As children, many of us were taught about the event that is Christmas. Quite often we got the opportunity to act it out, dressing up to play the roles of Joseph, Mary, the Three Kings and the innkeeper.
The primary objective of these nativity plays is not to provide children with amusement – though that can be a pleasant consequence – but rather to imbue in them a sense of meaning.
Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ, about the trials of his parents and about a new beginning for mankind. It is about the triumph of good forces over bad – a time for hope and, yes, celebration.
Yet something, somewhere is wrong. According to the survey we are carrying today, almost 80 per cent of Maltese believe Christmas has lost its religious significance, and over a third no longer go to Mass on the day.
This is not surprising given the commercial drive that these days begins as early as October. Parents are pressured into buying bigger and better things for their offspring by children who do not want to be shown up in the present-comparison rankings when they return to school after the holidays.
The adults also drink, go to countless parties, and are encouraged to part with as much cash as possible as businesses use every advertising and promotional orifice to promote their wares. Many of us get caught up in this carousel, and the experience is anything but edifying.
However, if there is some positive news from our survey it is that three-quarters of respondents are bothered that, for many, Christmas has lost its true meaning. This figure suggests that all hope has not yet been lost that we can collectively do something about it.
We could start by reminding ourselves what – aside from the important religious aspect – Christmas really means. It signifies renewal, a time to take stock and to ask ourselves where we are going.
Where is Malta going? On many fronts it is making progress, particularly in the economic sphere, and the standard of living is considerably better than, say, 30 years ago. But several areas give cause for concern.
On the party political front, there is still a great deal of immaturity. Despite moving on from decades of political violence, we are still unable to sufficiently tolerate people who possess different opinions or affiliations to our own. This tribalism is a divisive element of Maltese culture and shows little sign of abating.
Despite professing Christian sentiments – and being among the most generous contributors to charity per capita anywhere in the world – as the L-Istrina manifestation is likely to show today – we still display too few of them.
This is the case, in particular, if other people’s skin colour happens to be different to ours. Immigration may have slid down the scale as an issue – since migrant landings have this year not even managed a trickle – but too many of us still treat Africans, who deserve our solidarity as fellow human beings, with a contempt they definitely do not deserve.
But the lack of a lived Christian sentiment can also be applied to our own folk in certain circumstances. We turn religious feasts into pagan manifestations of pique, and we are becoming increasingly willing to hurt and steal from one another.
Those who put all this aside for a few days during the festive period – only to return to ‘business as usual’ straight after – are merely role-playing; like children in nativity plays, but without their honesty.
We hope all our readers had a Happy Christmas.