When Does Christmas Start?

Wed, 24 Dec, 2025

Read in 6 minutes

Christmas is the ubiquitous winter holiday for billions of people across the globe, but a question that has always troubled me is: “Just when does it start?”

When Does Christmas Start?

This Christmas, I have decided to get to the bottom of it and, by examining different definitions of the holiday, hopefully we can get to the bottom of this!

Definitions

In this article, I use the term Christmas to refer to the festive holiday surrounding Christmas day. Whilst the idea of Christmas is Christian in origin, I believe that the holiday is celebrated by many more groups today, although it does not have universal support.

Just After Halloween

For many people, Halloween holds the fort - preventing Christmas from eking further into the year. But is it that simple?

Historically, Halloween is thought to have originated from the Celtic festival of Samhain, held on the first of November. This festival marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter and was celebrated with the lighting of bonfires - alongside the chore of bringing livestock in to protect them from the chill.

However, this is not the only origin of the holiday! The Christian All Saints’ Day is also celebrated on November first, thanks to Pope Gregory III. The evening before this holiday was known as All Hallows’ Eve - giving Halloween its modern name (Nangia, 2025).

If you think that all of that sounds unrelated to our modern holiday, you would be correct - the two events have taken on new meanings. The most obvious of these is Bonfire (or Guy Fawkes) Night, which was designated in 1606 following the plot of 1605, and the roots of Samhain can clearly be seen (Wikipedia Contributors, 2020).

More importantly, All Hallows’ Eve was taken up by the Americans in the 19th century, where it spread as the consumerist holiday we know today - associated with elaborate costumes and the tradition of ’trick-or-treating’ aided by copious amounts of sweet delights (Wikipedia Contributors, 2019b)!

From my point of view, we cannot begin to celebrate Christmas until all of these other events have passed. I often group together Halloween, Bonfire Night, and Remembrance Day as the last key events before Christmas. So, from this point of view, the holiday cannot start until at least the 12th of November.

Consumerism

I am not blind to the festive onslaught of our high street retailers - although at times I wish I was… Every year, it seems like mince pies hit the shelves earlier and earlier! So, when are festive products launched?

In 2023, Tesco and Waitrose first put items on the shelves in September, with Sainsbury’s following shortly afterwards in October. I think I am not alone in saying that this is incredibly early! However, retailers do wait until November before launching full food ranges, including turkeys and yule logs (Mullen, 2024).

This paints a rather different impression of Christmas, with a gentle lead-up presented by consumer culture. Does that mean we should be tucking into mince pies in October and putting up our decorations in November?

Christmas television programmes and films only come to our screens at the beginning of December, with full programming beginning around the 8th of December this year (2025). That means if you want Christmas shows, you will have to wait until much later in the year (TV24, 2025)!

Work Breaks

Schools and workplaces across the world close for important holidays - and Christmas is no different. Schools typically close for two weeks around Christmas and the New Year whilst workplaces only usually close for Christmas and Boxing day.

Those lucky enough to be studying at a university usually get a month off, with a roughly two-week lead-up to the festive holiday!

From this analysis, Christmas almost certainly does not begin on Christmas day - so the workplace definition is not very helpful - but, starting a week or two before Christmas day is a much more sensible option. Although I am sure that many people will disagree.

Advent?

For Christians, the preparation for Christmas begins on Advent Sunday, the fourth Sunday before Christmas day. And, as an originally Christian holiday, this may be the strongest claim for when Christmas begins.

From this religious definition, we get our modern advent calendars, which begin on the 1st of December. Advent calendars last for a fixed 24 days, compared to the variable 22 to 28 days of the religious advent, leading to a rather pleasing fixed redefinition of the preparation (Wikipedia Contributors, 2019a).

I should note here that a modern advent calendar is a very different thing to Advent itself and is in no way equivalent. The advent calendar is an element of consumer culture which is now seemingly unrelated to the Christian season.

So, yet another definition for when Christmas begins with yet another answer - which one is right?

The Opinion Part

As I have outlined, there are many different definitions for when Christmas begins - all of which make interesting cases and lead to a wide variety of answers.

From my point of view, Christmas is a holiday which we should all keep in our own way, with each of us having a deeply personal relationship with the event. But, I can offer a few personal definitions for when the holiday begins, which just may help you to find the right answer for you:

‘Tinsel-shed’

Ask yourself: ‘when is the right time for Christmas decorations to be put up?’ This is a question which I often find is closely linked to our feeling for the holiday - seeing and engaging in Christmas activities usually begins by putting up the decorations. Although that might not be true for gift shopping!

The Real Answer

I always think that the true meaning of Christmas is spending time with family, and my definition for the start of Christmas is usually when the whole family is home during the festive holiday. Let the games, gift giving, and bad jokes begin!

Sources

Read more about how I use Wikipedia.