Christmas at COVID-19 time

Christmas has always been a time of reunions. It is a time when we meet physically with relatives we do not know but they come anyway for their pamasko. This year we were barred from gathering of more than five which is hardly possible. I had to go from a son’s family to the other to comply with the protocol. Three of my children are abroad, with two daughters and their families in London and a son in Singapore.

Lucky we had the internet which made a reunion possible without any physical contact. We removed our shields and masks when we ate our Noche Buena at a distance but we cooked dishes that we usually had through all the years, both while we were in exile in London and when we returned to Manila.

The sons in Manila did the cooking. One cooked a leg of lamb and the other roast beef. But the children in London prepared their Christmas weeks before to learn to cook ensaimada and pancit molo. Each had their own version with whatever ingredients they could find to make the Noche Buena as close as they could to the food we had at home when we were all together at home and there was no COVID 19.

My Christmas came earlier when I asked Atty. Joey Tria from Bicol if he could help me send food packages to the victims of the typhoon. I felt terrible seeing so much food at home and know some would not have anything. Atty. Joey was hurrying to go home to Bicol for Christmas but my ever efficient assistant Karen was able to put together the task to send the food to Bicol. My driver was able to bring the food package and gift items from PAGCOR in time. It was a nice feeling to be able to share. In Pilipino there is a term for tables full of food – maumay – that can be roughly translated to “sickening.”

But in these rough times Filipinos retain their sense of humor. As Atty. Tria said, “Talagang Pasko dito sa Bicol.” They were so happy to receive the gifts from PAGCOR. And they even had a version of “twinkle lights” with the brownouts which went off and on.

The bigger story was up in the skies in what has become known as the Great Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. It says a similar conjunction took place between about 7 and 5 BC in the constellation Pisces and has come to be  known as the Christmas Star.

The idea of a Christmas that does not pay homage to the birth of a messiah has been around for centuries before the link was made. The original celebration of ‘Christmas’ was pagan and nature-oriented. It revolved around the winter solstice. There are two solstices in the year, one on June 21 and the other on Dec. 22. It is at the point when the Sun is said to be furthest from the celestial equator. In June the Sun is at the northernmost point of its apparent path when the northern side of the earth has its longest day and the south has its longest night. In December, the positions are reversed. At this time it is the Northern hemisphere which has the longest night.

The end of the winter solstice, of long nights, was celebrated with grand feasting. Plentiful food was prepared and shared for the coming harvests. Our own modern Christmas echoes this pagan feasting when we decorate our houses, shop until we drop and gorge ourselves with food.

The pagan feast is known as the Roman Saturnalia which honored the god of the harvest, Saturn today, the 19th of December. The festivities themselves lasted for seven days. A parallel event in northern Europe called Yule was also celebrated with giant logs, trimmed with greenery and ribbons. These were later burnt in honor of the gods to encourage the sun to shine more brightly.