Christmas songs have the capacity to be both profound, evoking strong memories and emotions, to be silly, sentimental, annoying and loved.
Georgetown seems to favour the Jonny Mathis "When a Child is Born", modern beat carols, the latest Soca and Chtuney offerings and a comedy number, now 30 years old according to U-Tube, which I have never heard before, which has lodged into the brain on auto-repeat:
"Grandma got run over by reindeer,
While walking home from our house Christmas Eve.
Some people say there's no such thing as Santa,
But as for me and Grandpa, we believe."
Catchy stuff!
In a country where many people actively practise their religious beliefs, I have been frequently asked why England is so secular? While the Hindu and Muslim populations will not celebrate on Christmas Day, for Christians there are churches of many many denominations and national roots, of varying sizes and splendour or simplicity on every block in Georgetown and across the country villages. Spirituality is something people want to get into discussion about, even if they say " I don't celebrate Christmas." Without the distractions and demands of the rituals of home:- the cards, the gifts, the buying, the calendared events- there is time for conversation and contemplation.
The requirement to clean and renew- rather like our Spring Clean regime- is maintained, and complained about by young and old alike. Memories of waking on Christmas morning to a home smelling of new wax polish and the Christmas cooking are recalled, while the burdens of actually cleaning, beating the rugs, taking down and washing curtains are all put off, or blatantly avoided by the younger adults still living at home.
 |
| Christmas cleaning- ouch! |
No comments:
Post a Comment