I see people
around me excited because Christmas is coming. They are counting the days, they make
preparations. Shops and supermarkets are fully decorated since the middle of
November and sell thousands of decorations, presents, real and plastic trees,
lights and snow shovels. I go in and it feels like Christmas already. Then I return
into the real world and see no snow to be shoved, no sign we are in winter. That
is not all I see...
I know what
Christmas means to people now. For many it is an obligation to cook a ton of
food, buy a truck load of things and stuff themselves to the point of being
shown on the news, under headlines like Comatose after Christmas party. For others
it is a burden, because it is an obligation
to do all kinds of things and cannot because they do not have the money.
And so appear, like mushrooms, the wonderful benefactors that visit some poor
family with a few presents twice a year then forget all about it until the next
Christmas. Because those poor do not need stuff during the rest of the year. Only
now, so these “angels” are praised and
sometimes even appear on TV.
I used to
love Christmas. I still love it, I guess, but on my own terms. I don’t like the
materialistic part of the holiday. It has absolutely nothing to do with the
actual holiday. I am not a religious person but I think people should be
reminded of the true significance of the day. So many have forgotten. When I was little I used to go carolling. It was a duty. We were spreading the word that
Baby Jesus was born and the people I sang for would give us treats – a small
sum of money and/or homemade cakes and cookies. It was a tradition. We always
enjoyed receiving cakes because every housewife had her own recipes and even if
we would get the same type of cake from different houses, none was the same. It
was fun. It was beautiful.
In our
orthodox culture, the priest from each church visits all his parishioners in the
few days before Christmas. He says a prayer and talks a little with everyone. His
arrival is announced by a group of boys
that must shout something that
sounds like NEEE-HO-HO from the top of their lungs. When they reach each house, the owner usually
gives them all walnuts and asks how long until the priest arrives at that
house. Sounds pretty nice, doesn’t it? Well, in recent years, the group of boys
no longer shouts the NEEE-HO-HO calling because they prefer to swear and curse
or play gipsy music on their phones. They enter our homes and, without a word,
expect to receive the walnuts. They fight for them because walnuts are
expensive. Sometimes, the priest comes and leaves and the boys are nowhere in
sight, coming minutes or hours afterwards. Still expecting to be served.
In our
country, we have three times when kids go carolling – on Christmas Eve, on New
Year’s Eve and in the morning of the 1st of January. That is the
tradition, that is what we do. It was a
beautiful tradition a few many years ago. It meant something to people. Not just
for the material gain, for the spirit too. For the memories of wandering the village
from house to house, exploring parts of
it we did not go to during the year.
It was fun indeed, and if we would also be paid for it, all the better. The
tradition did not die. It is true that fewer gates are open for carollers now
but there will always be people who, for better for worse, will let you in. I was
among those people. I would buy a large box of sweets, find some apples form the
garden, some money for the favorite kids and wait for them to come. I was happy
to receive them, to listen to various carols, to see the smiles on their faces
when I gave them a treat. In theory, anyway. Because most of them look at you
sideways when you do not give them money for the same carol you hear a million
times in an afternoon, many of them not even bothering to learn the lyrics
right or at least finish the song. That is
why I have decided not to open my gate this year. Not for ungrateful little
materialistic kids. It is not worth it. I am truly sorry for the few kids that
still hold the spirit of the holiday in them and that deserve better, but it is
a cruel world out there and we must deal with it the best we can. I will
decorate the tree and the house but I will not be part of this game anymore. It
is simply not worth the trouble.
I want, for
once, to have peaceful winter holidays. I don’t think I am asking for too
much. I spend enough time as it is with those children at school. I need a
break from it all. I know, being a teacher, and living in the same village as they
sort of implies that I have to let them in. Well, not really. I do not mind
being the mean lady who would not facilitate the perversion of a once beautiful
holiday season. It is bad enough there
is no snow and we are very likely to have another muddy Christmas.
This is
another issue I have. Winter ain’t what it used to be. Not by a longshot. There
used to be snow from the end of November to the end of February and sometimes
the beginning of March. A normal winter for temperate regions of the globe. Now,
we have either rain and mud for most of
December, or plain cold all the way through the winter, freezing everything
without the protection of the snow coat. One year, we had temperatures up to 20
degrees Celsius in January, the trees were about to bloom, then followed two
weeks of blizzards and -20 degrees that killed almost everything in their way. It
was a miracle that the trees survived at all, let alone have many flowers and
produce fruit. Many of my favorite rose bushes died that year.
Everything is
wrong these days and we must adapt accordingly. If the world is bad, you needn’t
be mean back. You just have to find a way to live in it without hurting anyone or
allowing anyone to hurt you. I discovered
the hard way that I do not have to be everyone’s friend. It is exhausting and
totally unfulfilling. But if you can find a few people that are worth your
time, now and then, then you are a happy person. If you can’t find people like
that, do not lose hope, they may still show up one day, but in the meantime try
to be happy anyway. There are many things in this life that can make one happy.
In any
case, we may think we are evolving towards a better future but it is not true. All
this evolution has turned the world into one big mess and us into materialistic
slobs. I am sorry for anyone who believes otherwise. Though, the ignorant have
much happier lives than the ones who see the world for what it really is.
On this happy note, all I can say is HAPPY HOLYDAYS EVERYONE!!!
(Because there should always be hope...)
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