The countries listed below have banned Christmas either in the past or present day. Or do everything they can to oppose it.
Though Somalia has now joined other
countries with all kinds of reason or another to prohibit this
wonderful season. There have been many before them and will continue to
be…
Here are nine of them;
1. Somalia
Somalia’s government has banned the
celebration of Christmas, warning that such Christian festivities could
threaten the nation’s Muslim faith.
“Those celebrations are not in any way related to Islam,” an official at the religious affairs ministry said.
Security agencies have been directed to stay alert to stop any gatherings.
Foreigners are free to mark the
Christian holiday in their own homes, but hotels and other public places
have been prohibited from marking the day.
“Having Muslims celebrate Christmas in
Somalia is not the right thing, such things are akin to the
abandonment,” local media quote Mohamed Kheyrow, a top official at
Somalia’s justice and religious affairs ministry, as saying.
2. Saudi Arabia
As a theocracy governed strictly in the
religion in Islam, it won’t be surprising to hear that Christmas
festivities aren’t encouraged.
In 2015 the government re-iterated their
anti-Christmas stance in state media newspaper Arab News when it came
to light that government hospitals allowed non-Muslim employees to
celebrate Christmas within its compound.
‘Sheikh Mohammed Al-Oraifi, a Saudi
scholar, said Muslims are not allowed to greet non-Muslims on their
religious occasions like Christmas,’ they wrote, and quoting the scholar
directly: ‘If they celebrate the birth of God’s son and you greet
them…it means you endorse their faith.’
3. England
Don’t panic – Christmas is obviously
still going ahead this year. But for the country’s 17th century cousins,
there was a period when the government raged a war on Christmas.
Between 1647-1660 when a Puritanical
movement led by Oliver Cromwell ruled England, the celebration of
saints’ days was discouraged. Christmas in particular was considered as a
day ‘giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights’.
Shops had to remain open and there were violent clashes in cities as a result of the ban.
4. North Korea
North Korea are pretty hostile towards Christmas celebrations (and, you know, lots of other things).
So much so they almost went to war with
South Korea when their Christian group built a 30-foot Christmas tree
near the border. North Korea wasn’t happy, calling it a tool of
psychological warfare and threatening to fire artillery at it.
‘[The tower] is not just a means for
religious events but a symbol of madcap confrontation racket for
escalating tensions,’ North Korean state media said.
South Korea eventually scrapped the plan to build it.
5. Tajikistan
Along with Somalia, Tajikistan is one of the three countries that have banned Christmas celebrations this year.
It’s gone one step further after banning
Russia’s version of Santa Claus Father Frost from TV in 2013. This
year, Christmas trees and the giving of gifts in schools are prohibited.
Its education ministry has issued a
decree also not allowing ‘the use of fireworks, festive meals,
gift-giving and raising money’ for New Year celebrations.
6. Brunei
And this country is the third of the
three to ban Christmas. The Sultan of Brunei has told residents of his
nation that those who chose to celebrate Christmas could face up to five
years in jail.
Non-Muslims are allowed to celebrate it
in their own communities, but are not allowed to share their plans with
the country’s Muslims, 65 per cent of the population.
In a statement, the Ministry of Religious Affairs said they believed it could threaten the nation’s Muslim religion.
‘These enforcement measures are…intended
to control the act of celebrating Christmas excessively and openly,
which could damage the aqidah (creed) of the Muslim community’.
7. Albania
Fun fact: Albania was the first
constitutionally atheist state in the world. Its ban on Christianity as a
religion in 1967 also meant they couldn’t celebrate Christmas either.
The country’s constitution brought
prison sentences of three to 10 years for ‘religious propaganda and the
production, distribution, or storage of religious literature’.
It was only when the communist regime fell in 1990 that citizens were allowed to attend Christmas services again
8. USA
Yep, even in the land of hope and freedom Christmas was once banned. And it’s the work of Puritans once again.
The first instance of a resistance to
Christmas celebrations came in 1620, when the Pilgrims arriving in
America spent Christmas Day working.
Then the Massachusetts Bay General Court
banned Christmas between 1659-1681, and said anyone caught doing the
‘forbearing of labour, feasting, or any other way… whosoever shall be
found observing any such day as Xmas or the like’ would be fined.
Christmas finally became a legally recognised federal holiday in 1840.
9. China
Since the Communist Party takeover in
1949 and the restrictions on religion generally in the country,
Christmas has been a controversial subject.
The Chinese celebrate it in lots of
ways, particularly as a mass commercial holiday. You can find evidence
of Christmas in plenty of shopping centres and restaurants in big cities
such as Beijing.
However, in the last year there have
been crackdowns on the celebration of Christmas in universities and
schools. An education official of Wenzhou in the Zhejiang province told
the Global Times that it was a move against increasing influence of
Western culture in the country.
‘We are not suppressing Western
festivals, but we hope schools can be more balanced on this. Students
can learn about Western festivals but they should not be
over-enthusiastic about it,’ he said.
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