The house has gone quiet now that the Christmas festivities are over (not all – there was a Santhal Christmas Mass in the house philosophers' chapel this morning). Over half of the scholastic
s have now gone back to their Provinces to celebrate New Year's in the provinces, home visits etc.
The main Christmas programme in the house began at
10:30pm on Christmas Eve with the Hindi Mass. The music was largely in the Central Indian style (distinct from the Punjabi bhajans you'd hear in a Hindi Mass in Delhi, for instance). A few of the scholastics (particularly those who weren't feeling too well with the cold snap Pune's being having recently) stayed around to attend. The Mass and following function was organised by the tribal Jesuit scholastics of
DNC.
The main celebrant was Fr. Thomas Kuriakose SJ (Delhi Province), who teaches Church History here at JDV. About 300-400 people must've turned up: the chapel was overflowing and there were people standing in the hallway. Following Mass, there was coffee, cake and tribal dancing! My Phenomenology professor calls dance “the interplay between motion and stillness” - but I doubt there was much stillness in the tribal dance! A few courageous scholastics manfully tried to master the increasingly intricate steps that our tribal brothers and sisters flowed into so effortlessly. The dance went on till about two in the morning, by my reckoning.
The following morning there was no morning wake-up bell in the house. The community Christmas Mass was a sober but cheerful event at 11 a.m., presided over by the Rector himself. Instead of the usual homily, we had an extended period of praying for intentions, particularly remembering those we had prayed for at other times in the year.
After Mass came the DNC Christmas gathering. We sang a few carols, played some silly games and received gifts. Then Christmas lunch – mutton biryani, chicken curry, vegetables and ice-cream. Unfortunately one of our theologian-scholastics got a rather large bone stuck in his throat while swallowing and had to be rushed to hospital (he's fine now and back with us). The afternoon was free for visiting friends etc.
For most Christians, Christmas is the time for being with family, remembering what our loved ones mean to us and (hopefully) evaluating our priorities to see if our families still come first. For consecrated, that togetherness is found in our communities. It is a really sad thing for a person to be alone and lonely at Christmas. The truth of Gabriel Marcel's dictum “esse is co-esse” is incontrovertible at Christmas. Being is being-with; to exist is to co-exist, with others.
Dear Kensy,
ReplyDeleteForgive me for saying so, but occasionally you make references that are hard to understand for a European. For instance, what do you mean by "tribal" in an Indian context ? It would be interesting if you would write something about how Indian society is structured. And about language and history in India.You could make a mini-course of it, spun over a number of episodes, if and when you do not have much to write about on other accounts...I for one would find it fascinating. As well, how do you react to all this as an Indian who has spent much of his life outside India ? I remember you gave a (much too short) presentation in the noviceship about Indian society and Christian rites in India.... Best wishes for the new year...hoping to read more from your pen over the coming months...Denis.