CHRISTMAS
One of the two biggest Christian holidays
The last time that Christmas was a public holiday in the years following the Second World War was in 1952. From then on it was no longer an official holiday and retreated into the intimate sphere of family life. The reintroduction of Christmas as a public holiday in Slovenia can be traced to the period between 1986 and 1989, despite the opposition to it in the other republics of the Yugoslavia of the time. The modern Christmas takes place in Slovenia at the family level, where it can be part of religious beliefs or simply “tradition”. Then there is the public level, where we see more of a globalised Christmas with all the shopping and other forms of consumerism that that entails. Christmas today, then, blends multiple elements and is no longer strictly a Christian festival. Its many different aspects make it a popular holiday with a particular vitality. It has become a public and collective holiday, although the family and the home are still important connecting elements.
Janez Bogataj