Chritmas Day … again
I had fun on Twitter this morning. One organization had sent belated Christmas Greetings to everyone, apologizing that they were late. I replied saying that, on the contrary, it was just in time as today is Christmas Day – here in Kyrgyzstan. There were a couple of other tweeters who referred to “Three Kings Day”, a reference to Epiphany when the Magi are supposed to have finally discovered the infant Jesus in the stable … all those nativity plays that have the shepherds and the Kings gathering around the manger together are probably mistaken. Luke’s gospel has the angels announcing the birth to the shepherds on the actual night of the birth, but Matthew has the Kings arriving some time later after having been delayed by Herod the Great. Anyway I wrote to both of them saying that to them it might be Three Kings Day, but to us it was still Christmas.
One of them actually wrote back and asked if we celebrated Christmas the same here as there … to which the answer is that New Year is the BIG holiday here and the celebrations on that occasion do resemble Christmas festivities in the West: trees, cards, Santa Clause, (known as Ded Moroz – or Grandfather Frost – here) and, of course, overindulgence. For the faithful, the Christmas festivities which we are seeing today are also very similar to those that you might observe in a church in the West. Midnight Services, Nativity Plays, Cribs, Carols – many of which you would recognize, but not all.
The Russian Orthodox Church still clings to the Julian Calendar whilst the rest of the world – even Mother Russia – has gone over to the Gregorian Calendar. This means that the Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas on January 7th.
That actually makes Christmas a bit harder here … it’s two weeks since the big day as far as us westerners are concerned, but we are still singing Christmas Carols … which seems a bit odd. Silent Night and Hark the Herald Angels don’t really belong in January to my mind. What’s more, whilst in the West we have Christmas followed by New Year which provides a crescendo to the fireworks, here Christmas comes after the massive New Year celebrations and is much more of a low key affair. This is also due, of course, to the fact that the majority of Kyrgyz are Muslim. Although they respect and revere Christians as “people of the book”, and Jesus as a prophet, they don’t celebrate his birth and it’s mainly just the minority Slavic population that do so.
This year, once again, I had been invited to the nativity play at the Cathedral. I get invited because we sponsor a place for the children’s summer camp in Issyk Kul. I resisted the request to buy prayer books and said that was for a question for the church community to solve, but I was happy to pay for a place for a child from a disadvantaged home.
I would like to have said that the sun was shining brightly as we made our way down to the Cathedral, (it usually is if it isn’t actually snowing), but for the first time I have been going to the play there was light mist – not a fog, but enough for the moisture hanging in the air to add to the feeling of bitter cold.
There was some snow lying around, but it wasn’t deep, it wasn’t crisp and it wasn’t even … where it did lie, it was at most a centimeter or two thick, had frozen into treacherously slippery ice and it was patchy. Lisa pointed out that the roads that run North to South were more or less clear, (as were the all the main roads in the city center), but where the roads ran East to West in the Chastniy Sector, (the part of the city made up of small, mostly single storey houses as opposed to apartment blocks), there was still quite a residue of icy snow which made walking a very difficult process.
There was little chance of the ice melting … the temperature had fallen from -11 degrees overnight to -14 by lunchtime as we made our way to the Church.
We were too late for the formal service – that was at midnight, just as it is in the West, but even so the church was fairly crowded with the faithful lighting candles and setting them before the various icons. We sent Lisa off to go and buy our candles – but the queue was so long in the shop by the entrance gate that she gave up and went off to the bookshop where there’s usually few, if any, customers. Sure enough she returned as quick as a flash with a fistful of five som candles which she distributed amongst the five of us.
I took my three candles and placed one in front of Saint Irakily, (Kyrgyzstan’s own Saint who is interned in the Cathedral), one in front of the crib which had been set up in a side chapel, and the last one in a candle stick which everyone else was ignoring for some reason. The cynic in me wondered if, maybe, I might earn extra “points” for that one.
Then we made our way to the hall where the play was already underway.
The hall was crowded out. It was standing room only. That’s not unusual for these events, but I felt that this year there were fewer chairs. Normally there would be serried rows of chairs stretching right from the front, just inches away from the stage, down to the back. This year they were just as far forward, but there was a distinct gapo at the back of the hall – about five or six rows were missing. It didn’t worry me that I had to stand … in a way it was a blessing because I could see far more. To be honest, however, it wasn’t just the lack of chairs that I noticed … the hall is showing definite signs of wear and tear. Some of the wooden paneling and ornament, for example, is showing signs of warping.
I quite like going to the nativity play, partly because it reminds me so much of my time as a teacher, and the various Christmas events that take place back in Britain, although they are much more laid back and relaxed about it here. Sitting in the grand hall trying to watch the little ones recite their lines, that is, after they had decided if they were going to mumble them, or shout them over the continuous hum as the rest of the audience chatted away.
Some other people were trying to concentrate on the performance … at least for part of the time. Every now and again you could hear someone in the audience, presumably a doting parent or grandparent, utter a “Molodetz!” – “Well Done!” – as soon as little Ivan or Sveta had finished their particular piece.
I was quite surprised because three people, complete strangers, recognized me, two of them apparently, because I was with Tatiana, (our accountant), and Lisa, both of whom are church regulars, and they greeted them. I have no idea who the third person was. There were two other people who knew me, but that’s because we have met several times, for example over the summer camp.
After the play we wandered out into the foyer and I was pleased to see amongst the decorations that had been made by the children a display of photos from this year’s summer camp.
We finally made our was out of the cathedral and off to a local Chinese Restaurant for Christmas Dinner. I chose Sweet and Sour Pork … my favourite – but nothing like number 86 at the local Chinese Take Away in Southgate. (OK – I admit it … I don’t remember the actual number … it was a long time ago! … maybe it was 86 … but, then again, maybe not!)
Christmas Lunch over and done with for 2011, (well, until December, that is), it was back to the office to bury myself in reports and other routine matters.
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Finally, I suppose, I should once more wish everyone a Happy Christmas – S Rozhdestvom!
Bishkek