Select a region
Ministers are already being urged to rethink the new Christmas covid rules, because they don't cater for communities who celebrate on Christmas Eve.
Under the new rules announced at a press conference arranged at short notice on Friday, the Chief Minister said that islanders would only be allowed to meet with other households indoors on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with all other visits banned immediately.
However, Jersey’s Portuguese and Polish communities – as well as those from other some nationalities – place a strong emphasis on celebrations on Christmas Eve.
Polish families call 24 December ‘Wigilia’ – a day of fasting followed by a feast in the evening, which precedes the exchange of gifts.
In Portugal, presents also tend to be exchanged on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day, and the main meal eaten then too.
Having been contacted by “many who are devastated that, with just six days notice, an important part of their Christmas has been cancelled” within hours of the advice being announced, Reform Jersey’s Senator Sam Mézec said that he and colleague Deputy Carina Alves will be writing to the Chief Minister to reconsider.
People are rightly pointing out that this affects lots of other nationalities and cultures too.
— Senator Sam Mézec (@SamMezecJsy) December 18, 2020
Boxing Day is meaningless in many cultures. Is it too much to say “two gatherings between 24th-26th maximum” so everyone is covered? Surely that’s no extra risk. https://t.co/pFTgVB2fXR
“If greater restrictions have to be applied over the next few weeks to stop the spread of the virus, then so be it. But if exemptions are to be made to accommodate families who wish to see each other for Christmas, it strikes me as an obvious blind spot to exclude the 24th of December when many thousands of islanders will actually celebrate Christmas, yet include the 26th which many do not commemorate,” he told Express.
“The virus does not stop spreading just because it happens to be a holiday. If we are told we can attend one gathering on the 25th and another on the 26th, why not just say we can attend a maximum of two gatherings between 24th and 26th so all cultures can be accommodated, without increasing the risk at all?”
The problem, Senator Mézec, was likely a symptom of a lack of diversity within Jersey’s Government.
“I believe that if we had a more representative government, these sorts of issues could be addressed before they got to this point.”
Express has contacted the Government for comment.
EXPLAINED: New Year is cancelled... Here are the new festive rules
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.