Just a question... observation....

At this point, with the menorah and Chinese New year (at least for Year of the Pig) items in the holiday pack, I can see requesting a nativity or advent wreath - I'd rather have the advent wreath, now that I think about it - and maybe a cross for those who want to make an Easter - for those who don't want to use CC, as I'm pretty sure all of that is available as CC somewhere - I've seen both the advent wreath and the cross, at least.

The holidays in Seasons I find fine as they are. Well, I get rid of the harvestfest gnomes once my Sims have established a garden, but otherwise they're fine. :smile:

Personally, I'd be more comfortable as a Christian if the Sims 4 brought in some official Jacobean and Peteran icons and such from Sims Medieval than bringing in actual symbols of my faith, but that's just me.

I'm not seeing the issue. Yes, the religious objects are named occuring to their real world counterpart and the Sims team decided to omit Christian items in the game. I can see how that would be weird. But as far as the actual holiday goes- the calendar doesn't automatically have Kwanzaa. It doesn't automatically have Hanukkah. It doesn't automatically have any religious holiday, because it would be weird and uncomfortable to try and force a real world, religious celebration on Sims player. Instead, if it's important to you that those be present in the game, they give you the tools to add them yourself.

And despite some people saying Christmas isn't religious- it is. I won't go into specifics because I feel like I'm already really pushing the no religion rule, but it is. People not a part of the religion can celebrate it, I certainly do, but that doesn't make it suddenly secular.

"Nindigo;c-17338097" wrote:

"WildIrishBanshee;c-17337852" wrote:
It is strange that they have religious items in game, with a no religion ever stance...

Why is that strange? It's a simple matter of not forcing a particular religion on players. It's the politically sound thing to do. Religion is a very tender subject for some. The Sims is played by people from many cultures. You've got so much freedom to customize your Sim's calendar. How can this be a problem whatsoever?

It's like some of you don't see the bigger picture here, either because you can't or refuse to. But I digress.

It's strange because not only do they exist, they are named what they are named in the real world. I can see all kinds of ways this could go very bad - and the stirrings are already making themselves apparent. I don't have a religion, so I don't have a horse in the game that way. But I do have a theology degree lol.

@WildIrishBanshee The items are obviously there and properly named so that the player can implement them if they so choose. You still think that is strange? ;)

Fun fact: You can create and alter any holiday via the calendar that comes with Seasons. This includes the traditions and, yes, even the name. So you can, in fact, call it Christmas. That name will even appear in the upper left of the screen from 6 am on the appointed day until 2 am of the following day. War on Christmas(TM) averted.

"NorthDakotaGamer;c-17338902" wrote:
There are still specific holiday items that they purposely omitted. I can't really have my sims celebrate properly without a nativity and an advent candle wreath. The cc I found just does not fit what I need.

If you haven't noticed, there are plenty of things in general that "they" haven't added. I don't believe we can expect every single holiday thing to be added ever. I couldn't have my Sims celebrate a Danish Christmas either, but I don't really care, since I don't have a need for my game to be an exact replica of the real world.

Hmm...

Some of holidays that the game ships with are tied to one culture.

Spring-holiday with the bunny
Love day
Harvest Fest
Spooky Day
Winter Fest

That is a big part of feeling that the game sees your part of the world. There are all the Christmas stuff, trees and two actual npc’s. The Bunny and Santa. A whole Stuff Pack to Spooky Day.

I can see why they perhaps try to give a little focus to other parts of the world.

Since fairness is mentioned, lots more would be included for other cultures. Any special npc from another culture that you would like to see? I might be wrong but I think there is only Santa and the Easter Bunny available.

For me this is just so strange. To me it sounds like “Yes I got pretty much all my major cultural holidays represented in the game. With npc’s and Stuff Packs. How come they got one named candleholder?”

Might be interesting for Snegaruchka (snow maiden) to make an appearance. In Russia she traditionally goes around with Father Winter from house to house.

This whole religion-in-the-sims debate kinda reminds of the controversies of putting crosses in schools and other public buildings...if they ever add religion, they'll better add in all of them, including pastafarianism and satanism lol

@SilentKitty I believe that the Sims 4 team operates from primarily a Christian background and that this is evident in the default Sims 4 calender and some of the included seasonal items as well. But I don't see a problem with that. Being inclusive is not a matter of being neutral yourself, but about advocating room for differences. With a fully customizable calender, that is precisely what the team does.

If some of you feel that more and different holiday items should be included, then you really should make a legit post about it over the feedback/ideas forum. At least try to do something if it is that important to you.

Stating in general chat that Winterfest should be called Christmas by default is at best moot and at worst simply a provocative statement toward those who do not celebrate Christian holidays.