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Etymology of 'holiday' reveals two meanings

NANAIMO – Re: Holidays come from holy day, Letters, Jan. 5.

To the Editor,

Re: Holidays come from holy day, Letters, Jan. 5.

The letter by Lee Masciarelli was mistaken. The etymology of the word ‘holiday’ reveals it has two meanings.

The first was as he said, a reference to the sabbath, a Jewish holiday, taken on Saturday for Jews and Sunday for Christians. Yes, it would be natural to associate this with Jesus, a Jewish rabbi (which means that he was married, a requirement to be called rabbi), but the connection to Christmas bonuses displays ignorance.

Financial bonuses are not given to celebrate the myth of Christmas.

The second concurrently accepted meaning was ‘day of recreation’.

Statutory holidays are allotted based on the time of the year which it is most profitable for a company to take rest days, and the Christmas season is one of them.

It would be amusing to go to Masciarelli’s home to see if they have a Christmas tree, as I am sure they know this is a pagan form of worship.

When you try to impose your belief system on others, I highly recommend that you research first before accusing others of not understanding.

Greg Demmons

Nanaimo