae sensibility. It might sound disastrous but somehow it works. AP

Hes gone/2,000 miles/Is very far, sings Chrissie Hynde, above a twanging guitar riff in 2,000 Miles, her serpentine melody stretching each syllable into several. You could easily assume its about two separated lovers, but it was actually written for the bands original guitar player, James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose a year earlier at the age of 25. The song is desperately bleak as is the case with all the best Christmas songs but with a note of festive hopefulness too. The children were singing/Hell be back at Christmas time. AP

Rex

Brenda Lee was just 13 years old when she made herself a rockabilly legend thanks to the recording of this party classic. It always reminds me of scenes in The Santa Clause (one of the best ever Christmas films) where the jaunty number was heavily featured, along with seminal holiday movie Home Alone. RO

Few Christmas songs are as cosy as this one. Dean Martins smooth, rich voice is as warming as a good glass of whisky; paired with sweeping, romantic strings and a chirpy flute, Let it Snow! conjures up images of stockings hanging up over the chimney, a Christmas tree glinting with baubles, and a frost-tinted window with snow falling outside. RO

Getty Images

Though Aled Jones tends to get the credit for this haunting masterpiece, it is actually the voice of choirboy Peter Auty that appears in the climactic scene of the wordless 1982 animation The Snowman. He wasnt credited though, and when his voice broke and Joness version reached number five in the UK charts, he was almost written out of history. In truth, though, whichever version you hear, the songs sweeping grandeur is goosebumps-inducing. AP

Channel 4

Recorded for Bing Crosbys TV special Merrie Olde Christmas, and framed around a strange scripted exchange of banter between the two, this mash-up only came about because Bowie hated the song, Little Drummer Boy, that he had been asked on the show to sing. So songwriters Ian Fraser and Larry Grossman, alongside the shows scriptwriter, cobbled together Peace on Earth to serve as a counterpoint, while Crosby performed the intended song. They recorded the resulting medley after less than an hour of rehearsal, and five weeks later, Crosby died. AP

Redferns

Eartha Kitt is the sexiest woman in the world. You dont write Christmas songs that are sexy. How are we going to do that?Poor Phil Springer. Half of the songwriting team behind the super sultry Santa Baby was always slightly resentful that his biggest hit was a festive one. Well, Im grateful for it. Eartha Kitts huskily delivered letter to Santa Claus is undoubtedly the sexiest Christmas song of all time, and has been covered by everyone from Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift to Madonna (I dont talk about Madges attempt) and Michael Buble. Yet its Kitts version you find yourself coming back to. RO

This Mel Torme composition was originally written, according to Torme, with Bob Wells as a mind-over-matter attempt to stay cool during a stifling summer day in 1945. Its one of Coles most enduring hits, and one of the most beloved of all Christmas songs. RO

GETTY IMAGES

This Mel Torme composition was originally written, according to Torme, with Bob Wells as a mind-over-matter attempt to stay cool during a stifling summer day in 1945. Its one of Coles most enduring hits, and one of the most beloved of all Christmas songs. RO

Reuters

Andy Williams classic brings to mind the kind of big, brash Christmass you see in American films lots of presents, blazing fireplaces and a huge feast but also plays heavily on the importance of spending time with your loved ones. It consistently appears in the top 10s of Christmas song rankings, and more than 50 years in, the 1963 staple shows no signs of wearing out. RO

AP

It was just another anti-war song until Jona Lewie threw a kazoo into the mix. The English singer-songwriter never intended Stop the Cavalry to become a Christmas single, but the festive mention in the line I wish I was at home for Christmas, along with the addition of a Salvation Army brass band and tubular bell, was enough to convince listeners. The song sold 4m copies upon its release and was only kept off the top slot that Christmas because of John Lennons death and consequent position at numbers one and two on the UK singles chart. Lewie told The Guardian in 2015 that he earns more from Stop the Cavalry than the rest of his songs put together. RO

In 1978, Rea thought it was all over. His record contract was done, and his manager had just told him he was quitting. Rea wanted to get home from Londons Abbey Road studios to Middlesborough, but his record company wouldnt pay for a ticket.My wife got in our old Austin Mini, drove all the way down from Middlesbrough to Abbey Road studios to pick me up, and we set off back straight away, he told The Guardian. Then it started snowing. We had 220 and I was fiddling with it all the way home. We kept getting stuck in traffic and Id look across at the other drivers, who all looked so miserable. Jokingly, I started singing: Were driving home for ChristmasRO

AFP/Getty

Sinatras version of this classic Christmas song opens on his isolated vocals before gradually introducing the swooning choir and tender strings section. And the lyrics: Have yourself a merry little Christmas/Make the Yuletide gay / From now on your troubles will be miles away/Here we are as in olden days/Happy golden days of yore/Faithful friends who are dear to us / Gather near to us once more. RO

AP

One of the best moments on American Idol in 2014 was an exchange between judges Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey, who famously did not get on during the series. As a contestant/Mariah stan [stalker fan] told the star he loved All I Want for Christmas is You and hailed it as the best modern-day Christmas song, Minaj threw a little shade by saying: It sure was, wasnt it?, emphasis on the was very much intended. Careys response was immediate and dismissive: Still is, dahling! She earns a reported 4000,000 in royalties from the track each year, with its lasting popularity testament to just how good a song it is. Its unyielding Christmas spirit and those diminished (infectious) C minor chords combine for the ultimate experience of festive cheer, with a perfect mix of nostalgia and pop sentimentalism thrown in for good measure. RO

AP

George Michael wrote, performed, produced and played every single instrument on this song, where the narrator looks back with sadness on a past relationship. As with Fairytale of New York, you have an upbeat, cheerful rhythm and chirpy instrumentation, against the melancholy of unrequited love in the lyrics, with the suggestion that it was given away too hastily (This year, to save me from tears/Ill give it to someone special). RO

YouTube/WhamVEVO

Some of the best songs combine uplifting instrumentation that contrasts with lyrics that can be downright miserable, and such is the case for Fairytale of New York. It has none of the sickly sweet sentimentality of Mariah Careys All I Want For Christmas Is You or Wham!s Last Christmas.Fairytale of New York is a drunken hymn for those with broken dreams and abandoned hopes. Its narrator, an Irish immigrant, is thrown into a drunk tank to sleep off his Christmas Eve binge. Hearing an old man sing the Irish ballad The Rare Old Mountain Dew, he begins to dream about the past, and so begins the story of two people who fell in love in America, only to see their plans of a bright future dashed.Shane MacGowans slurring, bitter delivery of those opening vocals is played out over romanticised piano chords, then to those wonderful, jaunty strings, with Terry Woods mandolin part giving the song an additional Irish brogue. RO

YouTube/Screengrab

Richard (Dick) Smith was suffering from tuberculosis, an illness which had plagued him since a child, from his bed in a sanatorium in Philadelphia. Gazing longingly out of his window at the snow, he wrote a poem describing all the things he would do when he was well again. He was inspired by the views of people playing in the park across the street from his family home on Church Street, where hed lived with his mother, brother and two sisters. His father had died when he was a child. After he was finished, he took the lyrics to his friend Felix Bernard, a professional pianist. A copy of Winter Wonderland found its way to Joey Nash, lead singer of the Richard Himber Orchestra, who recorded it in 1934. Guy Lombardo heard Nashs recording and made a record of his own, which became a hit that December. Smith died in 1935 before Winter Wonderland became a Christmas hit again for Ted Weems, and long before Crosby recorded his, and arguably the most famous, version. RO

STF/AFP/Getty

Theres a caveat to the optimistic message of the songs title. War is over, sing a choir of children over festive tambourines, but only, they add, If you want it. Having analysed the success of his previous single, Imagine, the former Beatle noted, Now I understand what you have to do: Put your political message across with a little honey. On this, an anti-Vietnam war protest song wrapped up in sleigh bells, strings and an anthemic melody, he does just that. AP

Getty

Taking Harry Belafontes 1956 hit Marys Boy Child and singing it in medley with new song Oh My Lord, Boney Ms No 1 hit combined Christmas carol-like harmonies with Euro disco, steel drums and a reggae sensibility. It might sound disastrous but somehow it works. AP

Hes gone/2,000 miles/Is very far, sings Chrissie Hynde, above a twanging guitar riff in 2,000 Miles, her serpentine melody stretching each syllable into several. You could easily assume its about two separated lovers, but it was actually written for the bands original guitar player, James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose a year earlier at the age of 25. The song is desperately bleak as is the case with all the best Christmas songs but with a note of festive hopefulness too. The children were singing/Hell be back at Christmas time. AP

Rex

Brenda Lee was just 13 years old when she made herself a rockabilly legend thanks to the recording of this party classic. It always reminds me of scenes in The Santa Clause (one of the best ever Christmas films) where the jaunty number was heavily featured, along with seminal holiday movie Home Alone. RO

Few Christmas songs are as cosy as this one. Dean Martins smooth, rich voice is as warming as a good glass of whisky; paired with sweeping, romantic strings and a chirpy flute, Let it Snow! conjures up images of stockings hanging up over the chimney, a Christmas tree glinting with baubles, and a frost-tinted window with snow falling outside. RO

Getty Images

Though Aled Jones tends to get the credit for this haunting masterpiece, it is actually the voice of choirboy Peter Auty that appears in the climactic scene of the wordless 1982 animation The Snowman. He wasnt credited though, and when his voice broke and Joness version reached number five in the UK charts, he was almost written out of history. In truth, though, whichever version you hear, the songs sweeping grandeur is goosebumps-inducing. AP

Channel 4

Recorded for Bing Crosbys TV special Merrie Olde Christmas, and framed around a strange scripted exchange of banter between the two, this mash-up only came about because Bowie hated the song, Little Drummer Boy, that he had been asked on the show to sing. So songwriters Ian Fraser and Larry Grossman, alongside the shows scriptwriter, cobbled together Peace on Earth to serve as a counterpoint, while Crosby performed the intended song. They recorded the resulting medley after less than an hour of rehearsal, and five weeks later, Crosby died. AP

Redferns

Eartha Kitt is the sexiest woman in the world. You dont write Christmas songs that are sexy. How are we going to do that?Poor Phil Springer. Half of the songwriting team behind the super sultry Santa Baby was always slightly resentful that his biggest hit was a festive one. Well, Im grateful for it. Eartha Kitts huskily delivered letter to Santa Claus is undoubtedly the sexiest Christmas song of all time, and has been covered by everyone from Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift to Madonna (I dont talk about Madges attempt) and Michael Buble. Yet its Kitts version you find yourself coming back to. RO

This Mel Torme composition was originally written, according to Torme, with Bob Wells as a mind-over-matter attempt to stay cool during a stifling summer day in 1945. Its one of Coles most enduring hits, and one of the most beloved of all Christmas songs. RO

GETTY IMAGES

This Mel Torme composition was originally written, according to Torme, with Bob Wells as a mind-over-matter attempt to stay cool during a stifling summer day in 1945. Its one of Coles most enduring hits, and one of the most beloved of all Christmas songs. RO

Reuters

Andy Williams classic brings to mind the kind of big, brash Christmass you see in American films lots of presents, blazing fireplaces and a huge feast but also plays heavily on the importance of spending time with your loved ones. It consistently appears in the top 10s of Christmas song rankings, and more than 50 years in, the 1963 staple shows no signs of wearing out. RO

AP

It was just another anti-war song until Jona Lewie threw a kazoo into the mix. The English singer-songwriter never intended Stop the Cavalry to become a Christmas single, but the festive mention in the line I wish I was at home for Christmas, along with the addition of a Salvation Army brass band and tubular bell, was enough to convince listeners. The song sold 4m copies upon its release and was only kept off the top slot that Christmas because of John Lennons death and consequent position at numbers one and two on the UK singles chart. Lewie told The Guardian in 2015 that he earns more from Stop the Cavalry than the rest of his songs put together. RO

In 1978, Rea thought it was all over. His record contract was done, and his manager had just told him he was quitting. Rea wanted to get home from Londons Abbey Road studios to Middlesborough, but his record company wouldnt pay for a ticket.My wife got in our old Austin Mini, drove all the way down from Middlesbrough to Abbey Road studios to pick me up, and we set off back straight away, he told The Guardian. Then it started snowing. We had 220 and I was fiddling with it all the way home. We kept getting stuck in traffic and Id look across at the other drivers, who all looked so miserable. Jokingly, I started singing: Were driving home for ChristmasRO

AFP/Getty

Sinatras version of this classic Christmas song opens on his isolated vocals before gradually introducing the swooning choir and tender strings section. And the lyrics: Have yourself a merry little Christmas/Make the Yuletide gay / From now on your troubles will be miles away/Here we are as in olden days/Happy golden days of yore/Faithful friends who are dear to us / Gather near to us once more. RO

AP

One of the best moments on American Idol in 2014 was an exchange between judges Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey, who famously did not get on during the series. As a contestant/Mariah stan [stalker fan] told the star he loved All I Want for Christmas is You and hailed it as the best modern-day Christmas song, Minaj threw a little shade by saying: It sure was, wasnt it?, emphasis on the was very much intended. Careys response was immediate and dismissive: Still is, dahling! She earns a reported 4000,000 in royalties from the track each year, with its lasting popularity testament to just how good a song it is. Its unyielding Christmas spirit and those diminished (infectious) C minor chords combine for the ultimate experience of festive cheer, with a perfect mix of nostalgia and pop sentimentalism thrown in for good measure. RO

AP

George Michael wrote, performed, produced and played every single instrument on this song, where the narrator looks back with sadness on a past relationship. As with Fairytale of New York, you have an upbeat, cheerful rhythm and chirpy instrumentation, against the melancholy of unrequited love in the lyrics, with the suggestion that it was given away too hastily (This year, to save me from tears/Ill give it to someone special). RO

YouTube/WhamVEVO

Some of the best songs combine uplifting instrumentation that contrasts with lyrics that can be downright miserable, and such is the case for Fairytale of New York. It has none of the sickly sweet sentimentality of Mariah Careys All I Want For Christmas Is You or Wham!s Last Christmas.Fairytale of New York is a drunken hymn for those with broken dreams and abandoned hopes. Its narrator, an Irish immigrant, is thrown into a drunk tank to sleep off his Christmas Eve binge. Hearing an old man sing the Irish ballad The Rare Old Mountain Dew, he begins to dream about the past, and so begins the story of two people who fell in love in America, only to see their plans of a bright future dashed.Shane MacGowans slurring, bitter delivery of those opening vocals is played out over romanticised piano chords, then to those wonderful, jaunty strings, with Terry Woods mandolin part giving the song an additional Irish brogue. RO

YouTube/Screengrab

Richard (Dick) Smith was suffering from tuberculosis, an illness which had plagued him since a child, from his bed in a sanatorium in Philadelphia. Gazing longingly out of his window at the snow, he wrote a poem describing all the things he would do when he was well again. He was inspired by the views of people playing in the park across the street from his family home on Church Street, where hed lived with his mother, brother and two sisters. His father had died when he was a child. After he was finished, he took the lyrics to his friend Felix Bernard, a professional pianist. A copy of Winter Wonderland found its way to Joey Nash, lead singer of the Richard Himber Orchestra, who recorded it in 1934. Guy Lombardo heard Nashs recording and made a record of his own, which became a hit that December. Smith died in 1935 before Winter Wonderland became a Christmas hit again for Ted Weems, and long before Crosby recorded his, and arguably the most famous, version. RO

STF/AFP/Getty

The phrase can betracedat least as far back as 1863, and by the1930sand1940swas commonly and uncontroversially being used in advertising campaigns.

But in recent decades what was intended as a neutral or inclusive choice of words has become increasingly political.

Some dislike what they see as an attempt at secularisation: they see it as taking the Christ out of Christmas.

Some are proud to hate what they call political correctness gone mad, often associating it with the kind of loony leftinitiatives of councils who in the Eighties were pilloried for banning things likeBaa Baa Black Sheep even thoughno council ever did ban the nursey rhyme.

Increasingly, Happy Holidays has been linked to what some critics portray as acraven attempt to appease Muslims, sometimes coupled to claims thatIslam is a threatto a countrys way of life.

And it has become more and more common for some or all of these objections to be bundled together in complaints about a perceivedWar on Christmas.

Possibly withFox Newsin 2005. That was the year when John Gibson, radio talk show host, and at the time anchor ofThe Big Storyon Fox News, published a book entitled:The War On Christmas: How The Liberal Plot To Ban The Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought.

In this narrative, the phrase happy holidays was no longer as innocent as some believed. Instead, it was portrayed as an act of liberal aggression.

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The message was enthusiastically adopted by fellow Fox News anchorBill OReilly. Who repeated it pretty much every year.

For US conservatives, especially those on the evangelical right-wing - if the liberals were allowed to win the War on Christmas, who knew what fresh hell they would unleash next?

They say the next step after saying Happy Holidays is abortion on demand and euthanasia, DanCassino, a professor atFairleighDickinson University,told theNew York Timesin 2016. Thats a hell of a slippery slope, but thats the argument being made.

And by 2016 - in what is far from the only example of synergy between the man who is now US president and Fox News -Donald Trumpwas capitalising on those conservative fears during his presidential election campaign.

During rallies he repeatedly promised to end the War on Christmas, and in office he announced victory for the conservative backlash bydeclaring,We can say Merry Christmas again.

When Tim Allens Scott Calvin accidentally kills Santa Claus (a nice, light-hearted beginning to a family film) he is expected to take his place. He refuses at first but when his hair turns white, a beard and belly grow overnight, and children start approaching him with their wish lists, he reluctantly takes the mantle. Its weirder and darker than it has any right to be, but its enjoyable to watch.

Buena Vista Pictures

When writer and director Billy Wilder first watched Brief Encounter, in which two people use a friends house to consummate an affair, he wrote in his notebook: What about the poor schnook who has to crawl into the still-warm bed of the lovers? The result of that scribble is The Apartment, a film that, with its farcical but well-wrought premise and career-best performances from Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, never puts a foot wrong.

Rex

Whether you consider this film a heart-warming gem or an insult to the 1947 original might depend on which version you grew up with but its hard to argue with the performances of Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle, and Mara Wilson as the precociously cynical Dorey.

20th Century Fox

Film trailer editor Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and wedding columnist Iris (Kate Winslet) exchange homes over Christmas in an attempt to escape their terrible love lives. This Nancy Meyers classic is as predictable as its fake movie trailers, but its warm and witty, with a strange but sweet subplot involving an Oscar-winning nonagenarian.

Universal Pictures

A bizarre and macabre Santa Claus origin story, this Finnish fantasy horror follows a group of Lapland natives who stumble upon the secret of Father Christmas. To say that hes not the cuddly, benevolent gift-giver we know and love would be an understatement. To say any more would be to spoil the twisted fun.

Kinology

This low-budget, entirely improvised film from mumblecore actor-director Joe Swanberg is an understated and underrated gem. Anna Kendrick is typically charismatic as an irresponsible twenty-something who crashes, uninvited, back into the life of her older brother Jeff (Swanberg), but the films secret weapon is a brilliantly nuanced performance from Melanie Lynskey

Magnolia Pictures

Featuring a reimagined version of the title song, which Bing Crosby introduced in Holiday Inn over a decade earlier, White Christmas was intended to reunite Crosby with Fred Astaire for their third Irving Berlin showcase musical. Astaire declined the project, and eventually Danny Kaye starred instead, as an aspiring entertainer alongside Crosby. The resulting film was a box office smash and a subsequent classic. Astaire missed out.

Rex

Whatever side youre on in the infernal debate over whether its actually a Christmas movie (Bruce Willis thinks not), it's hard to deny that Die Hard is a perfect action movie. That it takes place on Christmas Eve, and features lines like, Now I have a machine gun, ho-ho-ho, makes it ideal holiday viewing too particularly if youre a little sick of festive slush.

Moviestore/Rex

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Happy Holidays: What are the origins of the alternative Christmas greeting - and why does Trump object to it? - The Independent