Is Christmas still a fascinating holiday?

Dec 25, 2016 News

By Sharmain Grainger

As a little girl I was fascinated by Christmas – the decorations, many food and drinks, gifts and even the notion of Santa Claus, even though I still don’t grasp how he became a part of the celebration.
Because of my religious beliefs I have always envisaged a baby Jesus in a horse stable wrapped in swaddling clothes. Although his birth started off as a perceived simple event it instead turned out to be a glorious affair, with angels announcing his arrival and shepherds visiting to witness the birth and offer expensive gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh.
There is no doubt a lot of people, young and old, are still fascinated by all this.
As an adult, at least for the past few years, I am no longer intrigued by this holiday.
Of course as a Christian I am accepting of the religious meaning behind the holiday and I am grateful, but I have simply lost the zeal to embrace a celebratory disposition.
But I know I am not the only one. I have heard many individuals share similar sentiments, and for many it is linked to that ‘hustle and bustle’ nature of doing things at this time of year.
With this season – I have heard quite a few persons say – comes a sudden desire to ‘shop till you drop’ and do a great deal of ‘hustle and bustle’ that often doesn’t end until Christmas Day dawns. For the past few years I have been seriously wondering what is the point of all this ‘shopping madness’ and ‘busy work’?
But many of us already know the answer to this. For many years now, Christmas has been commercialised, in fact it is perhaps the most commercialised religious holiday that exists.
There are usually all kinds of merchandise to choose from and bargains and promotions are always in abundance.
It might be for this very reason that many people celebrate Christmas today. I am certainly not opposed or naive to the fact that it is a holiday that brings many people together and even makes them try to be nice to each other. Seeing people being nice to each other is perhaps the one thing I will never get enough of during this season.
Just this past week I saw a grown man make a very public apology for something he did that was quite demeaning. It might have hurt his pride and bruised his masculine ego a bit, but he did it, and appeared to have been sincere about it too.
In case you missed it, the apology I make reference to is that of Junior Social Protection Minister, Mr. Keith Scott, to representatives of two major umbrella union bodies – the Federation of Independence Trade Union of Guyana (FITUG) and the Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC).
The Minister during the recent budget debate probably, at the time, found it entertaining to refer to the unions as “virtually impotent”.
Although he prefaced his subsequent ‘heartfelt’ apology with a preamble that was a bit suspicious, since it begged a similar question an adult Jesus asked those who were about to stone a woman to death – “who among us have not sinned?”, it was readily accepted by the “hurt” union representatives, including the usually very vocal Mr. Lincoln Lewis, General Secretary of the GTUC. Lewis has over the years been known to be intolerant of things that hurt the union movement.
But according to the minister, he was man enough to apologise not only to the unions but basically the whole country for his “mistake”.
However, maybe even a ‘stone cold’ heart can melt at this time of year when the words “I am sorry” is uttered. Minister Scott certainly didn’t fail to lace his apology for his “impotent” “mistake” by highlighting that he was doing it in the “spirit of the season”.
Since I am inclined to believe that Minister Scott’s apology was his doing and not forced by Cabinet, it does suggest to me that there is something more than just decorations, food, drinks, gifts and bargains that still drives this season.
Perhaps had it not been Christmas the Minister might not have been willing to apologise. Perhaps the unions would have continued to be so irked that they could have engaged action to destabilize the country, which is already dealing with so many challenges.
So this year, Christmas Day has found me a little receptive of the celebrations around me, although this does not mean that I will be inclined to participate or be anymore fascinated than I have been over the past few years.
Happy Christmas to all, and do remember the reason for the season.

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