Christmas: Seen and Heard

There's an interesting liturgical tidbit from the memories of popular author Anne Rice as recounted in her conversion memoir:  Called Out of Darkness; A Spiritual Confession.  Mrs. Rice richly describes the varied sights, sounds and smells of the yearly feasts and seasons in her diocese of New Orleans during the 1940s and 50s and I was surprised by her admission that Advent was not observed by the churches there. 

Mrs. Rice does an amazing job of bringing the stunning beauty of the Christmas decorations and Creches erected in the legion of Catholic churches and chapels in her area of the city, many weeks before Christmas: 
"I recall spectacular Manger scenes with very simply gorgeous life-size statues, and one particular statue of the Infant Jesus that couldn't help but fill me with happiness when I saw it ... These Manger scenes were usually surrounded by Christmas greens and they smelled wonderful ... I remember the utter sweetness of the statues, the sublime scent of the greens, and the other glittering decorative elements, all of this uplifting my spirits and filling me with a pure happiness that I associated with the entire season

She tells about how these church scenes and music were duplicated all around town by the businesses and homes in the form of yard and window displays which everyone loved to go out and see in the evenings. 

Mrs. Rice makes a very poignant point about this sacramental nature of the physical beauty of Christmas as it moves out of the church and into the community when she says she "sometimes wonder[s] whether for people of no religion, this might have been the only sacred space they knew.  When people rail now against the 'commercial nature of Christmas,' I'm always conflicted ... those who would banish commercialism from the holiday fail to understand how precious and comforting the shop displays and music can be."

 She goes on to note that when she was an older child the parishes began observing the Advent season and in making the change, moved  the time of decorating for Christmas to the end of Advent.   And basically her observation is that "in America 'nothing is more over than Christmas,'  this meant that the cribs didn't command anybody's attention for very long.  The radiant Christ Child came and went in a matter of a few days."  These days, while we do have a few Christmas carols and in some places an outdoor Creche, there is not a whole lot to point to the true nature of the feast. Nevertheless it's interesting to wonder about how each beautiful song or display or sculpture might be delighting or bringing peace to the secular culture.

I'm not suggesting that we should revert to observing Christmas during Advent.  But if the physical aspects of Christmastide have the power to nurture conversion then how important it must be that we bring the fullness of Christmas and all of its sacramental power to the Catholic, Christian and secular world during the season of December 24th to the Baptism of Our Lord! 

Comments

[Jennfer Gregory Miller]

I enjoyed this perspective, Gwen. What if making these presepi without the Christ Child until Christmas? I wonder if that could be a good compromise?

[Gwen Wise]

Happy New Year and a blessed Epiphany Jenn!

Yes, I was thinking of this after you commented. That in fact is what we do in our home, since it is the Nativity for which we are preparing anyway. All other decorations go up on Christmas Eve (with a concession to my dear spouse the tree goes up on the 20th; I think we would run out of time on the 24th anyway!). The idea of adding straw (in the form of good deeds and prayers) to prepare the manger adds another layer of meaning.