This is the last newsfeed of 2023 – we will take a break over the festive period (while our website administrator is away) and will return in January 2024. The CEQ Office is also closed until Tuesday 2nd January.
Wishing everyone a happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year, and holding in the Light those for whom this is a difficult time of year.
Several Quaker meetings are holding special events over the Christmas period:
Special Events
Details of events will be shared here when appropriate.But, do Quakers celebrate Christmas? This reflection on the Quakers in Britain national website gives some helpful insights:
Early Quakers did not observe Christmas nor mark other ‘times and seasons‘. They believed that no day was more holy than any other, and believed that each day, and all of life, was sacred (Quaker faith & practice 27.39 and 27.42). Today, as with so many things in the Quaker community, there is a full spectrum of practices and responses.
There are those who do the full Christian event to mark the birth of Jesus with candles, carols, presents and Christmas pudding, and others who will observe simply and quietly. There are also those who will choose not to mark this Christmas season in any way, but who nonetheless give daily witness to their faith.”