‘Merry Christmas!’ from readers in other countries
The spirit of the season can be found across the world, even during extended global pandemic, according to readers.
Constance Konold has lived in France for 50 years, half of that time in Paris, the other half in country villages bordering Normandy. But the Indiana native continues to celebrate Christmas with traditions learned from her South Bend home.
“Traditions I have preserved and shared lavishly in France,” she told me via email Thursday.
Konold is one of many readers who’ve contacted me this past year from other countries, including Croatia, Mexico, Malaysia, England, Liberia, Sweden and France, where natives are notorious traditionalists.
“Christmas is no exception,” Konold said.
The French continue to consider American-style, overthe-top front yard Christmas decorations to be in poor taste. But they love the candle and plastic bow decorations that Konold brought there in a suitcase 20 years ago.
“They have now become a tradition in my village,” said Konold, who lives in Boury en Vexin, in northern France.
She also brought with her a recipe for Hungarian kieflies, first learned from Dainty Maid Bakery in South Bend. “Christmas would not be Christmas without them,” she said.
Christmas remains a religious holiday in name only, according to her native neighbors.
“The midnight Masses of their youth have gone by the wayside due to the closure of so many churches for lack of clergy. While some families maintain religious traditions, like displaying a crèche inside the house as a reminder of the holiday’s religious origins, it is clear that the pagan Christmas tree — le sapin de Noel — is the most sacred of French Christmas traditions in the families I interviewed.”
Gradually, possibly on the schuss of globalization, Christmas traditions in France have been internationalized. From the east, the traditional German market that once reached only as far into France as Strasbourg has just recently become a countrywide phenomenon with cheesy “snowy market chalets” popping up from the Champs-Élysées in Paris to the villages of Normandy, near Konold’s home.
“There was such an outcry from the Parisian population that the Champs-Élysées market was getting too commercial, selling cheap, junk souvenirs from China, that it is no longer permitted on that prestigious site,” she said.
From the west came the tradition of multicolored decorative streetlights, once considered garish in polite French society. Though to Konold, Paris during Christmastime in the 1970s was a “boring fairyland of white lights and sophisticated sobriety.”
“One had to go to London to catch the colorful — and true — spirit of Christmas,” she said.
According to readers who’ve contacted me, the spirit of Christmas can be found somewhere in every country.
“Here in Liberia, people usually commence the Christmas celebration by giving a face-lift to their homes and buying materials for kids ahead of the main day,” said Anthony Kokoi, who lives in Paynesville, a suburb of Monrovia.
On Christmas Day, many families spend the day at home watching movies after cooking a special meal, similar to Thanksgiving in our country. Kids get dressed up for photo studios setup on streets. Others make a pilgrimage to beaches, nightclubs and other entertainment centers to celebrate.
“Christmas is the time of sharing, so we celebrate by distributing food and other items to orphans, the underprivileged, homeless and elders,” Kokoi said. “Some church leaders use the day to visit the homes of members, the elderly, and those who have been away for a long period.”
According to census data, Liberia’s population is 85% Christian, with most churches formally observing the last Sunday before Christmas, and another one on Christmas Day.
“Kids enjoy dramatizing the birth of Jesus Christ,” said Kokoi, who portrayed the angel Gabriel during a Christmas cantata at his St. Matthew Lutheran Church.
Konold said depending on your perspective, this past century of secularization has either stripped Christmas of its religious significance or perhaps revealed the extent to which pagan influences were assimilated long ago into biblical tradition.
“The pagan aspects may be surpassingly more lasting,” she said.
In Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia, Christmas is celebrated mostly by Christians, however people of other religions also enjoy some of the festivities, such as celebrating Santa, gift exchanges, family time and sharing meals.
“Malaysia is a melting pot of different cultures, holidays and traditions,” said Sarah LaReau, a Crown Point, Indiana, native who lives in Kuala Lumpur, the nation’s capitol. “Christmas dishes in Malaysia commonly consists of mostly Asian cuisine such as Asian noodles, rice, fried chicken and pastries.”
Her favorite place to celebrate Christmas is in a small state called Malacca, which has a charming Eurasian Portuguese settlement known to locals as “Christmas Town.” Last year at Christmastime, she and her husband, Victor Valentine, visited that town.
“To kick off the Christmas season on Dec. 1, all of the homeowners of the Eurasian Portuguese settlement line their streets with a very ornate array of hundreds of thousands of lights and other traditional Christmas décor, which lights up the area for the entire month,” she said.
“Every year, thousands of both local and foreign tourists embark on a tour of all of the narrowly decorated streets and home properties. We were met with an incredible performance of traditional Eurasian Portuguese dance and a fireworks show,” said LaReau, who plans on returning to Northwest Indiana early next year after pandemic-related lockdowns get fully lifted.
In France, Christmas traditions have been altered due to COVID-19 restrictions, Konold said.
“We are, after all, riding a third wave of infection that included my daughter in the 76,000 persons infected in France yesterday, presumably with the new omicron variant. It means my daughter and I will each be spending Christmas alone — she in Paris, I in my nearly Norman village.”
For more insights and photos from readers in other countries, visit my Facebook page, at www. facebook.com/JerDavich.