Christmas loses appeal in Holland

19 December 2003

AMSTERDAM — With Christmas less than a week away, it appears that the Dutch public are rapidly losing the festive spirit. Almost one in three Dutch people think the religious and festive holiday is not as nice now as it was in previous years.

Last year just a quarter of the population were dissatisfied with Christmas, agency NFO Trendbox said on Friday after polling 500 people aged 16 and over.

NFO ascribed the negative thoughts about Christmas, at least in part, to the current economic slump in the Netherlands.

Seven out of 10 respondents told NFO that Christmas had become too commercial, this was a slight dip compared to 2002 when eight out of 10 felt the same way, news agency Novum reported.

The survey also found that the older the person questioned, the more Christmas is branded as commercial.

Another factor of the Dutch dissatisfaction with Christmas might be the recent revelation that one-third of the population does not know what bible story the Christian celebration is based on.

Among the religious population, not all Christians knew the meaning of Christmas either. Of Dutch Reformed churchgoers, 23 percent got it wrong, compared with 16 percent of Dutch Presbyterians and 26 percent of Roman Catholics.

Subject: Dutch news + Christmas