Christmas 2021

 Christmas Day in Stornoway is a quiet affair, with very few people stirring out on the streets. Only to attend church, if any services are going ahead with this threat from Covid still very much about. The ferry is not sailing at all today. Even the Castle Grounds were not busy with walks as they customarily are over the weekend. Darkness comes early, after 3.30pm, by which time dinners are being prepared, served and consumed. It was a bright day with plenty of sunshine. I hope you had a bright day too. 

Merry Christmas. 

24 December 2021

I happened to look back over pictures from Christmas 2019, and it seems like a lifetime ago.

No pandemic, coronavirus, self-isolation, lateral flow tests, PCR tests or travel restrictions. I had previously only worn a facemask in a laboratory.

Delta was a synonym for a river estuary, and omicron was another letter from the Greek alphabet, and one that hardly anybody had ever heard of. The Christmas tree in this picture dates back to 2019, and it's up and glistening again.

The world seems to have grown more dull, grey and hard, if only because some people that were close to me have passed on.

I was watching the start of the Watchnight service from the church in Holland I would go to at this time of year in the past. It was a sad echo from the past, with only the elder, the vicar and the cantor in evidence, as was the organist playing along the hymns and psalms. Although it celebrates the birth of Christ, the atmosphere was a distant reflection of one of joy.

Nonetheless, from Stornoway:

Nollaig Chridheil.
Merry Christmas

23 December 2021

Glancing across to the Netherlands, I'm agog at the full lockdown that has been declared in the country. In past years, I would be there for Christmas, and as many of you know, sing in the church choir on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Like last year, the Christmas Eve service will this year be held with only office bearers and the vicar present. The service has been brought forward to 4pm (before sunset), and can only be viewed online. I remember last year's service, with the vicar being visibly moved at the sight of his empty church.

Until then, I associated the Watchnight service there with a packed out church, sometimes having to decline people entry. Mulled wine by a brazier outside would follow. In spite of the late hour, children would join in and we'd all belt out the Christmas Eve hymns to express our joy at the birth of Jesus Christ.

This time, it will be half a dozen people, with only the choir director singing by herself. Like last year, I'll probably end up playing the video of the St Peter's Bell in Cologne Cathedral - a mournful sound echoing across the miles.

Christmas Eve 2020

Christmas Eve 2020. Darkness has fallen, the sun set here 75 minutes ago. It was feeling cold here, with the mercury only a little above freezing. The supermarket was busy, but people were calm and focused on gathering their goods for the days ahead. Church services will be held on-line, as we can't gather as of old. 

My memory of Christmas Eve past is that of church bells tolling across the night air, ringing through frost and mist. 

Lockdowns and the restrictions necessitated through the on-going pandemic will not detract from the message of joy and hope that Christmas stands for. 

Tonight, I shall remember absent friends, to reinforce the joy and hope of Christmas past - in order to look forward to Christmas to come. The hope that, although we may need to be apart for now, one day we'll be back together again and no-one will be missing. 

Merry Christmas from Stornoway.

Thursday 5 December

Today is December 5th, when those so inclined celebrate Sinterklaas / St Nicholas. The original Santa 😉. Over in Holland, Belgium and Germany, kids will be visited by Sinterklaas (the bishop of Myra, having come in from Spain) and regaled with sweeties and prezzies. This evening, Sinterklaas will go riding along the rooftops on his white charger, dropping presents down the chimneys. In return the kids will have put a shoe by the fireside with a carrot for the horse. Sinterklaas is accompanied by Black Peter (a figure of controversy in latter years). However, there is nothing racist about Zwarte Piet. Sinterklaas was St Nicholas, the bishop of Myra (Smyrna) in modern-day Turkey. When the Muselmen came, his bones were spirited away across the Mediterranean to Spain, and that's where
Sinterklaas is now said to come from. This landmass was occupied by the Moors from North Africa during the 8th century, as far north as Poitiers in France. The Moors were swarthy if not black. Although Black Peter is denoted as a servant (which might derogate him to the N-word), I have never seen anything racist in the exercise. Wish people in Holland would come to their senses and just celebrate an innocent children's festival.

Much better (sorry) than the commercial extravaganza that Christmas has become.I'm sorry, but my upbringing has put Christmas as a firmly religious occasion, during which we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Yes, the Three Kings came along with gifts to the newborn King, but does that really mean we have to splash out lavishly on our loved ones - so close after Black Fortnight?