If I comprehend well the latest public statements describing the incidence of poverty in Malta, it seems that its spread has narrowed. However cases have emerged where the problem arises at a much greater concentration than previously. It has also been said that though in our society, many lead “prosperous” lives, the gap has increased between the truly better off and the down and outs.

The suspicion is that not all poverty results from bad luck in the pursuit of everyday affairs, though such a scenario cannot be ignored. However there could be modes of behaviour and expectation among some social strata that inevitably encourage conditions which engender poverty. Among these one could mention an antipathy towards schooling and an “excessive” dependence on the social services provided by the state.

Poverty is unacceptable in all its forms and in no matter which social category. If cultural elements remain in place to fan it, no society, no matter how well prepared, will succeed to completely eradicate poverty.

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Going abroad

The revolution in behaviour patterns introduced by low cost airlines is still proceeding. The short trip abroad that is taken more frequently than the longer paced “summer” tour has invaded the Christmas and New Year holidays.

It could happen that these will no longer serve as occasions during which whole families meet up, as would happen not so long ago. If relatives have fanned out towards London, Disneyland, Venice and Crete, they will find it difficult to find a day to meet when all are available.

The distribution of presents to children plus all the symbols that go with that ceremony, including Father Christmas himself, would have to change in scope from that of yesterday. There would be no other option if family reunions for Christmas must be done via Skype or Messenger.

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Gifts

The customs we follow to give presents to each other at Christmastime do remind one of the rituals that according to prestigious studies, are practised by members of “primitive” tribes in faraway regions when they make gifts to their fellows in the same tribe, to members of other tribes, or to visting anthropologists.

Every gift carries its particular meaning, according to who is offering it, to the the recipient and to the rationale for the offer. Most important of all, the offer of any gift signals not the end of a relationship between two people, but its continuance. Ties should persist and develop, in ways that carry obligations and mutual accomodations between donor and recipient.   

In the ongoing exchanges, with the arrival of the internet and the options for online gift offers that it enables, the rather complicated trades that ensue can be more easily reduced to monetary terms. Vouchers from Amazon, Ryanair and a thousand other sites that provide an easy way of gifting without one having to leave home, are surely making life easier for anthropologists interested in studying how the exchanges of modern civilisation are recording advances for the better on those developed by Neolithic society.

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The best of Christmas to all.