Christmas, 7 January 2019
A Christmas greeting, and a note on the carollers who now knock on apartment doors instead of village gates.
A happy Christmas to everyone marking it today.
The carolling I first encountered here was a village practice: a group moving between houses across a yard, in the cold, with a star on a pole. What I mostly see now is the city version, which is a group of teenagers in a stairwell working through eleven floors, and the acoustics are extraordinary.
People complain about it and then leave the door open. The money and sweets collected mostly go to whatever the group has decided to fund that year, which is a modern addition and a good one.
A tradition moving from a farmyard to a stairwell without losing anything essential is doing well. The performers changed, the setting changed, the songs did not.
Peace to your house, and a good evening tonight.
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