I’d like to respond to Billy Redpath’s Letter to the Editor (Gazette, Nov. 11), titled, “Insulting for Christmas market to happen before Nov.11.” I don’t quite understand why he’s so upset by the date of the Christmas market being on Nov. 4, 2017. He said that he was both shocked and insulted to see Christmas decorations and treats being sold and displayed before Remembrance Day.
That’s ridiculous! Every business everywhere has Christmas items brought in pretty much the day after Halloween. I even heard Christmas music in a store just last week. It’s hardly anything new. I’d like to point out that there were other Christmas markets all over the city on the same day, yet he only chose to complain about the one.
Remembrance Day and Christmas aren’t related, and both honour different people for different reasons. We don’t sacrifice one over the other. We don’t forget our fallen members of the various wars just because there’s a Christmas market a week before. We also don’t forget the birth of Jesus because Remembrance Day occurs the month before. The people we’ve lost are often thought of on both holidays anyway, if not more at Christmas. They’re never forgotten and are thought of every day regardless.
I think that putting forth the idea that the city should pick a different date next year for the market is unwarranted. The Christmas Market has been held on Nov. 4 for years, and I’ve never read an article in the Gazette complaining about it. We went to the Christmas Market this year, and I definitely wasn’t thinking that I’d forget all about Remembrance Day because of it.
The Christmas Market also definitely didn’t make me put aside thoughts of my grandparents who fought in the war. I don’t associate the two holidays, and celebrate them both with pride and honour every year as I think most others do.
Dana Merritt, St. Albert
