{"id":278434,"date":"2020-12-12T08:43:09","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T13:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=278434"},"modified":"2020-12-12T08:43:09","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T13:43:09","slug":"why-celebrating-christmas-is-good-for-your-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/12\/12\/why-celebrating-christmas-is-good-for-your-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Why celebrating Christmas is good for your mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
For people of all faiths (and none), the Christmas holidays bring people and families together to reflect on the year gone by and look forward to the next. (File photo: Jonathan Borba\/Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From birthdays to weddings and graduations, this year has seen many personal celebrations cancelled, while communal festivities such as Bonfire Night, Eid and Diwali either haven\u2019t been celebrated or have been more subdued. So it might feel tempting to downplay Christmas too, especially with concerns<\/a> that people mixing more freely could lead to a third wave of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

However, it will be more important this year than ever before to engage in the celebrations and rituals of Christmas and New Year. There\u2019s plenty of evidence to suggest that entering wholeheartedly into the spirit of the season \u2013 while keeping to 2020\u2019s limitations<\/a> \u2013 will be very good for our mental health. After a tough year, this might be exactly what we need.<\/p>\n

Christmas has important social, cultural and religious functions. For people of all faiths (and none), the Christmas holidays bring people and families together to reflect on the year gone by and look forward to the next.<\/p>\n

The sociologist \u00c9mile Durkheim used the term \u201ccollective effervescence<\/a>\u201d to describe the positive mood we feel when we take part in social activities that bring collective joy and make us feel part of a bigger community. Durkheim was writing about large religious gatherings, but researchers have argued<\/a> more recently that this same feeling can be experienced in smaller units when family or friends get together.<\/p>\n

We see this collective effervescence at Christmas time. Research<\/a> has shown that this spirit of Christmas manifests as a multitude of positive feelings and behaviours that are experienced collectively, including greater altruism, goodwill and generosity. This happens to such an extent that some have argued that Christmas cheer could be an emotion in its own right<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although we can\u2019t do everything we normally would this year, restrictions will be easing over Christmas in the UK<\/a> and in certain European countries<\/a>. This means we can, if we choose to, still experience some of this effervescence.<\/p>\n

The positive power of ritual<\/h2>\n

The popular adage that the best part of going out is getting ready \u2013 that the journey is more important than the destination \u2013 recognises that rituals are important in their own right. Routines and rituals offer structure and predictability<\/a> in our lives and perform important psychological functions to manage anxiety<\/a>. With rates of anxiety soaring in lockdown<\/a>, anything we can do to manage our mental health is to be welcomed.<\/p>\n

Rituals have been described<\/a> as individual units of action that form a sequence or pattern that is repeated in a particular way, and which are imbued with personal symbolism and meaning. For Christmas, these individual units typically include religious observances, buying presents, parties, pantomimes, carol singing, ice skating, and Christmas markets, not to mention the food and drink that we love so much during this time of the year \u2013 mince pies, panettone, stollen, mulled wine.<\/p>\n

This year many people put up Christmas decorations earlier than usual<\/a> to try and lift the general mood. There\u2019s evidence that this will work, as research shows that Christmas rituals specifically<\/a> can play a role in creating a sense of wellbeing and satisfaction. They evoke memories of other times in our lives when we have gone through the same rituals. Every time we put up Christmas decorations, our brain fires up our stored up festive feelings.<\/p>\n

This is why it\u2019s important to maintain rituals associated with celebrations: even if we won\u2019t be experiencing events in the same way, our brains will still respond positively. Even Christmas smells can evoke memories of past times<\/a>. Though we\u2019re in completely different circumstances now, faced with these stimuli our brains will make us feel happy by triggering happy memories.<\/p>\n

Rituals also play a key role in social cohesion<\/a>, as those in the UK saw with the \u201cclap for carers\u201d in the summer. When our traditional rituals are disrupted, this challenges the notion of who we are<\/a> as a social group. Following a year where we have had so much disruption in our routines and rituals already, and people have reported feeling increasingly isolated, Christmas rituals can offer us a sense of connection again.<\/p>\n

Festivities also often highlight the things we have to be grateful for, and this gratitude can also increase our sense of wellbeing<\/a>. And even if we can\u2019t be with loved ones, spending time catching up on the phone or online can help to boost our mood. Just reminiscing over past happy memories can make us feel happier<\/a> in the present.<\/p>\n

Celebrating wholeheartedly may feel difficult when the celebrations are constrained and many of us have experienced loss, but the rituals associated with Christmas traditions can help us to stay positive. Celebrations can increase our appreciation for the positive elements in our lives, and will draw upon stores of positive emotion that we\u2019ve built through memory. So go ahead and put up that Christmas tree. Even if there won\u2019t be as many people gathering around it this year, it should still make you feel better.\"The<\/p>\n

Nilufar Ahmed<\/a>, Lecturer in Social Sciences, University of Bristol<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From birthdays to weddings and graduations, this year has seen many personal celebrations cancelled, while communal festivities such as Bonfire …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":278436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lifestyle","mauthors-nilufar-ahmed-university-of-bristol","mauthors-the-conversation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278434"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278437,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278434\/revisions\/278437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}