Here we go again

As we approach the holiday season, political correctness has raised its ugly head again.

Our neighboring town, Durham, was the first in the area to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day.

Then, last winter they had issues with the word, Christmas, so they set up a committee to work on making a ‘Winter Celebration’ that was more inclusive.

This year instead of a Christmas celebration, they are holding a Frost Fest.

Photo credit: Town of Durham

Frost Fest will still include the tree pictured at the left with lights, but it’s now referred to as the ‘Evergreen Tree‘ instead of the Christmas Tree, and instead of a lighting ceremony, the tree will be ‘energized.’

Okay, I’m sorry, but if this blog wasn’t PG rated, I’d probably insert a flippant comment here.

Santa Claus will be at the Frost Fest, but he won’t make an entrance because they don’t want to draw attention to him. “Santa will be present but not presented.” So, he can be standing there and available to see children, but he can’t ride into town as usual on his sleigh. That’s an interesting distinction.

The green wreaths with lights that were hung from the light poles throughout town, were voted down by the Committee because they could have been ‘perceived to include Christmas or religious overtones.’ The cost of new stars or snowflakes to replace the wreaths will cost $10,000 to be paid for by the residents. Personally, I’ve never perceived a green wreath with lights as having a hidden meaning, but if you have the budget and want snowflakes or stars, go for it.

As you can imagine, there have been some funny and some nasty responses to this in the local paper and online.

The last line of the Town Administrator’s editorial to keep things civil was “this is not Washington, DC. We are Durham, NH.”

I’m glad he put that in writing because I was confused – New Hampshire BS doesn’t sound that much different than DC’s.