The Spirit of Christmas [Archives:2004/800/Culture]

By Dr. P.A.Abraham
Professor of English
Faculty of Education
The University of Sana'a
Email: [email protected]
“Long time ago in Bethlehem, so the Holy Bible says, Mary's boy child Jesus Christ was born on Christmas day”. Writers have always been fascinated by writing stories with a Christmas background.
Charles Dickens in “Sketches By Boz” writes of a Christmas family party. “We know nothing in nature more delightful. Petty jealousies and discords are forgotten: social feelings are awakened in bosoms to which they have long been strangers; father and son, or brother and sister who have met and passed with averted gaze or a look of cold recognition months before, proffer and embrace and bury their past animosities amidst their present happiness. Kindly hearts that have yearned towards each other and have been withheld by false notions of pride and self-dignity are again united and all is kindness and benevolence.”
During Christmas the family members living far away places try to get together, and a home with a missing family member is reduced to loneliness and emptiness. Louisa May Alcott in “Little Women” describes a heartrending scene where the father, away at war, is missing on Christmas morning.
The soul of Christmas, a united family, is missing. Dylan Thomas in “A Child's Christmas in Wales” fondly remembers that “Uncles sat in front of the fire, loosened all their buttons roaned a little and slept mother, aunts and sisters scuttled around carrying things he dog was sick would blow up balloons and when they burst the uncles jumped up in fright and rumbled Dickens in “The Pickwick Papers” says that in families Christmas is a “time of old recollections nd dormant sympathies nd open-heartedness.”
Christmas is also a time for unselfish giving- of giving all that is possible, of giving away the one thing that you love most. According to Poet John Greenleaf Whitter,
“The joy that you give to others
is the joy that comes back to you.
And the more you spend in blessing
The poor and, lonely and sad,
The more of your heart possessing
Returns to make it glad.”

English novelist Margaret Reed in her “Village Christmas” tells the story of two elderly spinster sisters, Margaret and Mary, whose lives are made richer when they befriend a poor family on Christmas morning. The sisters help deliver a baby and discover that the joy of Christmas lies not in gaily packaged gifts, but in the giving of time, love and a portion of themselves to someone in need.
One of my favorite Christmas stories is H.E. Bates' “The Goat and the Stars”. A poor young boy listens intently to the Church's call to its parishioners to bring a gift for baby Jesus on Christmas day. “No gift would be too large, none too small.”
Excited at the thought of being included in the church's Christmas festivities, the boy forgot that he had no toys, or treasures or even any money with which to buy a gift. The only thing he had was his pet goat which he loved more than anything else. This, he decided was to be his gift to baby Jesus, for it was his best.
Early next morning he went to church with his precious gift tucked inside his jacket. The rich people of the village brought beautifully decorated packages of all sizes. The overpowering smell of the goat and its frightened bleats caused quite a stir and both the boy and his goat were chased away.
The parishioners and the priest were angry that such a boy could desecrate the sanctity of the church and disturb the holiness of the Christmas Mass.
The boy couldn't understand the commotion. Didn't the church call for a gift, “None too large, none too small? Was Christmas only for the rich folk? Did God not look down with love at the poor who brought their meager gifts? He was very confused.
God on the other hand who looked down and saw all this was heartbroken. For he could see into the hearts of men and knew their motives.
He knew too that they had brought only a fraction of what they had as their offering to him, whereas the little boy had offered his best and only possession, and that the gift of his goat was motivated by love. So he saw to it that Christmas that year was a calamity for the whole village with “No bells ringing out with joy.”
The little boy and his goat snuggled against each other, when the silent stars above looked down kindly and blessed them with the peace promised at Christmas. It is not what you give that counts, but the motives behind the giving that illuminate the hearts at Christmas.
The true miracle of Christmas is the complete change of heart. Dickens' Scrooge is the most well-known example. To Scrooge the miser, Christmas and all the merrymaking associated with it was “humbug nd a time for paying bills without any money.” The miracle occurs when bad-tempered, stingy Scrooge gets touched by the spirit of Christmas. The change is amazing. He becomes caring and compassionate to the poor Cratchitts, gives generously and surprises himself by enjoying the fruits of his generosity and love.
The master story-teller O.Henry, tells of another Christmas miracle-when the heart is able to let go of accumulated bitterness and hatred and allow love and healing power of Christmas in. “The Chapparal Christmas Gift” tells the story of the bitterness and anger of a jilted lover and the way goodness and kindness enters his heart during Christmas.
Christmas bells and Christmas trees have their own place in poetry too. To Henry Longfellow, Christmas bells were merry and joyous, bringing hope:
“I heard the bells on Christmas day
their old familiar carols play.
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, goodwill to all men.”
Bells for Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Ring out the old, ring in the new ing out the false ring in the true, ring out the feud of rich and poor, ring in redress to all mankind.”
Christmas without Christmas trees is like a dance without music, or a poem without a rhythm, and every story that revolves around Christmas has its own descriptions. According to Wallac Stegner he went to bed, “soggy with self-pity” because father had left home and they were so poor and had no tree or hope of any gifts.
Next morning the children awoke to find a tree in the parlour “hung with popcorn, cranberries, tinsel and flickering with candles.” There were small packages under the tree too for mother had so thoughtfully gone without her share of everything for weeks before so that the children would have something. Shakespeare wraps it up as a time,
“when the nights are wholesome and no planets strike
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm.
So hallowed and gracious is the time.”
T.S.Eliot and Keith Patman look beyond the birth of Jesus and the joy associated with it and forecast his painful death. Eliot's “The Gift of the Magi” tells of the long cold journey of the kings from the east who came to see the new born baby:
“There was a birth certainly
We had evidence and no doubt
I had seen birth and death.
But had thought they were different.
The birth was hard and bitter agony for us
Like death- our death.”
Could the spirit of Christmas last the whole year round? Wouldn't that be wonderful? For that, Christ must be born within us in Spirit. He must be born anew in our consciousness. That is the “second coming of Christ”. It is not correct to celebrate the birth of Christ with feast and merriment only. That is alright; but the lack of deep, devoted communion with the spirit of Christ at Christmas time is a serious omission.
It is easy to celebrate the birth of Christ and even learn about his teachings; but to practise what he taught is not easy. The need of the hour is to put into practice what Christ taught- “Love one another.” This is the only way to achieve the “peace that passeth all understanding”. “Glory to God on the highest and goodwill towards man”, sang the angels on that first Christmas night.
The first Christmas carol ever sung gains added significance in today's world of confusion.
When you celebrate Christmas this year and about to enter a new year, “are you willing to forget what you have done for others and to remember only what others have done for you? Are you willing to ignore what the world owes you and to think of what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background and consider not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life ook around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness. Are you willing to do these things for even a day?” asks Henry Van Dyke in “The Spirit of Christmas.” If you are, then it can be Christmas every day.
Two thousand years ago, cold was the moon one night, but the heart of man was colder, and heavy was the hand of the oppressor. Then God intervened, and “Love was born at Christmas, stars and angels gave the sign. Thus the true spirit of Christmas is Love.
“Love shall be our token.
Love be yours and love be mine,
Love to god and all men,
Love for peace and gift and sign.”
Amen
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