Bonfires of Festivities

Celebrating Christmas with yuletide bonfires has a history of spiritual precedents … not that such exegesis is particularly important to the Spanish or Portuguese people.

Let’s face it, folks: the Christmas holidays are traditionally a mixture of Christian rites and pagan rituals.

In the heart of Portugal, the inland region, Christmas Eve is marked by a ceremony known as the “burning of the yuletide log” where the town stands together and sings around a fire, fostering community spirit, enjoying some wine … and helping to keep the baby Jesus warm.

From the rivalry between villages (having the greatest, most beautiful bonfire is worth celebrating), firewood was sometimes stolen by young boys. Today, their parents pay for it.

Penamacor’s Christmas Madeiros, a festivity that begins with a procession of tractors carrying several tons of wood to build a huge pile – often reaching more than 10 meters high – consists of lighting a huge bonfire around which people will gather for days (and nights).

Spain has its own sizzling Christmas customs.

A truly unique one, Hogueras de Navidad, is a pagan ritual celebrated primarily in Granada and Jaen on December 21st. According to folklore, people who jump over fires on the shortest day of the year (Winter Solstice) will be protected from illness. So, that’s exactly what they do.

Along with figurines “defecating” in nativity scenes, the Catalans have Tió de Nadal, a jolly Christmas log which they stick in the fireplace every Christmas Eve. Tradition says you must order Tío Nadal to “poop” while spanking him with a stick. The ever-smiling tree trunk then waits for the youngsters to go to bed before bringing them their gifts.

After the midnight mass (La Misa de Gallo), people stroll through Spanish streets carrying torches, playing guitars, beating tambourines and drums. “Esta noche es la noche buena … y no es noche de dormir,” goes the saying: Tonight is the good night; it is not meant for sleeping!

Nowadays in Spain, there’s a much different reason for not sleeping.

Occurring on December 22 and held every year since 1812, the Spanish National Lottery is a really big deal at Christmas. Almost everyone plays, making it the world’s biggest lottery. In terms of the huge amounts of cash that can be won, so big is Spain’s Christmas Lottery that it’s been nicknamed “El Gordo” (“the fat one”), whose winning numbers are sung out by school children. In terms of the true meaning of Christmas, big, fat, blazing bonfires and burning logs are more meaningful to some than church services focusing on a rehearsed repertoire of candy cane carols and Nativity legends.

? Christmas is about believing what a woman said about her sex life. Mary spoke openly and honestly about it. So did Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who accused (now) U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. We must not excuse Trump's words in his Access Hollywood tape and his culpability towards women; those who took advantage of girls enslaved and victimized by Jeffrey Epstein; Bill Cosby's abuse of women; misogeny wherever it appears. While many others hearken the #MeToo cry, our norms need to treat women more respectfully and responsibly.

? Christmas is about a family finding safety as asylum seekers. En route to a census at Joseph’s hometown, Mary gave birth in Bethlehem. Though there was no room at the inn for the migrants, they were given shelter in a barn where, surrounded by farm animals, they felt secure. How many thousands of asylum-seeking families have been turned away, separated from their children, political pawns in a gruesome game of thrones?

? Christmas is about a child in need receiving support from the wealthy. Not only was hospitality allotted to Jesus and his family, but legendary shepherds, wise men, and even kings paid him homage with their salutations, honor, and gifts. Can the richest countries this world has ever known do any less for our children—borne and thereafter? From education to health, food and child welfare, we must care. Including the condition of the world and planet they will inhabit.

? Christmas is about God identifying with the marginalized, not with the powerful. Who did Jesus acknowledge and associate throughout his life? Not the privileged!

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Why do we honor, commemorate, someone's birth?

“In the end, you will not see the physical beauty in others that caught your eye, but the fire that burned within them. This kind of beauty is the bonfire you had to attend.”

So says inspirational author Shannon L. Alder.

Like bonfires and burning logs, Christmas and birthday memorials help us to keep those beloved in our hearts alive and ablaze in our minds.

The real “miracle” of the Christmas story is that the divine is expressed all around us in the everyday, commonplace elements of our lives.

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, and Feliz Natal to all!