Why should we bother about the unhappy people of this planet at Christmas time? And what does all this have to do with the 'Shine at Christmas' song?
Christmas is undoubtedly an important time of the year. In Christian countries, it is preceded by Advent, where people are in a leading-up period to Christmas, and thereby go through a period of anticipation. For Christians, Christmas is associated with the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God Himself who came to earth in a human form to redeem mankind from sin.
For many people, particularly in the Western world, Christmas is the time of the year when they decorate their homes, decorate shops, decorate streets, and put up Christmas trees in both private and public spaces. In so doing they cluster together these acts with symbolic acts since they are associated with the birth of Christ.
Nobody will dispute that the mood of Christmas is celebratory. As a songwriter of the song Shine at Christmas that I have just released and that will be uploaded on YouTube in the form of a music video on December 4th, 2017; I can say that most of the Christmas songs I had listened to before deciding upon the structure I wanted to adopt for my song were upbeat and jubilant. The music is part of a gestalt, of many activities that come together to form a holistic whole. Just as many of us would find it difficult to imagine a Christmas without having any Christmas songs, we would find it equally as difficult to imagine a Christmas without having the related sensory pleasures, in the form of the food, the feasts, the bright colored tinsel, the flashing colored lights, and the films that are shown in cinemas, on television, and elsewhere. The music and these other sensory delights seem to go together to create what many people 'picture' as Christmas.
Personally speaking, I associate Christmas with the midnight Mass of December 24th, and particularly since I have two daughters, I also associate it with Santa Claus' visit, and consequently with placing presents under the tree, which are always opened on Christmas day in the morning. This ritual is intended to convey a message of care and love and thereby enhance kinship relations. Interestingly, my family has four cats, and we also put up four stockings for each of the cats, this, most likely to reinforce our own perception of our family unit. The visits to the grandparents or having the grandparents round also shows that the extended family has a place in our lives and that Christmas serves a purpose of binding different generations together. In truth, I also associate Christmas with the crib that was originally handed to us by one of my wife’s aunts and the handmade pasturi (statues) which were made by my wife’s father. The crib is replete with a statue of baby Jesus, statues of Joseph and Mary, the manger with its surrounding animals, the shepherds and their flocks, the three wise men: Gaspar, Balthasar, and Melchior, the star of Bethlehem, and of course the hay; (reminiscent of Jesus’ birth in a manger). Putting up a crib places our home in a gestalt with other families, wherein, since all families usually have cribs of some sort, our home becomes part of a co-constructed narrative about a Christian community spirit.
I am also conscious both from my doctoral studies in sociology and my wide experience in social work and in social work lecturing in Malta, England, and Scotland that for some people Christmas is a time when lonely people feel even more lonely, when poor people feel even more excluded, and when particularly poorer children who had asked Santa Claus to give so many things to them find that he has turned his back on them. “Why, at the time of Christ’s birth is it always the other kids who get the lovely gifts? Why am I left out?” offer illustrations of what these children would ask.
This can be blamed on the materialism and consumerism that have enveloped Christmas. I am lucky enough not to fall victim to feeling left out. I am lucky enough to put up stockings for my family members (and also my cats!!!) and to light up by home with a brightly lit up Christmas tree. I am lucky enough to eat sumptuous food, visit relatives, and participate in gift exchanges. I am lucky to have my family present. So, the question which I need to ask myself, and this is also a question that I ask people who are in the same boat as I am to ask: how can we spread Christmas cheer to those who cannot celebrate Christmas because they are unable to do so?
I can only of course suggest one answer. I am sure thought that there are many other answers out there. My answer though is a simple one. It is by involving them. By outreaching to them. By making it possible for them to join in. There is a part of Christmas that transcends the material part, and that has the potential to use the material part, to make people happier. How about inviting people to churches and other public venues, how about organizing a Christmas lunch on a community basis (this is an initiative that is undertaken in Malta by Caritas (Malta), how about involving people in carol singing and other activities?
I have learnt from my cognitive psychology classes at university (now many moons ago) that what you tell yourself about what happens is more important than what happens. A half empty glass is also a half full one. The sensory pleasures and participation in commercialized activities that I am fortunate enough to access are only one aspect of Christmas. Another is equally important, it is focusing on the true spirit of the Nativity, by spreading wholesomeness and love. The reason why we should do this is something that is captured well in the film Scrooge. Scrooge is led to realize that there is much more to life than living a life which is based on a script of ‘Me, myself and I’. Even the traditional Christmas dinner, which usually consists of turkey, potatoes, peas or beans, salad, and cranberry sauce alongside the mince pies and the ‘spirits’ .... can become even more special if the dinner serves as a reminder to us all to use Christmas as a period of the year when we can make other people happy.
Damian Spiteri has recently released Shine at Christmas on I-tunes. The accompanying music video will be uploaded on YouTube in early December.