Christmas, then and now
I wrote to my friend about how my family spent Christmas in 2010. My friend commented that that has been really a Western Christmas I have experienced. It was in fact correct. Actually this is the Western Christmas we only have seen in Christmas cards when we were small. It was nice to experience it in life. The Christmas lunch at my former colleague Fanny’s place have been always special. We sort of feel Christmas spirit when we go there with her family and many old relatives. It was nice to see old relatives dressed nicely some in their 60s but others in their 70s and 80s, chatting and having a peaceful discussion. I think the feeling of that Christmas spirit is the most important thing, no matter where you are. I learned that there was a big gathering at my home in Mabima this time for Christmas and my mother seems very happy with that. It seems Romesha, Banchi, Kanthi Punchi, Nangi all came to my place for lunch and they prepared food and carried to my place (instead of my mother cooking 10 dishes for 25 people). It was Banchi’s idea and I thought it was a fine idea. They have agreed to repeat this every Christmas on the 26th hereafter. I was talking to Kellie about some Christmas experiences I had when we were growing up at Nayakakanda, Hendala. One of the most fun experiences was receiving Christmas cards. We used to receive Christmas cards from our friends, and lots of them those days? But Facebook-less, E-mail-less, Mobile Phone-less, and even land phone-less (at least for people like us) those days, it was a great thing. Generally I miss that culture. I remember the postman used accumulate all Christmas cards and deliver them on Christmas day as a bundle. When the postman get drunk after a few rounds offered by people, he would rest under a tree and villagers used to distribute cards on this special day. I used to receive about 20 or more cards and similar for my sister and for family. All together we used to have about 40 or 50 cards. It was such a exciting experience to open them and discover who have send them. This continued even during YCS time and it was also exciting to receive a card from someone you admire or secretly admire. While I appreciate quick communications and Skype Video chat now, I miss those times and experience a lot.
Most memorable Christmas those days were at Nayakakanda. Nayakakanda at Hendala was a very Catholic sub-urban village, so to call it. Our home was situated in between two Catholic grave yards. Between the main junction and our home was St Mary’s Church we used to go. On the 24th night, at around 11pm there was the midnight mass. We used to go there and usually it was a “cold” night with dew falling. Now when I say cold, it must have been around 26C, which was cold for us those days. I could not have imagined the real cold weather we experience in Europe or Switzerland these days. So, on that night, you see road filled with people going to church. After the mass at the church, we would come home and eat home-made Christmas cake and wine. Of course, my father would always prepare a line of fire crackers to be lit just on 12 o’clock at night on the 24th. This was something I always treasure. The sound of fire crackers. It would start a few minutes before midnight and last a few minutes into the early morning hour of 25th December. It was non stop sound of thousands of firecrackers coming from all directions. My father used to carefully select a long line of the noisiest fire crackers he could find. Often, the the Thummullas or the triangular ones were the noisiest. One line would contact a hundred or more firecrackers. He would usually buy two or more such lines. He used to tell me, they call this uninterrupted sound of fire crackers as like a bamboo jungle caught in fire (bata kaleta ginin arang wage). Then on the Christmas day at 12 noon there will be another round of firecrackers, just like the previous night. Another 5 minutes or so of non-stop sound of firecrackers. There will also be morning services at the Church at 7am and 8am. At noon we would have some relatives coming to our place or the family will be having some specially cooked food. Those days, I remember chicken was special. While beef and pork were readily available for affordable price, chicken was not. So it was a special day to cook a nice gan kukula or village chicken. On some occasions during Christmas, we would buy a live chicken and my father would take care of preparing this chicken before cooking.
Christmas was also a time to get new clothes. Those days, clothes had to be tailor-made by Vincent Tailor in Nayakakanda. We had to go and buy clothes for trousers or shirts from Colombo or some times we would buy from the tailor himself. Then he would take the measurements and sew new clothes for Christmas for males in the family. My mother would wear a saari. But sister would wear a new dress, often made by a seamstress in the village. Going to Colombo before Christmas to do Christmas was a big deal those days. We would go to the Main Street at Petah and my mother would buy ingredients for the Christmas cake and other clothes to make dresses for us. Some times shoes from, again Bata, DSI or P G Martins. My mother would also buy cheeththa clothes for Dollie or some others. She would also buy a sarong cloth for my grandfathers (her father and her father in law). I do not remember buying that many other things. The highlight of this Christmas shopping was to have a special buriyani lunch at a restaurant in Colombo. Those were just normal restaurants and this was one day of the year we ate out and that buriyani tasted so special. And we would have Faluda, a sweet dessert with fresh fruits and syrup. We would then return home exhausted by the CTB bus. There were no private buses those days. We would take the bus no. 107 to Elakanda. We lived such a simple life those days. We knew that our parents had a very little money. But they made sure we all had new clothes and shoes for Christmas. We would wear them to Christmas mass. Christmas would pass like this. We did not do anything special except those routine things. But those routine things were so special to us that we really enjoyed those events.