Bleak
mid-winter it certainly is. For the past three days we’ve been in lock-down in
Brynsiencyn with very little happening because of the snow. Carol services have
been cancelled here as in many other places and by this morning I’m feeling
thoroughly fed up. The great celebration that is our Christian Christmas is
pretty much off in any collective sense – though we’ll still enjoy our turkey
on Saturday.
The feeling
of disappointment seems deeper than just not being able to sing a few carols,
however. It’s like we need to have our mid-winter celebration to banish the
darkness of long nights and gloomy, short days. And we Christians are not alone
in this desire. Look up ‘winter festivals’ in Wikipedia and marvel at the long
list of what humanity has created to help him through the dark season. Celtic
paganism has winter solstice (21-22 December), the Hindus have diwali – the festival
of lights, celebrating the victory of good over evil, the Jews have Hanukkha,
the Persians have Sadeh, the Andeans have Inti Raymi … and on the list goes
with many other examples – all of them some kind of winter festival often
emphasising light in the midst of darkness.
As
Christians we would probably say that all the other festivals have been created
by man in an attempt to be religious while we have our celebration for right and
valid reasons. And yet we can be pretty sure that Jesus was not born on the 25th
December.
So as we commemorate
his birth is there a deeper, psychological need that we’re meeting also?
