Turning on the computer to the by now mind-numbingly familiar imploration to “shop great holiday deals on your favorite devices and accessories”, I realised that within a week of Christmas Day I have not heard or seen a single reference to the Nativity of Jesus, Star of Bethlehem, Wise Men or Shepherds and their Flocks.
In choosing a few e-cards to send, I redressed this personal balance by favouring those with a religious or semi-religious theme, often accompanied by carols from the much-loved Salisbury Cathedral Choir in the United Kingdom. I hope my friends will forgive this minor spiritual intrusion into their lives.
Growing up in Britain, I had learnt the words for Away in a Manger by the time I was three. Christmas seasons would not have been the same without the Salvation Army band on the street corner pumping out God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen among many others, carol singers still went door-to-door with their versions of Silent Night and Good King Wenceslas.
My school marked Christmas with a carol service at our parish church where, in my final year, I was selected to read the Lesson.
There was still plenty of time for visits to Santa Claus and the local department store (never just Santa — that was disrespectful) and for the excitement of giving and receiving presents.
In more mature years, there were Christmas drinks and often boisterous celebrations with friends and work colleagues that owed little to the religious aspect of the season, but even then we were always aware of why we were raising our glasses, and the noisy final song after pub throw-out time was more likely to be The First Noel, than Show Me the Way to Go Home.
A Christian Christmas does not have the same influence it once had. Australia is a multicultural and multi-faith nation, a development a recent poll showed is supported by an overwhelming majority of the population.
The festive season still presents the opportunities for family reunions and for work colleagues to celebrate together and come to know each other as fellow human beings and even friends – developments that are entirely positive.
There were times, not so long ago, when Christmas was also a time for rest and contemplation of a possible spiritual element to our existence on this Earth, something that could be shared by all regardless of culture and faith — or lack of.
However, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday and the ‘Pre-Christmas Sales’ (remember when they didn’t begin until 1 January) these opportunities have been sucked out of Christmas, leaving nothing but an advertising-saturated, Harvey Norman-dominated Santa Saturnalia amidst heaving crowds and mounting heat until suddenly all is swept away in a pile of destroyed gift wrap, and the Boxing Day Test is on the TV.
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