My generation experienced what was probably the worst Christmas ever in the Philippine history — the 1941 Christmas that followed the Dec. 8 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Instead of Christmas lights, we had blackouts to protect Manila from enemy bombs that preceded the Japanese occupation that lasted four years. A.V.H. Hartendorp left this brief account of that Christmas: "Manilans observed a sad and anxious Christmas season. The fir trees imported annually from Washington State and Oregon had not arrived. In place of Christmas lights, there was illumination from conflagration in the Pandacan district, where stores of gasoline and oil had been jettisoned and set ablaze. The fire burned spectacularly for several days and a dense cloud of smoke hung over the city. " Manila was declared an open city and the enemy troops simply marched right in.
The first Christmas was when God shocked the world with a babe. In 1941, the Japanese tried to shock the world with a bomb. The attack on the World Trade Center in New York is a terrorist version of Pearl Harbor. As we have seen, the attack served to bring the American people together. The Japanese occupation did the same thing. The whole nation became a presence wrapped up with one another.
Times are hard. Many people have long been out of jobs and more and more are getting unemployed. These are the people that need our help. Our Christmas must be shared with them. Part of every family’s Christmas budget this year should go to help alleviate the plight of the poor. What could be a better display of the Christmas spirit?
We have a Christmas custom called the panunuluyan. This is when carolers re-enact St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary’s quest for an inn. The Holy Couple’s predicament is the predicament that our street children find themselves in. The big difference is that St. Joseph and St. Mary were looking for a place to stay while they don’t know where their next meal will come from. What would be more in keeping with the true Christmas spirit than remembering and contributing something to help relieve their plight?
Christmas spirit does not depend on the times. We can make it even more meaningful when times are really hard.
We wish all our readers a meaningful Christmas.