So What Is the Meaning of Christmas To You?
Posted: Wednesday, December 20, 2006
by Abad Perez
That sounds like a personal question, but how can one ask about such an intimate subject without getting personal? Christmas definitively touches the deepest part of everyone’s soul, and it brings everyone to an awareness of our senses like perhaps no other season of the year.
I mean if a person is an atheist or a Muslim or a Jew, perhaps thoughts of anger and frustration run through his head. Maybe instead of the soothing melancholy of Christmas carols, he hears loud repetitive and annoying foolish sentiments, and maybe even a hint of hypocrisy. This is perhaps a time that those who do not recognize the person of Christ rather do without, a season to avoid and to forget, a time of reclusion and rejection from the world around them, or towards the world around them.
I for one get all child-like when Christmas comes into the horizon. I go back to my memory treasure box and from it I pull out a bouquet of aromatic memories that water my mouth as if I was sitting at the table to enjoy dinner with my family and friends. Coming from the island of Puerto Rico, Christmas season took an even more jovial and festive mood. As with just about any Puerto Rican gathering, great food was always in great supply. So when I look back, I see the roasted pork adorning the table where all the food was placed, spreading the succulent smell that made everyone pause with the anticipation of experiencing a palatal excursion into the realm of celestial beings. I see the “pasteles" (Puerto Rican tamales) and the “arroz con gandules" (rice with peas) that to this day I continue to crave. I can see my little brother stick around the deserts, hoping to have his own private banquet of “dulce de coco" (coconut candy), flan and other typical sweet concoctions that would make a taste prisoner of any one who tried them.
The music, now that was good music. From the moment the month of December gave us its first day the “parrandas" began. “Parrandas" were improvised visits to family and friends that took place after it got dark. These “parrandas" were composed of a group of people with guitars, bongos and other typical instruments like “el cuatro" and a few willing singers, who would mount their vehicles under the cover of darkness, and pay a surprise visit to a family member or a close friend. Once the members of the “parranda" arrived at their destination, they would quietly get out of their cars, assemble at the front door of the unaware occupants, and at once begin singing one of many typical Christmas songs. The object of the singing was of course to wake up the sleeping family, and to get them to open up the door so that the members of the “parranda" could go inside. There the party would begin, and amidst the food, singing, dancing, and laughing, the “parranda" would gain energy to go to the next house, which was chosen by the first fortunate victims of the night.
Upon arrival at their new celebration, the process of jovial exuberance would be repeated, and the second set of lucky victims would pick the next house and so on. Of course, half of the people did not show up to work the next day since many of them had a hangover from the night before. But no one made a big fuss about it, that was tradition and no one dared to go against it. The children were on vacation from school, so the day hours would be taken up by sleeping and resting, and for cleaning up the mess that was left from the over night party.
I tell you, those were the days. This was a time of spontaneity, of playfulness, of curbed foolishness and just plain fun. However, aside from the typical festivities, we had our church celebrations as well. I remember that our church had reenactments of the Nativity of Christ every year. My siblings and I always participated on these Nativity reenactments. We actually looked forward to taking part on these faith-building moments. As a matter of fact, I think that our desire to be part of Christ Holy Church was molded by our active participation on these memorable instances of heavenly life. I truly feel that they helped to groom us spiritually in order to make way to Christ’s will.
I frankly feel that if it were not for those edifying moments, I would have not become a priest. By participating on these Nativity reenactments I was able to make a connection between what I was taught at Sunday school and with my daily life in a way that allowed me to see Christmas for what it really is, and not for what it now has become commercially. Also because of the Nativity reenactments I was able to see that the alcohol polluted celebratory ambiance of the many who joined the “parrandas", was not and did not have anything to do with the true meaning of Christmas.
You see Christmas is a birthday celebration that gives everyone a candle to blow. Only, with Christmas, we do not make a wish as we blow the candle, but rather we become thankful for the gift of eternal life. In Christmas, the object is not to open gifts in order to see if we received what we asked Santa Clause for, but we open up the gifts knowing well ahead that what is inside is just what we needed, and knowing that what we receive cannot be quantified or measured by any physical means. For what we receive at Christmas is a spiritual gift that can only be received for the purpose of sharing it, and what we celebrate in Christmas encompasses the past, the present and the future of the person of Jesus Christ our risen Lord and His love for humanity.
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