Often have I noticed whenever Christmas is nearing and we Christians start to clean our houses and prepare for Christmas my non catholic neighbours get very excited and eagerly await the decorations that are being done. For my neighbour it is about the cleaning and decoration and oh it is mainly about the Christmas tree. Till the house isn’t completely decorated with the Christmas tree my neighbours keep worrying me about the tree.
I have always noticed when it is Ganapati, navrati or for that matter any Hindu festival we know which god is going to come home and the emphasis on the god and later the preparations and decorations. This is not the same when Christmas comes in. people think Christmas is about the Christmas tree, stocking, new clothes and shoes, Christmas sweets and cakes etc. Mostly of them think it is about Santa Clause.
Santa Clause is also known as jingle bell by many Indians. We think of Christmas as Santa Claus is coming to town. Which is not what Christmas really is about? Today let me tell you about Christmas. Christmas has the word Christ which means Christ Jesus the son of god the father almighty. This is a story that dates back to the olden times when mother Mary and joseph the father of Jesus had hardship and the angel Gabriel told mamma Mary to move to another town from Nazareth they moved to Bethlehem. Mother Mary was in her ninth month of pregnancy and she and joseph walked and walked to another town and city. They had to wander as the angel Gabriel had told that the king herald had come to know that the son of man is coming.
The king hearald was a cruel king and he treated himself as god. But he failed to realise he was only a human. He wanted to kill Jesus and so Mary had to migrate from one place to another. Finally the time had come and Jesus had to arrive there was no place to stay and only a man who had a manger. Mary gave birth to Jesus in the small manger. They knew of Jesus birth had gone to all the local people and the shepherds came with their sheep’s to pay homage to the son of god and the saviour of mankind. This news also reached the king herald. He immediately sent the three kings with gold silver and myrrh as the king uses these three things. His motto was to find out the place where Jesus was and wanted to kill him. While they walked they started their journey the three kings seen a star the star showed them the way to Jesus and the star was a sign to them not to go back to herald. They understood the message of the star that had come from god himself via the star.
The 3 kings came with gold, frank incense and myrrh. The richest of the kings and the most humble Shepard and the local people along with the animals were there at the manger where Jesus laid and bowed down to him. It was understood how important was Jesus and that is why we see a crib being made in church during Christmas and the houses. It is not about the Christmas trees it is about Christ Jesus. The centre of all is Jesus.
We do a lot of preparation as the coming of Jesus is more than a celebration. Celebration is the done when you are happy and indeed it is a happy moment as Jesus is born and just like how we celebrate our birthdays as also we should celebrate the birthday of Jesus. In order to prepare for the coming of Jesus it is called Christmas. Celebration requires some preparation. We have 4 weeks and 4 themes hope, joy, love and peace. Every Sunday is a different theme and the Christmas brings in the 4 joy, love, hope and peace. There are 4 different colured candles representing the 4 themes, joy-purple, love-red, hope-pink and peace-white.
There are many delicacies and sweets that are been given on the day of Christmas. Delicacies like marzy pan, cakes, chocolates, and guava cheese rose cookies etc. there are so many decorations and preparations that we do. Also the church is filled with activities like carol singing and yule tide. Tidings for Christmas are seen. There are so many Christmas carols that are sung. Christmas carols are those that are sung during this season. Santa clause is like a mascot for Christmas. Santa Claus is like the post man sent by Jesus he brings gifts for the little children. Parents often tell their children to be good children as Santa Claus give presents to good children and not the naughty ones.
As far as the Christmas tree is concerned it is just an item of decoration. It looks like the pine tree and this tree grown during Christmas thus it is decorated and used as an item of decoration. Apart from the Christmas tree there are many things like silver bells, stockings, stick and Santa masks and caps. All these are worn just for fun during Christmas. Also the fashion trend changes and colours like red, green and white are mostly seen in this season. Santa Claus comes on his ride that is the reindeer and he is supposed to be Santa’s favourite. Thus there are reindeer hats and hair bands. During Christmas the entire crowfard market is filled with lights and the lantern usually you see inside or outside every Christians window for Christmas is the star. The shining star that represents Jesus has come and resides here. People also decorate the house with a crib a manger with some hay and Jesus statue in the centre. The little baby Jesus wrapped in white clothes over the hay and by his side are his parent’s joseph the carpenter and Mary his mother.
Thus the sole purpose of Christmas is the coming of Christ and not Christmas trees and Santa Claus.
- Carren bryne.
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