Christmas is a time for gifts, music and ... great literature | Opinion
Christmas is so widely celebrated today that decorations went up many weeks ago. Even non-Christians often put up a Christmas tree.
In truth, the holiday we are about to celebrate is actually not one but two: There is the spiritual or religious event, complete with hymns, church services and often a reaffirmation of tenets of the faith; the other event, the one with decorated trees, presents galore and abundant music, is even more popular.
Both of these entail the willful suspension of disbelief. The spiritual faction envisions the virgin birth of a Savior, with the Christmas tree contingent celebrating this miracle with the arrival of a sleigh transporting a rotund Saint Nicholas and making stops at chimneys of deserving little boys and girls. Generally, the events for children are heavy on presents, while those for the more mature are more likely to evoke spirituality. Some call this “Advent” (the proverbial 12 days of Christmas).
Much has been written about these holidays. Perhaps the greatest work praising gifts is O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi,” telling the story of a young woman who sells her long luxuriant hair to purchase a gold chain for her husband’s watch, only learn that he has sold the watch in order to buy combs for her hair – a tale which brings to life the Prayer of Saint Francis.
Indeed, much emotionally charged literature has been produced at this time of year, and certainly the O. Henry piece leads the way. Although “long reads” are no longer popular, I can’t help but recall Lillian Smith and her classic “Memory of a Large Christmas,” which addresses not only the holiday in Georgia at a simpler time (c. 1910) but social justice. Another favorite is Dylan Thomas’ prose narrative “A Child’s Christmas in Wales. ”Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” is also an affecting tale, recounting the story of a small boy and an elderly relative. Christmas is celebrated with the making of fruitcake and the presents run to such anemic gifts as a religious magazine for children. Like Capote, I recall saying goodbye to my rural grandmother with her windmill, handpump, treadle–powered sewing machine and scrapple for breakfast.
Those stories of a simpler time bring the peace that comes as the holiday descends on a vast cold house. Like Capote, I will remember the fruitcakes and the simple gifts long after the plastic gewgaws have vanished.
The most indelible memories are from poems. The words resonate even to this day, harkening to a time when recording was not yet known. At this time of year, the most memorable words are contained in the lyrics of the hymns. Perhaps my favorite is by Christine Rossetti’s “In the Bleak Midwinter,” the version with the haunting score by Gustav Holtz. This is the one that is usually included in the Mercer University performance of “Lessons & Carols” at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church (Dec. 6-7).
Above and away, the most wonderful instance of pure poetry at this season is by Thomas Hardy, reminding us of the miraculous nature of this time of year:
The Oxen
Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock .“Now they are all on their knees,” An elder said as we sat in a flock By the embers in hearthside ease. We pictured the meek mild creatures where They dwelt in their strawy pen, Nor did it occur to one of us there To doubt they were kneeling then So fair a fancy few would weave In these years! Yet, I feel, If someone said on Christmas Eve, “Come, see the oxen kneel, “In the lonely barton by yonder comb Our childhood used to know,” I should go with him in the gloom, Hoping it might be so.
As the New Yorker’s E.B. White reminded us in the stress-filled 1960s, “This week, many will be reminded that no explosion of atoms generates so hopeful a light as the reflection of a star, seen appreciatively in a pasture pond. It is there we perceive Christmas – and the sheep quiet, and the world waiting.”
Larry Fennelly can be reached at larney_f@hotmail.com