Christmas: The Season Of Love | By Keerat Kaur Wathan
Illustration by Jomin, Xin Yi, Niokl, and Mugdho.
As the calendar page flips and the month of December rolls around, it is time for the Yuletide. The dark green trees stand tall and mighty. Ornaments sparkle in the night, complementing the twinkly lights. Not to mention the songs played all over town; every person next to you singing about reindeers and Santa in glee. At last, it is Christmas time.
As a society, we often conform to the ideas of a capitalistic lifestyle that revolves not only around Christmas but every other event. Some people choose to get the fanciest, yet most impractical gifts as a way to show off their earnings, while others wear the flashiest outfits as all they can care about is how other people perceive them. Nowadays, even when you go to the store, you will see so many signs saying “Spend this!” and “Don’t celebrate without buying that!” But what people tend to forget is: Christmas is not Christmas without your loved ones.
To elaborate further, let’s have a look at some of the Christmas traditions around the world.
Worldwide Christmas Traditions
For example, in the Philippines, the Giant Lantern Festival (or Ligligan Parul Sampernandu) happens on Christmas Eve, where villages gather together and float lanterns in the sky. These lanterns started off as scraps of newspapers and gift wrappers, but now they have evolved into a village wide activity for children and their parents to use the best coloured papers and lights so they can make the most beautiful lanterns.
Source: Momondo Team
In Japan, the newest Christmas tradition is to meet with your friends and have a Kentucky Fried Chicken dinner. This takes place on the 24th December where friends bring over different KFC dishes and express gratitude, almost similar to an American’s Thanksgiving!
Source: Culture Trip
In Washington D.C., United States, the Lighting of the National Hanukkah Menorah has been a long term tradition dating back to 1979, where on Christmas day, citizens all over Washington gather to light the Menorah. This day also includes speeches, activities for kids and even games.
Source: Culture Trip
Source: Heart of London Business Alliance
These are only some of the many Christmas traditions around the world, but it is evident that almost every event includes being with your loved ones.
At the heart of Christmas, you will not find fancy presents, flashy clothes or sparkly jewelry, but joy and laughter of families gathered together. In the end, only focusing on the material removes the joy of the day. Instead of temporal things, Christmas should be about the memories you make with loved ones, because these last forever.
So in the end, what really makes Christmas?
Well to answer that simply, it’s love.Whether it be love of a spouse, sibling or friend, the feeling of radiating love is what pushes us to continue to celebrate Christmas every year, for that love is actually a subconscious craving. We go through so much hardship through the year, it is only inevitable to want to feel love at the end of it.
So, when looking at the materialistic parts of Christmas like presents, don’t think, “What can I buy that looks fancy?” or “How do I not look cheapskate?”. Instead, see it as “What can I get that will make my loved one happy?”. After all, the idea of a present is to show appreciation to someone you love, as a ‘thank you’ for all they have done.
Christmas will never be the same if you minus the love, so it is time to add it into your traditions and subtract the materials.
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