The lamenting question “What will happen to Christmas now?” stands in the room. In the pre-Corona period, people thought for months about what to give and whether Christmas might be white this time. But that’s yesterday’s news. In 2020 the question is: Will Christmas even take place — with family, children, grandchildren, friends? Will there be church services, nativity plays, a meal at a large table? The pandemic is unsettling and may prevent Christmas together. It could be a truly silent night. According to a YouGov survey commissioned by the German Press Agency, around half of adult German citizens expect a Christmas in isolation: 52 percent fear that households will have to celebrate separately. 53 percent expect restaurants, pubs and cafes to remain closed around the holidays. Only eight percent expect that Christmas and New Year’s Eve will mostly be the same as every year. When asked about their personally predominant feelings with regard to Christmas, half named negative feelings such as worry (19 percent), sadness (16), discomfort (14) and fear (2). Only six percent feel anticipation. Christmas is not just any festival in Germany, it is tradition and sentimentality — across generations.
Partial lockdown in November This is how Merkel wants to break the corona wave
Canceled Christmas markets, limited contacts, less travel are likely to make the 2020 holidays feel strange. “I think that Christmas will be a different Christmas this year,” said EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen recently. It will take a long time until the old normality. Confidence in connection with the partial lockdown, however, spread Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus: “If we do it right now in November, then we have a chance that we can celebrate Christmas reasonably well.” Normally, millions of Germans get into their cars or trains shortly before the festival or on the holidays to visit their family or friends. Will the family gluttony be canceled in 2020, is Christmas Eve only available via Skype and Zoom? Are grandma and grandpa left behind? The sociologist Sacha Szabo, who has researched the Christmas festival through the ages, does not see a satisfactory alternative in video switching because there is no physical presence. At most he could imagine online solutions taking the place of the telephone. “That you maybe shout around after the presents have been handed out.” Christmas is the feast on which families — especially when eating — insure themselves. “Perhaps this meaning has become even stronger as this festival became more profane and its religious significance faded into the background,” says the Christmas expert, editor of the anthology “Merry Christmas.” X‑Mas Studies. Christmas from perspective of science “.