Talk:Christmas in July

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[edit] TV?

"Christmas In July" is in reference to TV shows, which go into reruns in the summer months. The month of July typically recieves the rerun episodes that first ran in December, thus all the July shows are in "Christmas." It's not a real celebration and stores don't use it for advertising. It's a cute observation of how television works (or worked in the past) in the US. -mpb


In my experience as a lifelong resident of the United States, the phrase "Christmas in July" is exclusively used by retailers advertising summer sales, and has never been celebrated by anyone, anywhere. If in fact there are people who celebrate "Christmas in July", the author needs to document who and where these people are. Thailand? Mongolia? The Falklands? Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, maybe? A citation would help, too. --DavidConrad 02:59, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

That is twice in one day that I embarrassed myself on WP. The smarmy, sarcastic tone of the above comment was entirely uncalled for. --DavidConrad 02:30, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Duel purpose

Perhaps the phrase "Christmas in July" may refer to a ploy used by retailers as well as an unofficial get together in July. Nevertheless if this is the case then perhaps the author should eleborate more clearly. --StevenL 15:28, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Dual or not to Duel

That is the question i put to StevenL. Also that Scandinavian bit about "Jul" just happening to be the abbreviation for July is just silly. There is no connection. Way to fail etymology.

[edit] Found Using Google

Found a Christmas in July Festival and linked it. --StargateX1 2:05, 3 August 2005 (PST)

[edit] Australian use

I'll leave the US usage dispute up to someone who knows about it, but I've added a sentence about how the term is used in Australia. JPD 15:21, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

I do not know to what extend it is celebrated, but for what it's worth: at a hotel in Australia (near Mackay, Queensland), there was a small christmas tree on 20 July 2005. When I asked about it, I was told, this was a"Christmas in July" thing. I had the impression there was no specific day of celebrations, but this was at least not a marketing thing, but a genuine attempt to bring a mood of Christmas in the July winter. 145.99.148.36 00:49, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

It is really not heavily celebrated. Some establishments and organisations might do it, but most do not. I had heard of it (chatted about on TV magazine programs) through the 1990s but never actually saw much evidence of these celebrations in real life. The WP article I believe is misleading in claiming that Christmas in July is so Australians may partake in roasted meats and plumb pudding: Australians eat cooked food and roasted meats every week of the year and do not need a made-up holiday to allow them to do it!!! And if anyone wanted a hot sweet they would just eat it! Really since the 1990s the only real mention I have ever seen of Christmas in July is in the Big Brother TV series! Asa01 20:20, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
Hotel decorations, theme nights, and theme celebrations are a "marketing thing". Hotels are commercial entities, and decorations they put up and theme nights are part of their marketing - of themselves. It is all done to get drinkers in. Asa01 20:44, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
This article's claim that the term "half Christmas" is used certainly does not show up in a google search. The two matches I found seemed to repeat the exact text of this article (no, they're not mirror sites either). July is next month let's see if any references show up in that time... Format 00:40, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Found more, looks legit

I found more references to it. It certainly isn't as widely known or celebrated as Christmas, but I think this is legit. It's probably more used as a marketing tool than as a holiday in the US, but so what? That just means it's more a marketing tool in the US, and we should clearly say so. I know of people in the US who have celebrated it, though. And there seem to be many southern hemisphere references (which makes sense; traditional "wintertime" activities around Christmas would need to wait 1/2 a year to do in many places in the southern hemisphere). -- Dwheeler 16:07, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

But it's clear that some people do celebrate it, at least as a novelty. I've modified the text to make its marketing role in the US clearer, and to make it VERY clear that many people don't celebrate it... and of those who do, it's still less important than Christmas. Perhaps now that it's modified we can remove the "disputed" marker. -- Dwheeler 16:27, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] July 2007

At the end of July 2007 I'm going to delete the Australia section and all its unreferenced conjecture - if no references surface by then. Since it is July now, you'd think some references would be floating about the newspapers if there was anything to actually report on. Format 07:51, 2 July 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Very Late July 2007

Two possible references:

These might provide some credence to the Australian story as well as to the commercial nature of the holiday.

http://www.bluemountainsaustralia.com/categories.asp?id=476 http://www.mountainheritage.com.au/yulefest.htm

Leah from Australia said this when posting those:

I'm unsure of the exact origin of Christmas in July but I understand that it may have had something to do with tourism campaigns for the parts of Australia that have a cold winter (even some of them with snow). It was a way to encourage visitors during the cold grey days of winter (much like Kathie mentioned).

For people like me in Sydney the Blue Mountains has been "celebrating" Yulefest (Christmas in July) for over 25 years.

Warm regards Leah

68.231.59.109 23:00, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Dont get the two confused, "christmas in july" usually refers to a retail campaign while Midwinter Christmas and Yulefest refer to the Cultural festivities. Some thing 02:56, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
The links don't really show how notable or widespread these celebrations are. They are marketing an themed evening at a reastaurant in the hope that punters will pay attend and eat. That in itself does not prove much. (Actual Christmas itself is hardly a reastaurant event anywya) Format 21:53, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] It certainly is real

Christmas-In-July is certainly celebrated in Australia, in quite a few places and quite a few houses. More in the snowfields of the Australian Alps where it has become a strongly established tradition tied into July being the High Season for our Winter snow falls. It is also celebrated in other parts of the nation and not necessarily where they have a cold winter. My local Community Centre (metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia) has celebrated the event with a community social night annually since 2000 and each year I have had the pleasure of being their Santa 'visiting as a break from the pressures of toymaking'. Some people claim that the origins dates back to the early '80s and started by homesick UK expats and held in the Blue Mountains area around Sydney, New South Wales. It certainly has been known to me for many years though only in later years has it become commercialised to the extent that Christmas decorations are often available in specialty stores to celebrate the event. There isn't any particular date attached to it, just sometime in July that is convenient.

Other stories claim that it began in fundamental Christian churches as a backlash to the commercialisation of Christmas and the general community putting Santa on a pedestal and forgetting that the Gift-Giver was supposed to be Christ. So Christmas In July to them means a Christ-focussed event without a Santa nor reindeer to distract from the 'reason behind the season'.

I have been told of this religious link by other non-Australian Santa's but have not seen anything to prove or disprove this claim. I have never seen anything like this in this country, maybe it is an overseas experience?

Cheers, Santa Ian Iloxton 08:25, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

No one said "It wasn't real". Only that the section was stuffed with unreferenced conjecture, eg. the claim that Christmas in July was bolstered because Christmas episodes of international TV series screen n Australia around July (and they don't always screen in July anyway). A standard WP rule is that information must have credible external reference. This establishes the fact, and can also act as a barometer of notability (if something is celebrated by so few people that no reference can be found that mentions it, then maybe it isn't notable enough for a WP article.) Format 19:18, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article looks like blah!

I think this article needs some serious clea up. It reads like a talk page!--Coffeegirlyme (talk) 20:27, 8 May 2008 (UTC)