What’s Christmas to you?

By Rashika Fazali

To me, Christmas means getting my hands on the best bargains in the city while looking forward to all the other wonderful events like Christmas lunches, dinners and getting gifts. It is quite extraordinary how Christmas is celebrated all around the world by all. Long gone are the days when only Catholics celebrated Christmas. Today Christmas has become a commercialised event and everyone celebrates it just like they celebrate New Year.

I’ve come across many people, despite their religion and culture, buying gifts for their friends, colleagues, etc, indulging themselves in the Christmas lunches and dinners or just speaking about Christmas lovingly like it is their own festival.

But people have their own definitions of what Christmas means to them. So, I spoke to a few well-known entertainers in Sri Lanka to find out their definition of Christmas.

Popular singer and model Natasha Rathnayake noted that for her, Christmas is not about Christmas trees, fancy decorations or the white bearded man in the red suit.

She explained, “I feel the true meaning of Christmas is genuine love – unconditional love, love only God knew how to show us through his son Jesus Christ. So I’d like to encourage everyone this festive season to always put aside all your differences and love one another like you would want to be loved in return.”

Meanwhile, Flame Vocalist Anne Jayamanne had a slightly different view about Christmas. She said, “To me, Christmas is about eating my mum’s best Christmas stuffing on Christmas day! It is also a time to be generous and to give those who need the most.”

Also speaking to Veteran entertainer Ronnie Leitch, he revealed, “To me, Christmas means eating, drinking and being merry. Christmas has become a commercialised event today and it is not what it used to be when we were kids. To enjoy a happy Christmas, I would love to share a meal with my family or with a child or two who cannot have this meal.”

His opinion differing in more than one way, producer, songwriter and singer Azi Sherif stated that Christmas for him is a time for “heart make” and “heart break”. He also added, “It is a time for reminding those who you love just how much you love them and a time to celebrate humanity and its true purpose of existence.”

Christmas is also a time for love and Former Miss Universe Sri Lanka Stephanie Siriwardhana is also thinking along the same lines. She said, “I think Christmas is all about being together with the people we love and appreciating one another. I normally love to host the family Christmas dinner and cook all the food myself. In that way it’s more personal and a lot of love goes into the meal.”

Last not but least, Drummer Diren Sabaratnam stated, “Christmas for me is a time for reunion when family and friends from all over get together and celebrate. As a musician, it is the busiest and most rewarding time of the year. But surpassing all the glitz and glamour of Christmas is the simple act of love through the birth of the Christ later perfected on the cross.”

Merry Christmas!