A friend of mine has his own business, and he recently had an interesting problem. He sent out to his client list a generic holiday email which did not mention Christmas or any specific holiday. One of the people who got the email replied very negatively about how Christmas is never mentioned specifically by name, and was very upset. My friend happens to have been raised by parents who come from two different religious traditions, and so he not surprisingly wants to wish everyone well. So how can his dilemma be solved by Taxonomy? As I mentioned earlier our team uses multiple dimensions to classify businesses. He could create a taxonomy of holidays. For instance, you could have a category for the midwinter holiday, and you could code each instance to given religious audience: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Pagan, Agnostic, Atheist, etc. which would give us imagery and words for Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid, Diwali, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice, etc. You could then continue this for the major fall, spring and summer holidays. My son's school, interestingly enough, only celebrates the equinoxes and solstices.
In all seriousness, I wish you all a Happy New Year!
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