Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 22/12/2024 04:57

‘Tis the season for giving

Deck the halls, let’s be merry, 'tis the season to be jolly. Not that we in TT – for all our stresses and strains – need much excuse to celebrate and to make the best of things. One of the abiding aspects of the Christmas season is the exchanging of gifts. We follow the example of the three biblical kings, Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar, who, according to the gospel of Matthew, took gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus after following a guiding star that led them to the stable where He lay. They were not random gifts. Gold was because Jesus was a king and gold signified wealth. As for the other two gifts, my online research tells me frankincense is a natural ingredient that comes from a tree and in ancient times was used in religious and spiritual rituals as a symbol of holiness and righteousness. The wise king may not have known it then, but it has anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, and potentially other health benefits. And myrrh, “a gum-resin extracted from a few small, thorny tree species of the Commiphora genus” was used in ancient wisdom in medicine, perfumery and incense to purify places, harmonise energies and communicate with the gods. They were all well-considered gifts that the child Jesus received to mark his birth. Of course, gift-giving has been so commercialised that quite often the gifts we receive during this festive season are merely gestures. And if you have a Christmas-time birthday, as I do, as a child you learn pretty fast that the token (two only if you are lucky) will have very little relevance to your desires. Some overworked relative just ticked you off from a longlist of names. In our sizeable extended family, we had a sweet, generous and very sociable aunt who gave everyone she knew a Christmas gift. She started her Christmas shopping as one Christmas ended, and stored and wrapped the items throughout the year. She added to the pile some of the unwanted items from the endless number of reciprocal gifts she had received. Unfortunately, she did not keep track, and some gifts found their previous owners. We laughed, because it was the gesture that mattered most, and she was always sharing lovingly, all year long. At our traditional Christmas Day family gathering we gradually discouraged the gift-giving, because there just was no room under the tree for the number of gifts stacking up for up to 25 people. I miss it, though, because both the giving and accepting of presents are important elements of human life. Giving is known to reduce stress, anxiety, and feelings of isolation and to lead to greater overall well-being, even though Christmas shopping can be an ordeal. All giving requires effort, and regardless of the gift itself, we feel good about sharing and the sacrifice. Receiving, on the other hand, can feel uncomfortable, sometimes embarrassing. I feel awkward about the transactional nature of seasonal exchanges, perhaps because of my childhood experience. But that may be ungenerous, because we have to believe that when someone presents a gift, they derive pleasure from our joy in receiving it. I have so far this year received three surprise packages from friends, and they really delighted me, more than I expected, although I know they won’t contain diamonds and pearls. They were completely unanticipated and I am extremely grateful for having been thought of with kindness. We were taught that giving should not be seasonal, and in TT we are very generous in informal ways: we share easily and, for example, we unstintingly care for neighbours and other people’s children. But we have no history or culture of philanthropy – giving to good causes – except to the churches. The Christian churches, from early on, tied the faithful to them through tithes – regularly giving part of one’s wealth to them – and up to today, all religions rely on the financial support of their followers. They encourage that the giving be joyfully done. In Islam the giving of alms is a very basic duty of each follower. It is essential for their participation in the faith and it makes them accountable to themselves and their God. In TT, our natural generosity is slowly extending to supporting civil-society bodies. For all of them, and those which receive little or no state funding, in particular, the giving needs to be regular and intentional. Non-profit organisations depend on gifting to deliver the projects that quietly aid the normal functioning of our society. This is an outstanding area of our development that needs highlighting, since our society is becoming more fragmented as trust wanes. We know fewer of our neighbours and the challenges have multiplied. Promoting year-long giving should be on the “to-do” list of TT's many charitable organisations in 2025. Happy Christmas wishes to you. The post ‘Tis the season for giving appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.