Is Christmas eating into the Easter pie?

The question stems from a pre-Christmas debate about Santa sidelining Christ.

Last month, this newspaper reported how many Catholics in Mumbai, including priests, felt that Santa Claus has sidelined the central figure of Christmas — Christ.

One of them was a former principal of St Xavier’s College, Fr Joseph Dias, who felt that too much importance was being given to Santa Claus during Christmas.

Another priest from a Mulund church, Fr Anil Rego, wrote in the community newsweekly Examiner that secular motifs like Santa and his snow sledge were taking over the festival imagery and creating an impression that the festival was about Santa and the Christmas tree.

Post Christmas, another priest, a Jesuit from Pune has said that Christmas celebrations are overshadowing other equally, if not more, important religious events like Easter.

In his essay ‘Overcelebrating Christmas and Undercelebrating Easter’, Fr Cyril Desbruslais who teaches philosophy at a Pune seminary said that Christmas, like many religious festivals of other communities, has become an event to sell things.

“Looking at the way Christmas is celebrated, many non-Christians may get the impression that Christmas is our biggest festival,” says Desbruslais.

According to the priest, Easter, which is the main Christian feast, is treated like a poor relative. “Easter is a bigger festival as it about hope,” he says.

This does not mean that Easter is a bigger festival than Christmas because it has a message, adds Debruslais. Christmas too has a message - making others happy.

“I would like to emphasise the basic idea of Christmas which is to spread happiness and not just making themselves happy,” he added.

While the other priests who put forward their views feel that Christmas is getting increasingly secularised (not the Indian interpretation of word), Debruslais has no such complaints.

To give other religious events like Easter their due, he has suggested that people should create new Easter customs and traditions.

As a counterpart to the universal Christmas symbols of the crib and the decorated tree, he has wondered whether homes could host an ‘empty tomb’ installation to symbolise the resurrection.

All these suggestions, he has emphasised, do not mean that community members should throw out old Christmas
traditions.