Hi Gerv,

I think that is all besides the point. In North America we call the holiday
Christmas (which is a catholic word) and we associate Santa with Christmas
(and in fact he is derived from a Saint if we want to keep being
historical, and possibly is pagan before that), not with a different
holiday that occurs at the same time. While everyone celebrates it
differently (or not at all) Santa is still *entwined* with the religious
celebration.

My point also wasn't to call out the fact that the reference was
specifically Christian. My point was that up until a point the holiday
posts were broad and therefore more inclusive, then there were specific
posts about only one celebration. On top of that it makes indirect
references to religion though I do respect that it was being avoided as
much as possible.

The real issue I want to raise is that we have community guidelines about
being inclusive that focus around leaving our personal differences at the
door, eg religion, politics, culture, and coming together in forwarding
Mozilla's values. This poses an interesting question, especially for
engagement, in terms of how much we should follow that distinction as we
act on behalf of Mozilla. Should Mozilla assets focus on Mozilla specific
news and events, or should we use "off topic" cultural/political events to
help raise our visibility? How do we do that right?

The popcorn political ad maker during the US election is an interesting
example. It acknowledged a world event without taking a side in the event
and directly promoted a Mozilla technology. In fact you made the ad about
yourself, not about any real candidates. This feels more on the right track.

On Thu, Dec 27, 2012 at 3:32 PM, Gervase Markham <[email protected]> wrote:

> On 26/12/12 10:57, Daniel Glazman wrote:
> > It *is* a religious reference. In my family, Santa and Xmas represent
> > absolutely nothing because our background is not christian.
>
> That's a non sequitur. Santa can mean nothing to you even if you are a
> Christian. Or it can mean something to you if you're not a Christian -
> plenty of non-Christian families "believe in" Santa.
>
> What has Santa (as in, the red-suited Ho-Ho-Ho version of 2012) got to
> do with the birth of Jesus Christ? Nothing.
>
> > You could also remind us that the 25th of december is just a pagan
> > reference, the day of Sol Invictus, and most certainly before that the
> > day of Mithra.
>
> Yes, that too :-)
>
> > Come on, Gervase, this is not a discussion about Human
> > History but about present times. In present times, Christmas and Santa
> > are christian references (unless someone is praying Mithra here ?-).
>
> Christmas is, or can be; Santa is not.
>
> Gerv
>
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