Christmas all around

Demi HEWAMANNA

It’s that time of the year again. There are no sleigh rides or snowy places to build snowmen or chimney houses for jolly good old Santa Claus to come down to keep the presents under the tree but the feeling of Christmas is sure around every street corner.

Hotels have already lit up their trees, decorated their hotels, begun caroling every weekend, started children’s parties and just gone crazy with the feeling of Christmas nearing.

Streets have also started decorating and getting ready to celebrate the most exciting, joyous, wonderful festive of the year - Christmas.

Everywhere I go, some people ask me the religion I belong to before they ask if I celebrate Christmas. As far as I remember, from the time I can remember that is, I have been celebrating Christmas (even though am a Buddhist), and along the way, people have asked me why I celebrate it, since I’m not a Christian.

Yes, Christmas (December 25) is the day that is of most importance to Christians all around the world as it’s the day that Jesus Christ was born. It’s the day that people give, forgive and forget, hold many musical events at churches and many other places (I think this is the season where many musical events are performed in one month).

Christmas is celebrated widely not only by Christians, but non-Christians as well (like me) as it gives a feeling of all other celebrations just combined to one. Children get to dress up and hold plays in schools, hospitals and orphanages. Parents have a time baking cookies, cakes and preparing eggnogs for visiting families, friends and also occasional children’s school plays and events some dads to, as they get to be Santa for a night - making their children’s wishes come true.

Decor

Just like every other religion has festival of lights, Christmas is also about bright lights and colourful decorations. There is also a history that is behind it and this is something that I dug up from everyone favourite reference site Wikipedia. It is said that the Roman Empire brought branches from evergreen plants into the house in winter. In the 15th Century in London, it was a custom for every house and all parish churches to be decorated with holm, ivy, bays and anything that afforded to be green. The heart shaped leaves of the ivy were to symbolize Jesus’s arrival to Earth, while holly was seen as protection against pagans and witches, the thorns and red berries held are to represent the Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus at the crucifixion and the blood he shed.

Christmas tree

Oh, how I love decorating it. Anything glittery, hand made and that has the feel of the holiday season can be hung on the Christmas tree. Originally the tree was decorated with candles and in years the décor just grew from glass balls, to candy sticks to coloured ball to bells and even picture frames.

The main light of the tree is the Star (known as the Star of Bethlehem that guided the three Kings to the manger that Jesus Christ was born in) that adds the light of life to everyone’s heart and soul.

Every house and every place has a Christmas tree that is lit up till the day that Christmas comes to an end for the year.

Santa Claus

Children and adults as well, are you sure you have been good this year? If you haven’t, you do know that Santa Claus will not leave a present under the tree for you. So if you haven’t been good, try to change your bad ways so that Santa can change his mind and do leave a present behind this Christmas for you.

Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, or simply “Santa”, is a figure which was derived from the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas, a historical, legendary and mythological figure who in many Western cultures, is said to bring gifts to the homes of the good children during the late evening and overnight hours of Christmas Eve, December 24.

While Saint Nicholas was originally portrayed wearing bishop’s robes, today Santa Claus is generally depicted as a plump, jolly, white-bearded man wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and black leather belt and boots. And he has two lists - Good and Bad. In one whole year he has to see who has been good and who has been bad and then read the millions of letters that he get from Children all over the world asking for various gifts for their friends, family and of course themselves.

On Christmas Eve, Santa gets ready, while his little helpers pack everything up in his red bag and load it in his sleigh and get his reindeer - Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen and of course Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to ride Santa around the world to deliver his gifts.

Rudolph is the famous reindeer who lights and guides the way on some stormy winter seasons to make sure Santa doesn’t lose his way.

So, Christmas comes once every year and every time it comes, I feel the spirit of the people going up when they say Christmas is here. I sure do start singing carols, the moment I hear the sleigh bells on the radio or TV.

I Wish you all a prosperous Christmas 2010 and I hope that all of you will take the coming year to come as a big challenge and as you can feel it, this year went so fast that you still can’t believe that it’s going to be 2011 and you will be another year ‘older’. Have a blast, have fun, have everything merry but don’t go overboard as you need to live through to see what the new year has in store for you.

So take care and have the best Christmas and super duper fantubulous 2011!