Christmas decorations

Celebrating love, peace and reconciliation

By Carol Aloysius

Christmas is, perhaps, the only festival where people around the world, from different religions, races and cultures, come together to celebrate the birth of a baby whose arrival was announced to shepherds watching their flocks on a star-studded night by angels, in a little town called Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago.

This joyous event, which brought salvation, peace and joy to all mankind, is today celebrated by almost every nation - with preparations starting as early as October.

Many of these celebrations are unique in that they reflect the culture of the countries where they are practised with even the official date for Christmas varying from country to country. Such traditions and rituals continue to this day, and their history makes interesting reading to all who are eagerly awaiting the dawn of Christmas.

For example, in Germany, preparations for the Advent of Christmas are marked by hanging a wreath of pine or fir with coloured candles in every home on December 6. In Holland, children eagerly await the arrival of Sinterldaas on St Nicholas’ Day which begins on December 6.

In the Czech Republic , every festive table has an orange (Christingles), that represents the purpose behind Christ’s birth. A candle placed on top of the orange symbolises Christ as the Light of the World, while a red ribbon encircling the orange symbolises the blood of Jesus shed on the cross to save all mankind. Four toothpicks with dried fruits passed through a ribbon into the sides of the orange represent the fruits of the earth.

Jesus Christ was born in a manger over 2,000 years ago

Santa Clause, said to have originated from various countries, has different names in different parts of the world. He is called Sinterldaas in Holland after a kindly Bishop wearing red roses and atop a white horse and carrying a huge sack of toys, is anglicised to Santa Claus in England and the US initially, and is now used in almost all parts of the world.

Christmas cards

Christmas cards originated in the UK when Sir Henry Cole, a British businessman, asked an artist to paint him some cards with a greeting to be distributed at Christmas. The Yule Log, a must in every Christian home during the festive season, can be traced to France and Italy in the 12th century, and symbolised ‘infant’, a children’s festival.

The holly we see hanging on every doorway, with its sharp edges, symbolises the crown of thorns worn by Jesus at His crucifixion with the red berries representing the blood shed for mankind.

Despite Christianity being a minority religion in Sri Lanka, it is a special season that brings people of all different religions in our country, no matter what their language and cultural backgrounds may be, together to celebrate Christmas not just for one day, but the entire month we call the ‘Season of Christmas’. Offices, shops, departmental stores and banks begin their countdown for Christmas from as early as October and November.

With Christmas almost upon us, most shops, offices, banks, churches and even small boutiques and houses in the city are already illuminated with a myriad decorations - exquisite Christmas trees made of pine, wires, or poles are draped around garden lights, lamp posts and even mannequins in clothes shops, their multi-coloured bulbs and gold, green and red streamers, twinkling with hundreds of tiny jet lights.

Shiny silver angels glitter from the top of natural and artificial trees, their arms clasped in benediction. Life-sized reindeer stand impatiently behind shop windows with their toy-filled sleighs ‘ready’ to fly to millions of homes. Larger than life-sized cutouts of the jolly old elf we call Santa with his red cloak and flowing white beard, are strung on tree tops and telephone wires or loom from ‘snow’-covered shop windows.

The Three Wise Men see the star which heralded the birth of Christ

For last minute bargain hunters thronging the departmental stores, a modern day Santa awaits their arrival with a bag full of sweets and gifts.

A party

Yes, Christmas is a party, a lavish party which ironically celebrates the birth of the Christ child, born to poor parents in a cattle shed in a makeshift crib surrounded by cattle. A child who brought with His birth salvation and redemption, hope, peace and joy to all mankind. This is the true meaning of Christmas.

However, its significance has now dimmed and receded to the background, having being overtaken by increasing commercialisation.

The centrepiece of Christmas is no longer the Christ child. Rather, our focus is the jolly old man we call Santa Claus with his bag of gifts for the young and old, and the other trappings that surround this festival: The tinsel decorations, the Christmas cake, the material gifts we give one another.

However, there was a time when things were different. When Christmas meant more than just another season of partying and enjoying ourselves; when our expectations were higher than just gifts, clothes and good food. It was a day when families came together, when broken relationships were mended, when reconciliation through peace, helped calm tensions into tranquility and happiness and unity.

Those Christmases in the past focused on simple things. As a child, I remember a time when the strong scent of pine from upcountry estates would fill the air as we walked on pavements strewn with hundreds of branches of fresh green eucalyptus. These branches would end up in homes where they were dressed up with simple decorations that were fashioned with scraps of cardboard, cloth , rigi foam, ribbons and string.

Santa Claus

Greeting cards were hand-made and personalised, made from coloured Bristol board and were never thrown away, stored as souvenirs to be read and re-read long after the season. The cake too called for team work by every member of the family.

Past values

Christmas was thus the opportunity to bring families together, and forge broken bonds, with neighbour reaching out to neighbour, to spread the real spirit of Christmas love.

As we make our final countdown, let’s bring back those values of the past, focusing not just on ourselves, but on others who need our help, our empathy or love.

If you can brighten the life of a single lonely elder by simply inviting him or her over to share your festive meal, give of your time to listen to someone with a problem, read a book or exchange the latest news with a blind person, share your Christmas goodies with those who have nothing, give a hug to one who needs your love and assurance, then surely this Christmas will be different for you: For these are gifts that cannot be bought and are, therefore, precious.

A genuine effort to reconcile our differences is the first step to healing our wounds, and the start towards our journey as One Nation, as all of us from the North to the South, the East to the West look forward to this momentous event that changed our lives 2,000 years ago.