Christmas is the most exciting time of every year. Once we’ve had greeted the holiday season properly, we're steadily encouraged to get into the Spirit of the Season. In general, we're encouraged to be joyful, charitable, generous, kind, and forgiving which are all behaviours that run counter to our inclined responses to the stresses caused by holiday shopping, holiday travel, and general holiday interactions.
The message of Christmas spirit is inferred from some usual experiences. The first is an actual spectre. In the cinema, A Christmas Carol Ebenezer Scrooge is confronted by several spirits who force him to face his miserly ways and open his heart. If there is anyone who does not embrace the alleged Christmas spirit, it is truly Scrooge:
- In response to a request for a charitable donation, he famously asks whether the prisons and the workhouses are not still open for those who seek charity; and says, for those who cannot get to the workhouses or would rather die than seek out these places, "If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."
- He manages the office coal and declines his workers anything but the most modest fire to stay warm.
- He almost denies his workers the day off for Christmas and at first negotiating for a half-day and stating that he would dock them half a day of pay. When he yields to the full day off, he commands that they come in earlier on the next day to recompense for the lost time.
When Scrooge gets home on Christmas eve, he is visited by the spirit of his late partner who warns him of the coming of three spirits. One of these ghosts is Christmas Present—a jolly, jovial, generous essence. His purpose is to take Scrooge around town and show him that both the wealthy and the poor seek solace in the cheer of the company on this day. That is, people are spent in sharing and being grateful for whatever they have, and looking for happiness in each other’s company, regardless of their means.
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| Ghost of Christmas Past |
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| Ghost of Christmas Present |
The Ghost of Christmas Present bears a likeness to St. Nicholas, who is the real personification of Christmas spirit.
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| Ghost of Christmas Future |
SANTA CLAUS - FATHER OF CHRISTMAS
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| Richard Attenborough portrayed as Santa in Miracle on 34th Street |
Our modern image of Santa Claus appears from several diverse origins. He is a blend of the Dutch Sinterklaas and the Britain Father Christmas. They both of them appear to be rooted in the real-life Saint Nicholas of Myra He was a saint and a Bishop with a character for secret gift-giving. Father Christmas, on the other hand, had nothing to do with presents, though he has since merged with representations of Santa Claus. He was created to be the metaphor of Kindness and Generosity.
The final form of Christmas spirit lives in the arrangements of Christmas illuminations. Lights and evergreens in our homes drive away from the imagery and meaning associated with the colder, longer days that mark the end of the growing season. Figuratively, on the darkest of days, people wish for light. As the days become shorter and seldom colder, and the land attains barren until growth can begin newly, people's thoughts turn to warmness, life, and light. Light drives away the darkness. It symbolizes hope and beginnings, knowledge and safety. Lights create a beacon for others who are out in the dark and cold; they imply humanity and charity.
The code of hospitality, mercy, and charity toward others is driven by no one other than ourselves. There are places where this code is high, and these places (or people) are said to have mighty Christmas spirit. After all, we are the entirety of the individuals around us who generate the collective force that governs and organizes our social structure. When we “act out” Christmas spirit, we’re making visible this collective force, and us give it power.
“A gift for the holidays? A holiday is a gift in itself.”
Ljupka Cvetanova
Miracles will happen, if you believe in it. Keep your faith with you always.
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