"Holidays are hard after experiencing losses. Dating back to the 1990s, but especially over the last 15 years, the idea of a Blue Christmas service has its earliest known origin in a South Carolina movement, honoring sacrifices made by law enforcement who died in duty. This gained a following and got incorporated into Protestant tradition which recognized the broader mourning of those who have experienced grief and other non-death losses."
"Last year, Interfaith America disseminated information about the phenomenon after it tied the movement together with polls done by the American Psychological Association (APA) as well as the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Then, it also included former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's attention to the loneliness crisis which does not abate. The APA found that 41% of adults in the US claimed an increase in holiday season stress."
Blue Christmas began in the 1990s in South Carolina as an observance honoring law enforcement killed in the line of duty and expanded into Protestant practice to recognize broader grief and non-death losses. Large observances occurred in a Louisville Catholic parish in 2012 and again in South Carolina in 2016. Interfaith attention linked the movement with APA and NAMI polling and concerns about a persistent loneliness crisis. Surveys report rising holiday stress and worsening mental-health symptoms for many; services often occur near the Winter Solstice and may include contemplative practices such as labyrinth walking.
Read at Psychology Today
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