It is Christmas Eve and there is a Church group carolling in front of my neighbour's house a few doors away. That's a rare sight in Temerloh, which is predominantly Muslim. The group even has a van slowly driving around with a loudspeaker playing the traditionally well-known Christmas songs. I am told that after they finish driving around in my neighbourhood, they'll be driving to the other housing estates in Temerloh, wherever there are Christian homes.
I am invited by friends to their Christmas party tomorrow night. I doubt they are Christians but they celebrate Christmas anyway. Well, if I had not fractured my fibula, I would be in KL by now, perhaps at Lini and Franco's celebrating Christmas in their home with friends. We even exchange gifts etc, just to humour the kids. We've been doing this since 10 years ago, even putting a budget of RM10.00 per gift, because it's just for fun.
Here's what I know: people just celebrate Christmas just for fun. They go carolling for the enjoyment of singing in a group, especially if there are candles involved. All this, without even being a Christian. For Muslims, it is not an act to be encouraged because we were to have purpose for every action we do and and we must put thought to those actions, and not just for fun.
A lot of people would say, what is wrong with just getting together and enjoying ourselves during Christmas? Sounds like a good reason to get everyone gathered together. I enjoy every moment of celebrations. Any celebration, for that matter. The only thing is, it need not be Christmas. Why does everyone have to wait till Christmas to give gifts to their loved ones and get together with their families? Perhaps for the Christians, they have a good reason to celebrate it this way but for the rest of us, why wait till Christmas?
The truth is, the Western world has managed to advertise Christmas in a way the forefathers of Christianity never imagined. One of the major reasons why Christmas was created in early Roman times was to divert the attention from a major pagan celebration known as the Winter Solstice which fell on 25 December. It was to avoid the converts from celebrating with the pagans which involved a lot of drunkenness, partying and wild romps. I doubt many people know this. The Western world then decided that the singing of carols, exchanging of gifts, the idea of Christmas tree, Santa Claus etc would make the celebration even merrier. What the rest of the world did not realise is that Christmas had become the one single annual major economic boost to the Western countries since the 20th century.
Christmas was given a facelift in the 1800s by writers like Charles Dickens and Washington Irving because celebrations were dying out after the American Revolution and even Puritans banned such merrymaking celebrations. They succeeded in boosting this event. Christmas is today celebrated by so many people in everywhere in the world with no knowledge of its origins. No wonder the Church is said to be worried about the over-secularisation of Christmas.
Hari Raya Aidil Fitri is also undergoing such secularisation. Aidil Fitri or Eid-ul-Fitri was meant to celebrate the victory of Muslims having succeeded to fast for the whole month of Ramadhan. Eid ul Fitri was meant to be celebrated with prayers, thanking Allah for the victory of having completed the fasting month, forgiving others and giving to the poor (zakat fitrah). But what we find today is a celebration of merrymaking, excessive eating and excessive renovating of homes for the day of Eid.
Celebrations are good for bringing people together in harmony, but many forget why the celebrations were there in the first place. I pray the world will not move in one full circle back towards paganism.
