@Nisse_Hult Which likely explains how "Christmas Eve Eve" became A Thing, but not how Boxing Day and the day AFTER Easter did. I am continually amazed that the governments of such broadly and staunchly secular countries as the Nordics retain so many Christian--and ONLY Christian--holidays as federal holidays, while the government of such a broadly and staunchly religious country as the US only recognizes Easter Sunday and Christmas Day as federal holidays (and even most private employers only include Good Friday, sometimes not even that.) Most of the non-Catholic US (i.e. most of the US) would be hard pressed to identify Maundy Thursday or even Shrove Tuesday (since the sole widespread awareness of the latter is the drunken debauchery associated with Mardi Gras, free of any association with Easter) much less the dates of Pentecost or Christs Ascension. The contrast with secular Scandinavia essentially SHUTTING DOWN FOR A WHOLE WEEK during Christmas and Easter is striking. Much like any attempt to introduce religion classes or confirmation in US public schools would be met with huge widespread picketing or even riots, while the sole concession Scandinavian public schools has made to non-Christians is including the study of other religions and offering non-Christian confirmation to adherents of other religions (or none.) In some big important ways, homogeneous Western Europe now does pluralism far better than The Great American Melting Pot.
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@Nisse_Hult Which likely explains how "Christmas Eve Eve" became A Thing, but not how Boxing Day and the day AFTER Easter did. I am continually amazed that the governments of such broadly and staunchly secular countries as the Nordics retain so many Christian--and ONLY Christian--holidays as federal holidays, while the government of such a broadly and staunchly religious country as the US only recognizes Easter Sunday and Christmas Day as federal holidays (and even most private employers only include Good Friday, sometimes not even that.) Most of the non-Catholic US (i.e. most of the US) would be hard pressed to identify Maundy Thursday or even Shrove Tuesday (since the sole widespread awareness of the latter is the drunken debauchery associated with Mardi Gras, free of any association with Easter) much less the dates of Pentecost or Christs Ascension. The contrast with secular Scandinavia essentially SHUTTING DOWN FOR A WHOLE WEEK during Christmas and Easter is striking. Much like any attempt to introduce religion classes or confirmation in US public schools would be met with huge widespread picketing or even riots, while the sole concession Scandinavian public schools has made to non-Christians is including the study of other religions and offering non-Christian confirmation to adherents of other religions (or none.) In some big important ways, homogeneous Western Europe now does pluralism far better than The Great American Melting Pot.