I’ve been asked by a few
people why I haven’t written a festive Blog this year, so I thought I’d better
grab an hour from the busy day to put a few words down and upload some photos.
Initially, I was going to write about how ‘Father Christmas’ or Santa Claus,
got his name brand recognition, why people all over the world know his name and
general character in one form or other and follow the custom of giving gifts at
this time of year. But if you want to know about all that you can easily Google
it. So, instead I’ll just let you know what Christmassy type things I’ve been
up to lately.
There have been parties and
gatherings galore over this festive period, and I received so many invites I
couldn’t possibly have attended everything. Fortunately, I have some wonderful
friends who insisted on coming round to ensure I didn’t have a lonely Christmas
night.
I quickly tossed some shrimp on the barbie, with Cajun seasoning and
grilled veggies, a massive portion of my special nachos (is this a traditional
Christmas dinner? one Turkish friend asked, to much bemused laughter)
and melt-in-the-middle chocolate puddings with hot cherries and
sauce, accompanied by Baileys and other assorted tasty festive treats.
After the hectic weeks
leading up to the celebrations I could do with a rest and a few days just
chilling, but New Years Eve on the beach after the party in a fabulous
restaurant in the heart of the Old Town of Kaleici was simply amazing.
A few
days ago I attended a friends birthday lunch in Lara after returning from the airport to collect my wife, who was off on yet another whirlwind holiday trip abroad. I spent several days running around shopping malls this past week
(anyone who knows me knows I really don’t like these massive consumer palaces),
while entertaining, visiting friends, going to late night parties (nothing
starts before about 10pm here) and completing my class schedule – no time off
for Christmas in Turkey, so thank goodness for two days off at New Year.
How did all this mayhem and
magic begin one often hears people say, so I’ve included a little sample of the
stories behind the man we call Saint Nick.
Nicholas
was born over 1500 years ago in the town of Patara, near Antalya, along the now
Turkish Mediterranean coast. His father died when he was young, leaving
Nicholas a vast fortune. Instead of spending it on himself, Nicholas started
anonymously donating the money to the poor, especially needy children. He rose
through the Byzantine ranks of the Church to become the Bishop of Myra
(modern-day Demre in Turkey), where he is credited with performing several
miracles, including saving sailors from drowning and resurrecting three boys
who had been killed by an evil butcher. Today, St. Nicholas is the patron saint
of children, sailors, teachers, students and merchants. 
The
most famous anecdotal fable of Saint Nicholas concerns a poor man (often said
to be a nobleman fallen on hard times) who had three daughters. The daughters
had no chance of marriage, since their father could not pay for a dowry. One
night Nicholas left a sack of gold on the doorstep of the nobleman's house,
which was enough for one daughter's marriage. The next night, he tossed another
sack of gold through the window for the second daughter. On the third night,
the window was closed, so the Bishop climbed onto the roof and dropped the sack
down the chimney. The next morning, the daughters found the gold in the
stockings they had hung to dry by the fireplace, thus starting the tradition of hanging stockings on Christmas Eve, and also the
symbol of three gold balls hanging outside pawnshops.
There is an actual 4th
or 5th century Saint Nicholas’s church in Demre, Turkey, complete
with statues of Bishop Nicholas surrounded by children and carrying gifts,
which is now a museum selling icons and bars of soap and coffee mugs with
pictures of the historic site hand-painted on them. I recently took a drive
along the coast to visit the birthplace of the revered saint, stopping near the
town for some freshly prepared blue crabs that are famously farmed in lowland
region where the high rugged mountains push against the sea.
Over the week of 6th
December, St Nicholas day, scientists, religious representatives and peace
activists arrive in Demre along with the usual busloads of Russian tourists for the annual Santa Claus Peace Award,
and of course, various local and international officials make a big deal of their openness,
generosity and humanitarian stance.Anyway, before I digress too far into history and the politics of religion, overall it’s been a busy and exciting year for me, with many changes and adventures, travel and work, performing and writing.
Since beginning the year by driving through the snow covered hills of Bulgaria, flying back and forth to the UK to teach and take courses, living on the Aegean and teaching in a small college, I’ve travelled into the canyons of Cappadocia and down the Mediterranean coast and over the Toros mountains to the beautiful beaches of cosmopolitan Antalya where I’ve been blessed with wonderful opportunities and met so many interesting and charming people who have made me feel so welcome and loved.
Various regions of the nation
definitely recognise the holiday in completely different ways. In the little
town I was living in last year, none of my students or fellow teachers did
anything special for the holiday and many didn’t know Saint Nicholas was from
Turkey, or what night was the ‘new year’. Whereas in Antalya people go to New
Year parties, dress up and exchange gifts, dance and sing and drink and fall in
love over a hectic seasonal schedule filled with the Western activities
associated with this time of year, shopping and get-togethers and hot wine and
decorated trees.
Noel Baba (Father Christmas)
is the Turkish version of Père Noël, the French name for the widely celebrated
figure of New Year celebrations. Noel Baba is the bearer of gifts to children and adults alike for the
New Year.
Just like the Christian Christmas celebration, in Turkey the jolly red-suited and white bearded man is
expected to leave his gifts under a pine tree called New Year Tree. The story
of Christmas, and the celebration of New Year gets rather muddled for most
Turkish people, many of whom think New Year is Christmas – they even use
pictures of Santa Claus in advertisements for New Year’s Eve parties! Though, naturally, they can't figure out how the West confused him with the birth of Jesus.
So, this festive season,
between Christmas celebrations with an entertaining group of friends from
America, Britain, Turkey, France and Australia, a blow-out birthday party for a
colleague, the folly of New Year gift giving, shopping and work, I’ve also been
entangled in a series of personal life-changing decisions. Too busy to savour
much personal ‘me’ time lately I’ve resolved to take a little time to consider
some future choices, and get back into my regime of exercise and meditation and
healthy eating. However, I’m going to start planning a Far East holiday
soon, I need it! I’ll visit my son in China, or sail along the Vietnamese
coast, or just spend some time at the full moon parties in Thailand.
At this time in the New
Year, as reflections of the past glimmer like incandescent snowflakes gusting
along the tops of the jagged peaked mountains, disappearing into glacial drifts,
we look expectantly toward a better future; a new year with a new number and a
new name to create the illusion of potential prosperity and success, the hopeful thoughts of a new day.
On this day every year, as everyone hibernates for the day, to recollect and calm the frayed nerves that have frazzled in the excitement of too many days of parties and too many weeks of anticipation, I simply try to feel the capacity for love we all have, put aside the animosity and fear and troubled thoughts to open my heart to the possibilities of this wonderful life, and tell myself that hope is a word for optimistic anticipation – of the potential and promise of a New Year.
I dream that it can be a year when war and suffering
end, a year when poverty and unnecessary pain end, and the sadness of
broken hearts is reconciled with the thankfulness of moments shared in the
honesty of true and lasting affection. There wasn't a magical transformation on the 21st of December, as many thought was predicted. And why should people expect such intervention that releases us from the responsibility of working for peace and social equity? If there is to be a transformation it has to come from within us, it has to spread out around the world as people come together in love and the spirit of giving, the joy of living and the honesty of shared feelings of friendship.
Love to all my friends near and far .. have a great season of joy and peace .. seek the discovery of love and all its subtle pleasures .. and have fun, laugh and enjoy every moment of this fleeting existence - life is love ..
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