xlights

Issue #44

Last Update March 2, 2006

New York Turning Off the Christmas Lights by Gert Innsry In the dead of winter, with the days so short and often grey as well, primitive peoples established festivals of lights to lift the darkness. We continue that tradition at Christmas time by festooning Christmas trees, houses and, in the city, apartment windows and terrace railings with tiny lights in great abundance. They first begin appearing in late November, and are gone, with few exceptions, by the end of January.

Deciding to take the lights down is always a saddening experience. The cheerful glow that gladdened the heart is extinguished, and, despite the slowly lengthening days, we are left with the gloom of February, a short month that seems to last forever.

Why not leave the lights up for the whole year, as one or two of my neighbors actually do? The temptation to do so is almost overwhelming, but most of us know, deep in our hearts, that to do so would render the lights too familiar. The everyday would replace the wonderful, and next winter, when we need it most, the sparkling glow will have lost its magic power.

The Jewish holiday of Chanukah avoids this problem by strictly limiting the candles to the eight-day holiday period. Lighting an additional candle each night, the brilliance grows until, at its climax on the eighth night, the nine candles in the menorah (one for each night, plus the one that lights them all) glow brilliantly, then gutter out to leave us to be our own light through January, February and March. The menorah lifts the darkness for far too short a time.

Taking down the Christmas lights is usually treated as an unpleasant chore. We should make it into a ceremony. Perhaps we should perform a short ritual as we disconnect each string, acknowledging the growing darkness, but expressing confidence in the return of the light. Each darkened string could then be laid to rest (neatly) in its own box. When the last string is laid away, a moment of silence in the darkness. Following this, New Years horns, and, as a token of spring, bring up the house lights and serve champagne. Everything looks better and more hopeful in a brightly lit house, with family, friends and champagne.