Peace on Earth, good will to all men?

I suppose nearly all of us, and I'm making a great supposition about the blog readership here, are quite happy to yet again enter into that familiar season of Christmassyness which is all jingly bells and babes in mangers. It's a cosy time of year where most of us can be grateful for great and small mercies –health, wealth, family, friends, x-boxes and Harry Potter merchandise.

At the end of December, we are oft-times reminded of the needs of others and to be generous in considering those without. Back in 1984, I dug deep into my meagre pockets and gave all of £5 to Band Aid after having bought Do They Know It's Christmas. I felt I was doing an absolute good: them poor buggers surely needed it even more than I (even though at the time I was never so poor and five quid pretty much summed up my worldly wealth). Maybe my money helped save someone's life.

In this Chinese part of the world Christmas begins and ends mercifully late: in fact, the fuzzily-named 'Winterfest' lasts from about the beginning of December to a few days after Chinese New Year. Christmas songs are everywhere –in early January the supermarkets subtly change from carols to festive Chinese New Year firecracker noises and ubiquitous lion dance music. During this time every shopping mall and many of the tall buildings around the renowned Hong Kong harbour glitzily convey a decidedly un-religious and somewhat confused neon message of happiness without a meaning. Any symbolic significant or festive poignancy is shmaltzed and suffocated to death beneath a cotton wool and candy cane drapery.

Whatever your beliefs, the birth of a baby Jesus refers to a deeper, more meaningful idea about bringing hope into a dark, sinful, wintry world, the benign conveyance of good will to all men through the power of pure righteousness. But this is just too dangerous and revolutionary a message for our ruling elite and their supportive mercantile classes who prefer the current harmonious social order the way it is thank you very much. Thus, unto us is given instead a ridiculously childish Santa who spills his presents upon the worthy and unworthy alike –an avaricious indicator of society's belief in the equality of cash with personal fulfilment.

So, does the old Christian message heralded at Christmas actually mean anything any more? What do the seeemingly-heedless masses that do not profess any sort of faith get out of Christmas carols, sending cards and watching their kids perform in Nativity plays? It would certainly be difficult to prove that the myriad Christmas carol concerts held in every conceivable location is some sort of indicator that the attendees hold beliefs that Good King Wenceslas really did go out on the feast of Stephen or that Shepherds really did wash their socks and were visited by non-physical heavenly messengers. One could level the accusations that these outdated cultural relics remain only to pander to the overt sanctimonious self-satisfying middle-class attitudes of piety and that their original contents are now meaningless. But I would argue that the reasons people continue to sing and actually quite like carols, is they are so comfortingly familiar. At worst they are harmless –carrying with them that positive message of peace on earth and good will to all men. Uneasy indeed would be the mind that decided after hearing Away in a Manger the most appropriate religious response would be suicide bombing.

For most of us Christmas may mean family togetherness and fun, an opportunity to celebrate life the same way we did last year –especially the Turkey-fuelled snoozing through The Great Escape. It is also a poignant time to remember those that are no longer with us. It may be a garish, mad and often monotonous festival, but it is one in which we can recall with fondness other happy, simple childhood Christmasses. It brings the merriest cheer to those with whom we now live as we rather incongrously party hard whilst singing religious hymns. It also promises a future that might contain that elusive peace on earth and goodwill to all men.