AS WE CELEBRATE Christmas Day, it has unfortunately become more about overindulgence and over-familiarity and its true significance has been lost. Many Christians still see it is as a time of thanksgiving and celebrating the birth and life of their Saviour Jesus Christ.
For others, it is a time when the spirit of charity shines forth and an attempt is made to give and share the spirit of giving and assisting those who are falling on hard times to escape temporarily from the hardships of life.
It is also a time for reunion among those whom we have not seen for some time and to reminisce on times past, for those who have known us the longest come back into our lives and try and update the knowledge they had on us from the last time we met. It ends up reaching back longingly to a past that never really was. Much of the time these feelings are safely buried, but once a year they emerge, along with the recycled Christmas tree and those battered old decorations to lighten up the spirit.
As the tree is unfolded, so vague hopes stir that this Christmas might be different – a little happier, less to do with competitive gift-buying. It’s a hope that is likely to be disappointed this year, but it has become a tradition in its own right.
What this in turn means is that it is the time of year when all the aspects of our lives are placed under a microscope and those portions of our lives jealously guarded are ransacked by friends and family.
We know too well that in the midst of all the self-indulgence, there is poverty and deprivation, but the Christmas celebrations have got bigger, more lavish, more expensive, more brightly lit, because that’s the way we like it.
The older ones remember Christmases of times past. Those who are very old today were children in the 1940s and 1950s, times of depression and war. Every Christmas, many of the old will think back to how things were when they were young, how Christmas was different then; and so were they.
Many older people will always speak about the excitement at getting a piece of ham or “pudding” each Christmas morning. In many cases it was all they got. Or probably some relatives overseas would send a barrel or some used clothes which would make all the difference during the Yuletide season.
Against this background, Christmas loomed large as a time of high religious significance and a sense of gratitude. There were services galore, with church music and carols. There was even a tradition of village music-making and merriment.
Sadly, the Christmas season has become a cultural rather than religious event – and for those who bother to go to church at midnight, it’s more about singing carols and dressing to the nines than contemplating the Divine.
Nonetheless, in spite of all the economic troubles that beset us as a people, we would like to wish all of our readers a wonderful and happy Christmas and do be charitable to those desperately in need.