Fergal Mac Eoinín
It is just not natural! The sight of summer flowers in mid-November is odd. By this time of the year the Dog Daisy should be long wilted but it is in full bloom. As if it were September, the flower is growing strong in Charlestown, near Killeshandra and at Lanesborough. It is almost as if the fauna has become as ignorant of the seasons as we are. Periods of restraint, fasting, prudence and cautiousness have been made obsolete by the fact that the market can now provide every product in any season. The uncomplaining wildflowers are losing out on the respite of winter. It appears that Mother Nature no longer rules their lives. Similarly, as Halloween rolls into Christmas, we hear voices of distress calling out for some human respite while we wonder what rules our own lives.
“If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work,” wrote Shakespeare. That time has arrived. Even though we work we are entertained better than any age before us. Austerity has become the increasingly negative word that describes our inability to have all the things we are told we need. It is a very isolating concept for a person who has to work out what they won’t buy this week if they go for a coffee with a friend. Living within our means should is a chore but goodness and kindness are free. It is these that make a bleak world wonderful.
Traditionally, November was a month dedicated to the memory of the dead. It was a sombre time. As winter loomed, families sat back a little from the table and adapted their lifestyles for a period of austerity. Historically it was a time when choices were limited and excesses unwise. It would also be a time of planning for a feast at mid-winter that marked the turning point towards hopeful spring. Christmas was Ireland’s light at the end of the tunnel. It was no harm to await its arrival with joy during a time of restraint. It might be less relevant in an era where every day can be Christmas but its relevance is real for many of us still. We need hope.
It is at times like these that we look for a leader, an idea, a windfall or anything that will lift us out of our misery. There is probably no other time when people can be as generally vulnerable as they are during this waiting period. Our story so far has shown that these rarely arrive. It is good therefore to remember the ones who did. It is almost 2,000 years since Jesus lived and died and his teachings still inspire and lead many people. There are few who contradict him. No harm for anybody to remember him and honour him in hard times. Tomorrow we celebrate his influence for good with a human accolade; we acknowledge him as our king.
The traditional glitter and kitsch that is the pageantry of monarchy comes now in the form of tinsel and fairy lights. It is both an expression of joyful hope in the reign of goodness and hopeful joy in its fulfilment. How the market behaves is irrelevant to this. Personal faith might not be at its strongest these days but the desire for it is still rampant. Small moments, where we remember Christ as the light to guide our lives, are essential when we find ourselves at out wits’ end so often. The decorations and preparations, the hawking and squawking, the waiting and hoping for the birth of the King are actually really good.