“Christmas could become the great celebration of an ecological society where we consume less, because we are aware that it produces carbon”, according to Jean Viard

It is Sunday, December 24, on the eve of Christmas. For Christians, Christmas is on the 25th, but New Year’s Eve is of course this evening. A little less religion, more responsible consumption: this changing Christmas is the social question that we are deciphering with sociologist Jean Viard.

The Christmas celebration of course changes over time. New Year’s Eve on December 24 is always a time of sharing, often a time with family, and a period of solidarity with the most deprived and people who live without family or isolated.

franceinfo: Jean Viard, in France particularly, Christmas is less and less a religious festival ?

Jean Viard: Yes, it’s less and less of a religious holiday, Besides, that’s why before, on the evening of the 24th, we didn’t eat, because we were waiting for midnight mass, so at midnight we were on the 25th, to go to mass and we ate afterwards .

Are these your memories of being a little boy?

Yes, the 60s. Afterwards, it’s a big religious holiday, of course, for Christians. There are still 2 and a half billion Catholics, not counting other Christians on the planet. But in France, it is true that the majority of people do not feel linked to religion. And those who are linked to religion are not only Christians. There are also Muslims for 9 to 10%. So it’s about 30% of people who consider themselves Catholic, and in this percentage, there are 4 to 8% who go to mass from time to time, and sometimes to Christmas mass.

So it remains a religious holiday for them, but it has become the celebration of childhood, the celebration of gifts. And what played a big role was the year 1981. We gave the fifth week of paid leave, and we put it between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Before, we worked between Christmas and New Year’s Day. There, we would have worked again on Monday, so the week in between became a week of vacation for almost everyone, except for professionals, police officers, firefighters, cooks, etc., so we ended up having 10 vacation days, which make up the first 15 days of August, where again, everyone is at a standstill.

But isn’t that what explains why Christmas is disconnected from religion?

No, but that explains that it’s a cycle of celebrations. We think, in fact, ten days of celebration, with first the children’s day and the gifts, moreover, the grandparents too, it is a celebration of three generations. And then, there is the second celebration which is the celebration of love, of adolescence, which is the New Year. And it is a cycle of celebration which marks the passage from one world to another, like in all civilizations, we have always marked winter, when everything goes down, the leaves fall, nature is reduced, and then life springs up, which will arrive, the child of course, birth. And I believe that we must keep this function, of saying this is the moment of birth, this is the moment of the joy of living.

If we go out into the street and ask someone what Christmas is, among Christians, there is little chance that we will get someone who will tell us that it is the birth of Jesus. There is still a secularization of our society. The religious dimension is moving away and practitioners of other religions also celebrate Christmas, in their own way?

Some, not all, there are Muslims who do not celebrate it. But yes, of course, that’s why we have to keep the meaning, and the Christians came to add the birth of Jesus at that moment, because before, it was already the moment of birth in Asian cultures, the Tet festival, for example, so everywhere, we celebrate the return of life. And the Christians came to put Jesus in this stable between the donkey and the ox, because it was the moment of birth, they recovered the symbolism, so to speak. And today, indeed, the symbolism is diminishing, but childhood, birth, life remains.

Childhood and gifts, Christmas is still synonymous with a family celebration, synonymous with gifts. And there, practices change too. The second-hand market is growing. Expectations are changing, less consumption, perhaps differently?

First, there are fewer children: the toy market has lost 10% of its customers, because for there to be toys, there must be children. And indeed, second-hand gifts are progressing enormously and above all, they are becoming trendy. We are not going to hide that it is second-hand, and we are going to say it as an act of pride, because we are going to give an ecological meaning to that, and also the fact that the toy has already been used. It incorporates, I was going to say, the love of children that there was before. This is also true for clothing.

So this ecological dimension, we are going to say people consume less because of inflation, and for some, this is unfortunately extremely true, of course, but not only that. I think there is also a movement, and Christmas could become the great celebration of an ecological society where we have children, because we have confidence in the future, and at the same time, we consume less, because that we are aware that it produces carbon.