Xmas - not on the cards!
[This piece was written as part of a series of four pieces for My Kolkata. Published on December 7, 2023. You can read it with all the videos, images, bells and whistles ONLINE ]
Christmas not on the (greeting) cards — a traditionalist reminisces
An author reflects on a once-staple Xmas tradition that is fast fading away
Every year around this time there is a sort
of resurrection of ancient traditions in the Christian households. One is
consistently reminded of Charles Dickens’
A Christmas Carol and its
Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Some of these ghosts have long
been put to bed by the new spirits. The spirit of giving is rivalled only by
the spirit that attracts excise duty from the off shops. The Christmas Spirit
is changing .. or should I say the XMas spirit?
For years families like ours were schooled
into believing that we should not use the word Xmas instead of Christmas. Why, I hear you ask? Was it a conscious
attempt to take Christ out of Christmas and replace it with “x” the great
unknown? Fortunately, times have changed
and history indicates that X could indeed stand for Christ. But that X
continues to remain unknown to the vast hordes of revellers across the world. Last year I was appalled to see messages in
Christmas lights which appeared to be appropriating the season. They read:
“Meri Xmas” - it’s all mine! And in some
countries they have banned the use of Xmas or Christmas and it’s now Happy
Holidays! So what else has changed?
He's Making a List
Way before Christmas, I recall, there was a
list created, and sometimes pulled out from yellowing and decaying files from
Christmases past. This list had nothing to do with good old Santa’s naughty and
nice inventory. This was the list of Christmas Cards that needed to be sent. I
am old enough to remember that there were “Sea Mail” lists and “Airmail” lists
- arranged by distance of distant relatives, mostly living abroad. Once the
lists were sorted, the cards that were likely to take the longest to reach would
be scheduled first.
Cards were ‘selected’ from the New Market -
some depicting nativity scenes, some depicting Santa and his elves and some
just carrying meaningful messages. The
selection process itself was quite elaborate.
Find the card that had the right look and feel on the front, open it to
read the words and see how appropriate they were, decide whom you could send it
to and then hold onto it while you ticked your list. A different card for each person or family
for whom you were shopping. The holier cards were selected from the St Paul’s
Publications bookshop on Royd Street. These went to the galaxy of priests and
nuns in our lives.
Checking it Twice
Back home, large Catholic families like
ours were involved in conveyor belt production of cards. Mums would check the
list, select the card, address it to the family concerned and then pass it
round the table for us to write our names in after the “love from”. Some cards
were just sent from “the family”. But
once the cards were all done - there was a daily quota - then it was Dad’s
turn. Early next morning, 11 a.m. in
post office terms, he would head over and stand in the line for postage
stamps. All the USA cards got the same
value, as did the UK and other countries.
He would then head to the “sticky counter” which had some evil looking
green glue to help attach the stamps to the envelopes. Even back then, the licking
type of glue that came free didn’t really work. Sticking done, it was back to
the line to deposit the cards and have them “crossed”. Later I discovered it was just so the postman
didn’t detach the stamps and chuck the cards in a bin. Recycled stamps were
apparently a thing back in the day.
The Memory of an Old Christmas Card
While card dispatch was a major operation,
card receiving was filled with wonder and delight. They came in ones and twos,
then bunches closer to burra din. We did not sense any connection with
those huge bundles of cards in the postman’s hand and the ever-widening smile
on his face! On Christmas Day itself, in
our house, he got his reward: a sit-down tea, cake and kulkul session followed by a “thank you” envelope. And envelopes
were aplenty - with stamps intact. The
cards themselves were lovingly strung up on lines which crisscrossed the living
room. As the years went by, relatives
fell by the wayside, cards grew less till we were left stringing last year’s
greetings on the same string just to make up the number. A couple of
long-awaited cards would arrive in February but that’s a story for another
post, no pun intended.
And now it’s gone. Few, if any, cards reach
our letter box and the postman might still arrive for his cake, but with empty
hands. Carefully thought out Christmas
Emails used to be sent with accompanying pictures of the family till very
recently. But that, too, has passed.
Today, enterprising and under-employed, creative graphic designers make sure
you have enough GIFs and images to select and forward to your entire broadcast
list. You can find readymades on various platforms from Canva to 123Greetings
and even one named Paperless Post, in a flash of brilliance. This results in
your WhatsApp inbox being subjected to multiple copies of the attractive
greetings, some of which you are tempted to forward once more. The more
enterprising lot invest in those “click here to read the message” links which
invariably pop up the same greetings but with your name on it.
Merry e-Christmas & D-I-Y
On the plus side, everyone is wishing
everyone else instead of selecting people to be wished. Everyone celebrates
everyone else’s festivals, so it’s like national integration on steroids - or
the TV company that says “Everyone’s invited”.
While spring cleaning next year you don’t need to think about whether
you should junk the card, save it for the wishes, for the picture or because it
might be the last you get from your aunt. You just long-press and delete! And
look at the time and money saved on the postage stamp saga!
If you’ve lasted this long in my badly
disguised rant, then here’s some good news. The old art of making greeting
cards is not lost. There are still
several schools and organisations that encourage the children in their care to
make their own cards. And families too.
I recall days when we would sit at home and create our own cards -- own
artwork, own words, own sentiment, emotion, and our own mess! This was all highly appreciated by those at
the receiving end, and not as highly as the adults at home who had to clean up.
I believe, like Shakespeare’s quality of mercy, our cards were twice blessed -
they blessed those that created them as well as those who received them.
Some of the schools, especially those for
differently-abled children, actually take the artwork created by the children
and print them onto cards. People buy
packs of these cards to help the cause and the cycle begins again. The Spirit
of Giving suddenly re-appears in a wider and more benevolent form with warmth
going out with the wishes as never before.
Social causes get highlighted, organisations are prepared to buy these
cards in bulk, print their own names and messages inside and send them out to
customers, vendors and well-wishers.
So before you click send on your WhatsApp
broadcast list, do give a thought to the art of sending personalised greeting
cards by snail mail - at the very least it might give your local postman an
excuse to drop in for tea and cake!
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