In Malta we prefer faith to be private. We like our religion and our politics in two discrete categories, as if that is possible, as if one's religion can be divorced from one's values and life.
Normally, politics and Christmas Day should be kept apart. It's a day when you should have your mind on higher questions, like why your sister always gives you socks and how some new electronic gadget could possibly come without batteries. Unfortunately, however, December 25 can sometimes be intimately interwoven with the grubby world of politics.
History amply illustrates this. The biblical Christmas story, the one that announces the birth of Jesus, seems so sweet that it can appear almost saccharine. It is so often told as a children's story, and a sentimental one at that. Yet it is deeply political and has been from the beginning. The oldest extant texts to record the birth of Jesus go out of their way to locate him in his political setting. Moreover, they portray him as a threat to that empire.
The events inside St Peter's Basilica on December 25, 800, were supreme political theatre. Charlemagne, the superhumanly tall, pot-bellied, meat-guzzling king of the Franks, knelt down to pray; Pope Leo III supposedly sneaked up and popped a crown on his head, while the Roman congregation proclaimed him emperor. It was the start of a political dominion over Christendom.
The coronation of England's conqueror, William, duke of Normandy, more aptly known as William the Bastard, took place in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066. Interpreting the roars of acclamation inside the abbey as an assassination attempt, the soldiers panicked, set fire to neighbouring buildings and whipped up a dangerous mob. It was a fitting beginning to Norman rule.
The puritanical parliamentarians on the winning side of the fratricidal English civil war of the 17th century made a grave mistake when they shared the view that Christmas was a non-biblical excuse for carousing and tried to axe it. In 1647, the Killjoys outlawed a hearty English Christmas of carols, yuletide ales, roast goose, mince pies, plum puddings and dancing. Festive church services were banned, and shops had to remain open. Christmas was meant to be as dull as any other drizzly December day. The ban on Christmas only deepened the unpopularity of Oliver Cromwell's short-lived republic. By 1660, the monarchy was back. In 1661, Cromwell's corpse was dug up, hanged and clumsily decapitated in eight hacks.
By the winter of 1776, fiery-tempered former tobacco farmer George Washington needed a victory that would rekindle wavering belief among his rapidly dwindling army that a revolt against the British could succeed. It was a make-or-break moment. It all came good in a high-risk raid across the ice-choked Delaware River on the night of December 25, under the cover of flurries of sleet and snow.
For many of us, the most dramatic political event over Christmas was the Romanian revolution and the startlingly prompt execution of dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu, along with his wife Elena, on December 25, 1989. At the time, the outside world guessed this was a straightforward yarn about the failure of European communism and about a despot with a taste for luxury being overthrown by starving people ground down by one of Eastern Europe's most paranoid and cruel police states.
I might be cheating a little on this one, as Christmas Day in Russia is January 7, but this list would hardly be complete without the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev as the last Soviet leader on December 25, 1991. At 7:32 p.m., the Soviet flag over the Kremlin was lowered for the last time. It's also a night that today's President Vladimir Putin is in no mood to celebrate. When asked in 2018 what historical event he would like to change, he immediately fired back: "The collapse of the Soviet Union."
As the song says, Christmas is "the most wonderful time of the year"-a time when (supposedly) everyday problems are put aside and people find inner peace in the comfort of their homes while being surrounded by friends and family members. However, the situation is not always so in politics, where the fire of conflict (from the chimney) is still sparked by more or less subtle remarks regarding the opposition or individuals who share different ideas and values. Some politicians choose to antagonise "the other side," while others present themselves in a superior and more moralistic light, but they all capitalise on the winter holidays to promote their message.
It can be hard to stray from the seductiveness of political debates, especially when you are strongly opinionated. This year, in a high political climate with Christmas around the corner, it can be difficult to find topics to discuss during those gatherings with relatives you haven't seen since last year. Inevitably, that one family member or invited friend will bring up a controversial political topic at the dinner table, and a massive argument will break out. Some words will be exchanged, yelling might occur and, in some cases, a relative may get up and leave.
Let Christmas be a time for forgiveness, peace and happiness. Great expectations are in the air, but they can easily be dampened if we lower our guard against the contagious political virus ready to infiltrate our homes.
Politics dictates our lives 365 days of the year. Let Christmas be the one day we simply have fellowship and celebrate the true meaning of the season-the birth of our Lord and Saviour. He is worthy of celebration and deserves more attention than our political opinions.
Dr Mark Said is a lawyer