In Western culture, Christmas occurs in December. Christmas is a Christian holy day that commemorates the birth of Jesus and is, in general, a time of gift-giving and holiday cheer. Christmas in July celebrations may be held in July to provide a second joyful celebration in the year.
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In the southern hemisphere, Christmas in July is the name given to social events with a winter Christmas theme, as July is generally the coldest month of the year.
In the northern hemisphere during the summer months the weather becomes increasingly warm and many people crave the atmosphere of cooler temperatures, gift giving and holiday spirit. To satisfy this, some people throw parties during the month of July that mimic the holiday of Christmas. The features of Christmas in July include Santa Claus, ice cream and other cold foods and gifts. Nightclubs often host parties open to the public.
In some western countries, July has a minor number of marketing opportunities. In the United States and Canada, there are no national holidays between the first week of July (Canada Day on July 1 in Canada and the Fourth of July in the United States) and Labo(u)r Day, leaving two months with no holidays. (Some Canadian provinces hold a Civic Holiday in August, but this is not a national holiday.) Those holidays are not ones where gifts are exchanged between loved ones. Therefore, to justify sales, shops (such as Leon's in Canada) will sometimes announce a "Christmas in July" sale.
Scandinavian languages such as Swedish, Norwegian and Danish translate the word Christmas as Jul (literally, Yule), which happens to be the abbreviation for July in English. When you translate "Christmas in July" to Swedish you get "Jul i Juli".
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Origins
Werther, an 1892 opera with libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet, and Georges Hartmann, had an English translation published in 1894 by Elizabeth Beall Ginty. In the story, a group of children rehearses a Christmas song in July, to which a character responds, "When you sing Christmas in July, you rush the season." It is a translation of the French, "vouz chantez Noël en juillet... c'est s'y prendre à l'avance." This opera is based on Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther. Christmas features in the book, but July does not.
The earliest known occasion to make the phrase Christmas in July literal was in July 1933 at Camp Keystone, a girl's summer camp in North Carolina, which celebrated with a Christmas tree, gifts, and a visit by Santa Claus. In 1935, the National Recreation Association's journal Recreation described what a Christmas in July was like at a girl's camp, writing that "all mystery and wonder surround this annual event."
The term, if not the exact concept, was given national attention with the release of the Hollywood movie comedy Christmas in July in 1940, written and directed by Preston Sturges. In the story, a man is fooled into believing he has won $25,000 in an advertising slogan contest. He buys presents for family, friends and neighbors, and proposes marriage to his girlfriend.
American advertisers began using "Christmas in July" themes in print for summertime sales as early as 1950.
From empirical observation in the Midwest of the United States, many times the birthdays of "Christmas kids" (children born around Christmas) are celebrated in July, perhaps to avoid doubling up on gifts from birthdays and Christmas.
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Other facts
• Organised Christmas in July festivities possibly started in Australia in July, 1980 when a group of Irish tourists had the proprietor of a hotel in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales to hold a party called "Yulefest". In Australia, Christmas in July is especially common as a marketing gimmick in the snowfields where the month of July coincides with the high season in the Australian skiing resorts, but Christmas in July (as a marketing gimmick) can also be found elsewhere in Australia.
• The television shopping networks QVC and Home Shopping Network have shows titled Christmas in July.
McMurdo Station in Antarctica celebrates Christmas in July, as well as in December. Its origins there appear to be how deliveries were made. July is in the middle of winter in Antarctica; high winds and ice once made it too dangerous for planes to land with supplies. Instead, planes parachuted deliveries (such as food and mail) to the ice. The sudden arrival of presents from the sky in July reminded some people of a "visit from Santa."
• In the United States, it is more often used as a marketing tool than an actual holiday. Television stations may choose to re-run Christmas specials, and many stores have "Christmas in July" sales. Some individuals choose to celebrate Christmas in July themselves, typically as an intentionally transparent excuse to have a party. This is in part because most bargainers tend to sell Christmas stuff around July to make room for next year's inventory.
• In the 1950s, the Christmas in July celebration became a Christmas in August celebration in Yellowstone National Park to accommodate ACMNP's annual performance of Handel's Messiah.
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