The city of Strasbourg has been dubbed “La Capitale de Noel”
for good reason. She was all decked-out for Christmas during the month of
December. Her streets were strung with lights and nearly every store and shop
had its windows decorated. The Strasbourg Christmas Markets (Marchés de Noël) held
hundreds of vendors in little cabins, selling their Christmas gifts, crafts and
treats. Everywhere, people strolled along sipping warm mulled wine (vin chaud)
and musicians filled the streets with songs. There is no denying the fact that
it was festive. Approximately 1.7 million visitors were expected this year for Strasbourg’s
Marchés de Noël. That’s a lot of hoopla for an event that marks the birth of
Christ, considering that according to one poll, 33% of French people
identify themselves as atheist, 14% as agnostic, and 26% as “indifferent” in their religious beliefs.
It’s really interesting, living in such
a secular society, to observe the way people spend so much energy on a
religious holiday. Why go to all that trouble? Why the lights, the decorations,
the gifts, the spectacle? Even after Christmas is over, there comes another
religious holiday here in the region of Alsace, the celebration of Epiphany. This marks the time that the Magi
followed the star to Jesus, and it is a fairly big celebration here. A certain
type of cake (La Galette des Rois, or the King’s Cake) is served throughout the
month of January, and a little porcelain or plastic favor or figurine is placed
in the cake. If you’re the lucky one who gets the little guy in your piece of
cake, you get to wear a crown and you are King or Queen for the day. According
to tradition, you then get to boss people around for the day. Word to the wise: watch your dental work!
And now, here we are, back to our calmer,
more “normal” lives. The store windows are back to their usual décor, the
lights have been mostly taken down, and the little cabanas of the Christmas
markets are nowhere to be seen. Time to put away the decorations. The last
crumb from the Christmas cookies is long gone. The Christmas carols will not be
sung for another 11 months or so.
So, why all the fuss? For those of us
who follow Christ, this season can be a beautiful reminder of the wonder of His
incarnation. BOOM. God with us. Some people would argue that all the festivity
surrounding Christmas is out-of-place because Jesus came without fanfare, had a common man and woman as his parents, and was
born in a stable, in an anonymous way. I
would have to say that they would be only partially correct. His arrival was
not, in fact, without fanfare. What do you call an angel who appears to his
mother and his father before he was even born? Kind of a big deal, right? What
do you call a multitude of the heavenly host appearing in the skies near
Bethlehem to proclaim, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth,
goodwill to men”? I can’t remember the last time I saw a bunch of angels making
an announcement. And later on, what do
you think of an unexplainable star that shows up in the sky? It was crazy
enough to attract the attention of those three wise dudes.
So, really, Jesus did arrive with a bit
of “hoopla”, just not the kind that we are used to experiencing at Christmas. For
those who call themselves Christ-followers, the Marchés de Noël may have been
festive and lovely, but after the lights and glitz and activity are over, we still
celebrate the Light that will never go out.
P.S. I can hardly wait to see what they
do for Easter around here!
