By Bobson Gbinije
“True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about but few have seen”
– William Shakespeare.
The anthropocentric calculus posits that whether by centripetal or centrifugal diversions man has become the monumental leverage on which the social-political, economic and cultural pendulum swings. Man has therefore created laws, principles, social mores, ethics, ceremonial commemorations and religious practices to enhance and concretize the basis of the ‘Social Contract’ of which ‘MAN’ are the cardinal focus, the Christmas day being one of them.
Christmas is the annual ceremonial commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ by Christians on December 25. The encyclopedia Americana posits in the 1977 edition, volume 6, page 666 that “the reason for establishing December 25 as Christmas day was chosen to correspond to pagan festivals that seasonally took place around the time of the winter solstice, when the days begin to lengthen to celebrate the rebirth of the sun. The roman saturnalia (A festival dedicated to Saturn, the god of agriculture, and to the renewed power of the sun), also took place at this time, and some Christmas customs are thought to be rooted in this ancient pagan celebration”
The exact day of Christ’s birth is still subsumed in the ponderous thickets of scriptural imbroglio and shrouded in theosophical incongruities. Emperor Marcus Aurelius proclaimed the sun god on the 25 December 274. A.D. the principal patron of the Roman Empire and dedicated a temple to him in the campus martins. These ceremonial antics by emperor Aurelius stimulated a bandwagon effect on Christian groups and they quickly adopted December 25 as the birthday of Jesus Christ. Another version of the date of Christ’s birth was assigned the date of winter solstices December 25 in the Julia calendar) is because on this day, as the sun began its return to northern skies, the pagan devotees of Mithras celebrated the birthday of the invincible sun (die natails solis invicti).
However, notwithstanding the penumbra of historical, theological and semantical mélange surrounding the date of the birth of Jesus Christ, it is clear that Jesus Christ is the reason for the Christmas season. He remains the lucent diadem on the Christian’s armour. He gave us his all as the son of the living God so that we might be salvaged from the labyrinth of eternal perdition. He explicitly sermonised on the laying down of our lives for one another through love and helping to fortify the basis of a common catholic humanity. He incarnated humility and warned against materialism and the psychotic love of money.
That the unblemished and innocent Jesus Christ was tortured, persecuted, executed and crucified for the sake of mankind lends credence to the fact that the son of the living God loved us first. He came and was born out of love for us. He remains the quintessential reflection of love. He further admonished us to live and share our love with one another. He said in 1st John chapter 4 verses 20-21 that “if anyone says, “I love God”, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command. Whosoever loves God must also love his brother.” But whither goeth mankind and the commemoration of the glorious birth of our Lord and Savour Jesus Christ.
Christmas has become a season for the satanic expression of boundless mercantilism syphiliation of morality, the luciferous rendition of the carols of commercialism, the baptism of financial nightmares and holocaust. The whole world is entangled in the zeitgeist of materialism. The Reader’s Digest asserted that “in 1999 America’s commercial exchanges during the Christmas season rose to 70 billion dollars, Canada 30 billion dollars, Britain 34 billion pounds and Australia 15 billion dollars. Africa and Asian countries are already following suit in this depraved and reckless commercialisation of Christmas.” The Christmas season has become one of the best commercially strategic period for manufacturers, wholesalers and merchants to render new and grotesque Christmas carols blaring from music shops, churches and private houses. There is massive noise pollution.
The commercial hype is intensified with salesmen carrying large bags of Christmas knickknacks and souvenirs plying their trade on commuter buses and other public transport contraptions. All these Christmas drama compels ‘parents to buy toys and shoes for their children and companies are compelled to invest heavily on corporate gifts as public relations gimmicks. The Father Christmas or grandfather frost is introduced to milk parents dry. There is monumental production sales and hypocritical exchange of gifts. The commercial debauchery is further compounded by the deadly bouts of revelry and saturnalian spree. This is accompanied by sexual carousals and shameless licentiousness. Is this what Christmas should be? Is this the way Christmas should be spent? What a shame!
In the political hierarchy are political Executives, Members of Boards, Ministers, Governors, Commissioners,Local Government Chairmen, POLITICAL Appointees, Members of the Judiciary and councillors etc who have apotheosized corruption and have looted the treasury of the people jubilating in ‘THANKSGIVING SERVICES’ in various CHURCHES for escaping with loots from milking the people dry.
The religious leaders, especially Pentecostal Pastors who are founders and sole owners of their churches will be very busy preaching the fear of hell fire and the dangers of not paying your tithes. They then convert the tithes, vows, pledges and donations in acquiring the state of the art cars, jets and palatial edifices for themselves. The Journalists, lawyers and Policemen will be smiling home with hampers and cash from politicians, clients and syndicated criminals. What a shame!
It is clear that Christianity has become completely demonised and sunken in the hot cauldron of commercialism. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour posited that, we can not serve God and Mammon. The world is in a state of moral degeneracy and cocooned in theatrical brummagem because of the greed, tenebrous and rancid hypocrisy inherent in our leadership echelon. How can we conscientiously say we are celebrating Christmas when poverty and disease have become the grandiloquent body guard of 99% of Nigerians and nay Africans. Do the poor know that it is Christmas? We live in a world of tragic contrast between the rich and the poor. Why can’t we see free medical health care delivery system, free education at all levels, good roads, transparency and honesty in leadership and government, instead of propaganda hypes? We need effective transportation system and a new national implosive SURGEONISATION. We want to see our LEADERS launch a steadfast fight against corruption and political skullduggery in Nigeria.Our lack of visionary leadership in Nigeria, Africa and nay our world, Climate change, horrors of COVID-19, Russia/Ukraine war, Israel/ Palestine war, Oil subsidy removal, religious schisms and oil cartels’ conspiracies has precipitated poverty of apocalyptic proportions in our world. All hands must be on deck to forestall these Octopoidal tentacles of genocidal poverty.
Finally as we celebrate Christmas in the frills and thrills of salaciousness and Christlessness, let us spare a thought for the poor in the world. Our celebrations will be hollow if we cannot carry the poor along. We, as a Nation must stand for the truth and altruism. In the nomination acceptance speech of Richard Nixon, he said, “let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth, to see it like it is, and tell it like it is, to find the truth, to speak the truth and to live the truth.” Let us all chant glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good tidings to all mankind: Where are our good tidings to all mankind? Christmas should be spent in the retreat of the Holy of Holies with our conscience and in the presence of our God.
Happy Christmas fellow Nigerians.
Okakuro Bobson Gbinije, Mandate Against Poverty (MAP), Sapele, Delta State.