Editing Christmas (section)

=== 20th and 21st centuries ===
[[File:The Christmas Visit. Postcard, c. 1910.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The Christmas Visit. Postcard, {{c.|1910}}]]

During the [[First World War]] and particularly (but not exclusively) in 1914,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Crossland|first=David|date=December 22, 2021|title=Truces weren't just for 1914 Christmas|language=en|work=The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/wartime-football-truces-3-historical-prejudice-0-wclv9hs3f|access-date=December 24, 2021|issn=0140-0460}}</ref> a series of [[Christmas truce|informal truces]] took place for Christmas between opposing armies. The truces, which were organised spontaneously by fighting men, ranged from promises not to shoot (shouted at a distance in order to ease the pressure of war for the day) to friendly socializing, gift giving and even sport between enemies.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Baxter|first=Keven|date=December 24, 2021|title=Peace for a day: How soccer brought a brief truce to World War I on Christmas Day 1914|url=https://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/story/2021-12-24/christmas-truce-soccer-world-war-germany-britain-adolf-hitler|url-status=live|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224122434/https://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/story/2021-12-24/christmas-truce-soccer-world-war-germany-britain-adolf-hitler |archive-date=December 24, 2021 }}</ref> These incidents became a well known and semi-mythologised part of popular memory.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Real Story of the Christmas Truce|url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-real-story-of-the-christmas-truce|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=Imperial War Museums|language=en}}</ref> They have been described as a symbol of common humanity even in the darkest of situations and used to demonstrate to children the ideals of Christmas.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Christmas Truce 1914|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/assemblies-ks1-ks2-christmas-truce-1914/zhjpm39|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=BBC School Radio|language=en}}</ref>

Under the [[state atheism]] of the Soviet Union, after its foundation in 1917, Christmas celebrations—along with other Christian holidays—were prohibited in public.<ref name="Connelly2000">{{cite book|last=Connelly|first=Mark|title=Christmas at the Movies: Images of Christmas in American, British and European Cinema|year=2000|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-86064-397-2|page=186}}<!--|access-date=November 22, 2014--></ref> During the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, the [[League of Militant Atheists]] encouraged school pupils to campaign against Christmas traditions, such as the Christmas tree, as well as other Christian holidays, including Easter; the League established an antireligious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement.<ref name="Ramet2005">{{cite book|last=Ramet|first=Sabrina Petra|title=Religious Policy in the Soviet Union|date=November 10, 2005|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-02230-9|page=138}}<!--|access-date=November 22, 2014--></ref> At the height of this persecution, in 1929, on Christmas Day, children in Moscow were encouraged to spit on [[crucifix]]es as a protest against the holiday.<ref name="Zugger2001">{{cite book|last=Zugger|first=Christopher Lawrence|title=Catholics of the Soviet Empire from Lenin Through Stalin|year=2001|publisher=[[Syracuse University Press]]|isbn=978-0-8156-0679-6|page=210}}</ref> Instead, the importance of the holiday and all its trappings, such as the Christmas tree and gift-giving, was transferred to the New Year.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/12/30/how-soviets-came-to-celebrate-new-years-like-christmas-and-why-russians-still-do/ |title=How Soviets Came to Celebrate New Year's Like Christmas (and Why Russians Still Do) |last=Tamkin |first=Emily |date=December 30, 2016 |website=Foreign Policy |access-date=January 6, 2022}}</ref> It was not until the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991 that the [[persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union|persecution]] ended and Orthodox Christmas became a state holiday again for the first time in Russia after seven decades.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-07-mn-5892-story.html|title=A Russian Christmas—Better Late Than Never: Soviet Union: Orthodox Church celebration is the first under Communists. But, as with most of Yeltsin's pronouncements, the holiday stirs a controversy.|last=Goldberg|first=Carey|date=January 7, 1991|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=November 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222093318/http://articles.latimes.com/1991-01-07/news/mn-5892_1_russian-christmas-traditions|archive-date=December 22, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Sapin Noel Geant Gubbio 2014.jpg|thumb|[[Mount Ingino Christmas Tree]] in [[Gubbio]], Italy, the tallest Christmas tree in the world, 2014<ref name="tripsavvy"/> ]]

In 1991, the [[Gubbio Christmas Tree]], in Italy, 650 meters high and decorated with over 700 lights, entered the [[Guinness Book of Records]] as the tallest Christmas tree in the world.<ref name="tripsavvy">{{Cite web|title=Celebrate Christmas Italian Styles at These City Events|url=https://www.tripsavvy.com/christmas-traditions-things-to-do-italy-4176880|access-date=January 26, 2021|website=TripSavvy|language=en}}</ref> European History Professor Joseph Perry wrote that likewise, in [[Nazi Germany]], "because Nazi ideologues saw organized religion as an enemy of the totalitarian state, propagandists sought to deemphasize—or eliminate altogether—the Christian aspects of the holiday" and that "Propagandists tirelessly promoted numerous Nazified Christmas songs, which replaced Christian themes with the regime's racial ideologies".<ref>{{cite news|title=How the Nazis co-opted Christmas: A history of propaganda|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/12/24/how-the-nazis-co-opted-christmas/|last=Perry|first=Joseph|date=December 24, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=March 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106211548/https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/12/24/how-the-nazis-co-opted-christmas/|archive-date=January 6, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

As Christmas celebrations began to spread globally even outside traditional [[Christian culture]]s, several Muslim-majority countries began to ban the observance of Christmas, claiming it undermined [[Islam]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/12067683/Somalia-joins-Brunei-by-banning-Christmas-celebrations-to-protect-Islam.html|title=Somalia joins Brunei by banning Christmas celebrations 'to protect Islam'|date=December 24, 2015|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=April 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529064440/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/12067683/Somalia-joins-Brunei-by-banning-Christmas-celebrations-to-protect-Islam.html|archive-date=May 29, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2023, public Christmas celebrations were cancelled in [[Bethlehem]], the city synonymous with the birth of Jesus. [[Palestinians|Palestinian]] leaders of various Christian denominations cited the [[Gaza war|ongoing Israel–Gaza war]] in their unanimous decision to cancel celebrations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2023/12/16/1219245873/bethlehem-christmas-gaza-israel|title=There's no Christmas in Bethlehem this year. With war in Gaza, festivities are off|date=December 16, 2023|accessdate=December 23, 2023|last=Neuman|first=Scott|work=NPR}}</ref>