Xmas is a strange tradition in the southern hemisphere, especially in Australia: an ancient land, travelled by ancient peoples and only newly discovered by Northerners bringing their Yuletide Winter traditions: the Solstice celebrating the shortest day of the year, (in the blazing Australian heat), Christ-mas trees in a land where there is no December snow, hot meals and heavy wines in sweltering temperatures and other traditions that have nothing to do with this ancient land.
No wonder it is a strange time for many. Europeans transported to the Great South Land, clinging to what they know. And their children's children, desperately trying to replicate traditions that belong to the Northern Hemisphere.
And yet we gather, in Christ's name, at the Malls and at the butchers, in the hope of finding it, the allusive Xmas spirit.
What then of the loneliness, the feelings of separation, the drastic contrivances to come together to celebrate? in the face of a land that once held people throughout the millennia, without a mention of a boy born in Bethlehem.
And yet we gather, at the family tables, in our clans, to taste the joy that still belongs to us. Miracle that it is. Xmas brings us together, in the way that tribes, long before the Christ, once did. ALLELUIA!!
No wonder it is a strange time for many. Europeans transported to the Great South Land, clinging to what they know. And their children's children, desperately trying to replicate traditions that belong to the Northern Hemisphere.
And yet we gather, in Christ's name, at the Malls and at the butchers, in the hope of finding it, the allusive Xmas spirit.
What then of the loneliness, the feelings of separation, the drastic contrivances to come together to celebrate? in the face of a land that once held people throughout the millennia, without a mention of a boy born in Bethlehem.
And yet we gather, at the family tables, in our clans, to taste the joy that still belongs to us. Miracle that it is. Xmas brings us together, in the way that tribes, long before the Christ, once did. ALLELUIA!!
No comments:
Post a Comment