Christmas has always dominated the end of the year: it's all twinkly and sparkly, all jolly and presenty. As a kid, nothing could beat it -not even a birthday!
I know that we always tut-tut about Christmas in the shops arriving earlier and earlier, and some of us may hark back to a time when decorations were put up quite late in the season (for the Memsahib it was Christmas Eve!), but according to the liturgical calendar those Christian festivities have to begin at a much earlier date than most of us might be comfortable with. In our medieval hitherworld, when festivities were the true punctuation marks of the year, festivals meant something. For the poor, it was a chance to take part in a whole-community event where they could avail themselves of some decent grub and grog. For the wealthy, it was a time to shine and gain merit through benevolence.
Let's begin with All Saint's Day (November 1st -the wedding anniversary day of the Memsahib and meself) which is included in the winter festival category. It is a day to recall the bond between those in purgatory, in heaven and on earth. Over time it became, at least in the west, a solemn commemoration. In Mexico and the Philippines, however, it is a bit more of a party known as the Day of the Dead Día de Muertos and Todos Los Santos/Undas/Araw ng mga Patay respectively.
Advent, the four weeks that lead up to Christmas, for me will always be the time for opening the chocolatey advent calendar doors and trying yet again to build that tinsley Blue Peter coat hanger advent crown. More recently, child-orientated Christingle Services have been established in churches sometime in advent. These modern ceremonies are another pretty way to introduce to kids some nicey-nicey Christmassy Christianness -one lit candle lighting all the other candles in a darkened church is an obvious symbolic reference even the smallest child can understand.
Saint Nicholas Day, or Sinterklaas, remembers the great bishop of Myra who cured pickled boys in Asia Minor and paid the dowry for poor girls to avoid their being driven into prostitution. From him, of course, we obtain our Santa. One the most popular saints of Christendom, his feast day is still celebrated with vigour, particularly by the Dutch who look forward to his coming up river on a special boat from somewhere exotic (like Spain) with cheeky attendants, the Black Peters (Zwarte Pieten) who enjoy handing out presents and placing them in the children's clogs. We have even celebrated this fun-packed event here in the little Anglo-Dutch enclave of Ko Tong Ha Yeung!
Of course, other religions also have winter festivities at this time. It begins on the day before All Saints Day (Hallowe'en) with Samhain, the first official day of winter for the Celts and neo-pagans. It is the ritual end of harvest time and an occasion to remember the dead. Diwali and Hanukkah, the Hindu and Jewish festivals of light, appear a little later. Bodhi Day, on which Buddhists celebrate the Buddha's great enlightenment, is also in early December. Chinese New Year then usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice. Of course, the 31st of December, New Year's Eve, is non-religious but is steeped in rich tradition, particularly in the form of Hogmanay. New Year's Day, once the start of the medieval Feast of Fools, was also a day where Lords of Misrule elected from the populace parodied the high offices of official religion. What larks…
Christmas Eve precludes the eventful next day, but has itself been eventful enough. It was the day in 1914 on which the Christmas truce in the trenches began and, in 1969, the day on which the Apollo 8 astronauts viewing the earth from the orbit of the moon awkwardly read from the Book of Genesis "In the Beginning…" -the most watched televised event at the time.
Here in Hong Kong, Christmas is a time to reflect on the Battle of Hong Kong 1941. This year will be the 70th commemorative anniversary of those dark days. No doubt aware of the atrocities being meted out on the citizens of the colony, Governor Young walked into the Japanese Headquarters at the Peninsula Hotel on Christmas Day and surrendered the territory. The heroism of the doomed defenders and the medical staff of the hospitals is tragic and legendary. What is less known, perhaps, is that of Gander, the Newfoundland mascot for the Canadian Royal Rifles, who died defending the wounded by carrying out a thrown hand grenade towards the oncoming Japanese. He is now recognised and has been posthumously awarded the PDSA's Dickin Medal.
Christmas contains the 12 Days of Christmas or Twelvetide: beginning with Christmas Day, with the Feast of St Stephen on Boxing Day, Childermas (the Feast of the Innocents) and ending in Twelfth Night or Epiphany, these were supposed to be days to lighten the hearts during the longest nights of winter. There was little farm work to be done, so the ordinary folk made merry together.
In recent years we have celebrated a few Twelfth Nights –massive feasts which have required carefully planning: twelve sets of guests, twelve courses and twelve wines (which have to be paired). These all had to be co-ordinated so that each was unique and would flow in a good and palatable sequence. So enormous was the gargantuan event, that even though the portions were quite small, we had to request the guests did not eat at all that day. Each course was previously prepared and sent out on the half-hour, the providers of that dish also bringing the paired wine. Once served, the providers then finally wash up the dishes in preparation for the next course. We began at 6 and ended at 12, although by then most guests were beyond the unbuttoning waistcoats stage and had dozily retired to sofas or were viewing the stars from around hot braziers on the roof. Making sure the food was hot enough, or sufficiently chilled, or that the soufflés had risen or that the garnish was right took a little organisation (not to say pride on my part as far as the soufflées are concerned) and the result was a stupendous banquet hard to forget and which genuinely brought folks together.
Below is the first and possibly the simplest menu from 2007:
Starter |
6.00 |
Crudités & Canapés |
Cocktails |
Soup |
6.30 |
Butternut Squash |
Sauvignon Blanc |
Fish |
7.00 |
Salmon |
Asti Spumanté |
Salad |
7.30 |
Yam Sommo |
Gewürztraminer |
Eggs |
8.00 |
Soufflé |
California Pink White |
Veg |
8.30 |
Paneer Makhana Curry |
Pinot Gris |
Sorbet |
9.00 |
Lemon |
Semillon |
Red Meat |
9.30 |
Pork Meatballs |
Zinfandel |
Fruit |
10.00 |
Poached Pears |
Sherry |
Fondue |
10.30 |
Fondue |
Chianti |
Pudding |
11.00 |
Cake |
Sauternes |
Ice Cream |
11.30 |
Meringue |
Muscat |
It was to this particular even that our friend Kay Pike brought the meat dish. Earlier this year we sadly heard of her sudden death in the Channel Islands.
Christmas may be all about family fun and an opportunity to celebrate life, but it is also a poignant time to remember those that are no longer with us. That, I suppose, is inherent in festivals: we celebrate, commemorate, remember and look forwards -experiencing all those emotions is draining, but it must be why we do it every year.
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