Please share with us your experience of your first Christmas in a different culture.
Here are some questions you may like to consider:
What were the major differences in how Christmas was celebrated there?
Did you feel homesick?
Any amusing encounters or incidences to tell?
Perhaps you may have advice you can pass on to others who will be spending their first Christmas abroad on the mission field?
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Actually, this is the story of my second Christmas in my adopted land. An amusing incident I wrote about under the title, "Good Medicine," referring, of course, to laughter. :-)
My first Christmas in another culture was when we went to Morocco to see family. On Christmas Day, absolutely nothing happened, everyone went to work and school as normal, which felt very strange.
In the house, we shared small presents and sung some carols. Around lunchtime we noticed a wedding outside, so we all went up on the roof to watch. The wedding procession went up the main street, with donkeys and animals in tow - quite a sight!
It was odd having no hype of any kind and no public awarement of the significance of the day, but it was really nice having an intimate gathering in the house. Very special, and certainly remembered!
My first Christmas away I was 19 and it was my first year of studying and preparing for mission in Europe at Redcliffe College in England. But I didn't stay in England for Christmas-- I went to Normandy in France to spend it with the family of a foreign exchange student my family had hosted when I was 17, called Tiphaine. She had a big family, 6 brothers and sisters, and they lived in an enchanting 300 year old gate house for what were now castle ruins. Coming from a big family myself, I thought being in a family for Christmas would be ideal. And it was lovely, but might have been more lovely had I been able to speak more of the language! I struggled throughout the week with deep loneliness and homesickness with it being my first Christmas away from my family, but compounded intensely by constantly sitting around awkwardly, unable to communicate with anyone! In actuality, more of Tif's family could communicate in English than were willing to admit...
We spent Christmas Eve at Tiphaine's Aunt and Uncle's. Her Auntie was very kind to me and spoke much English for me. Before she was married, she was a sort of nun who worked with Mother Theresa in Calcutta! We went to Christmas Eve mass in a beautiful village cathedral which was so full we couldn't all find seats. It was beautiful... The whole experience. The liturgy in French, singing along to French Christmas hymns, the starlit sky upon exiting the huge old cathedral with the crowds of people who only ever visit it once a year... I felt so alone, yet Christ was so near.
On Christmas day we visited the coast, the cliffs tall and dramatic and white against the cerulean sea. We continued on to their family's castle. Yes, a castle. With all the cousins and aunts and uncles milling around the gargantuan rooms, drinking champagne from pretty long-stemmed glasses. Again, I couldn't speak to anyone and felt awkward and alone, but I was spending Christmas in a castle, so I could hardly complain :)
We had a third Christmas celebration at Tif's Grandparents home the next day. In many ways, it was the most familiar day of them all-- Grandma's house, young cousins scurrying about, a beautifully-laid feast. But by the end of the day, we all sat around the Christmas tree and one of the cousins picked up the guitar and everyone began to sing and my heart was ACHING for my own family. My time in France was full of awkward loneliness, some encounters with some very rude Frenchmen making vulgar propositions, and a visit to Paris that was soaking wet and cold and a little big magic-less, but my lowest moment of my Christmas in France was locking myself in the grandmother's bathroom that evening to have a right cry and wonder again at the life I had chosen, or He had chosen me for. But it was in that moment that He comforted me the most with His strength, reminding me again that my truest Home is in Him, and so I can go anywhere and be there... It's a lesson that He continually teaches and it emboldens and encourages and holds me still.
My only advice in this, like in all things, is just to look to Him. Trust Him to be enough. And He is.
Merry Christmas, Missionaries!
He is most definitely reason to celebrate :)
I actualy spent quite a number of years in Lesotho, before actually spending Christmas here (if that makes sense??). I always managed to get home to Wales for Christmas. Just like Uganda, Christmas in Lesotho was very low-key - hardly distiguishable from any other day. My first Christmas here was after getting married to Malichaba, and I wanted her to experience a special Christmas. I managed to buy a small frozen turkey from neighbouring South Africa and tried my best to prepare a festive meal.
In Lesotho, Christmas has become a time for churches to have huge conferences. In one respect, it is good that people acknowledge 'the reason for the season' in celebrating together, but I feel that they are missing out on the important family time that Christmas means to many of us.
Over the years, we have adapted a mixture of different traditions to make our own special West family Christmas Day. We spend some time in the morning at the church conference, leading the Sunday School lessons, before retiring home for a slap-up 'turkey with trimmings' meal at home. We have swapped Christmas 'pud' for a refreshing fruit salad, usually served in a watermelon basket (after all temperatures are around 30 deg). We make a point of sharing our meal with relatives or neighbours, so that they may also experience the love and joy that makes Christmas special.
My advice to those who may be preparing for their first Christmas away from home is keep it simple. Don't get too carried away with making it exactly as it was at home, but just take some of the best ideas and things that are easy to find and share the day with someone who may never have experienced such a special Christmas before.
My first Christmas away from my home culture was spent in Canada. I was training in the USA and was invited by my house mate to spend Christmas with his family in Ontario. The strange thing was that they decided to have Christmas a few days early because his sister was a missionary on furlough but returning to the field on Christmas Eve. So we had our 'Christmas day' a few days early! It felt quite odd celebrating the day whilst everyone else was still looking forward to it.
When it came to Dec 25th, my house mate worked (as he could get 3 times the pay!) and I was left in the house with his parents acting like Christmas had already been and gone. It was hard knowing that the rest of my family was 'back home' celebrating ... and I did feel a little homesick. However, in the afternoon my house mate's Dad took me out cross-country skiing, something I'd never done before, and I loved it.
So it was all very unusual ... but once I had realised the benefits of the situation around me and the things I could do that I couldn't do back home, it felt much better. Something I tried to keep in mind with the Christmasses we subsequently spent in Africa (no cross-country skiing, though!).
It's actually our second Christmas but last year we'd only just arrived in the country, so we weren't really prepared. There weren't really many signs of Christmas in Uganda, the day was much the same as any other - no Christmas lights, decorations, toys in the shops, trees etc. The church we attended had decorated but if you were just driving through you wouldn't have noticed it was a special day.
This year as we have kids we are trying to make more of an effort, preparing with Advent activities - making decorations and having some other children round to the house once a week to do Chrismassy things. We are also planning to celebrate Christmas day with some other missionaries, which makes the day more special and gives us all something to look forward to. The more the merrier and we hope it will be fun for everyone.
Great to read your experience of Christmas in Uganda. I hope and pray too that this year's will be more fun for you all and people will watch and understand the reason why you celebrate!
Happy Christmas Claudia!
Replies
Actually, this is the story of my second Christmas in my adopted land. An amusing incident I wrote about under the title, "Good Medicine," referring, of course, to laughter. :-)
http://www.elinoryoung.info/GoodMedicine.html
In the house, we shared small presents and sung some carols. Around lunchtime we noticed a wedding outside, so we all went up on the roof to watch. The wedding procession went up the main street, with donkeys and animals in tow - quite a sight!
It was odd having no hype of any kind and no public awarement of the significance of the day, but it was really nice having an intimate gathering in the house. Very special, and certainly remembered!
My first Christmas away I was 19 and it was my first year of studying and preparing for mission in Europe at Redcliffe College in England. But I didn't stay in England for Christmas-- I went to Normandy in France to spend it with the family of a foreign exchange student my family had hosted when I was 17, called Tiphaine. She had a big family, 6 brothers and sisters, and they lived in an enchanting 300 year old gate house for what were now castle ruins. Coming from a big family myself, I thought being in a family for Christmas would be ideal. And it was lovely, but might have been more lovely had I been able to speak more of the language! I struggled throughout the week with deep loneliness and homesickness with it being my first Christmas away from my family, but compounded intensely by constantly sitting around awkwardly, unable to communicate with anyone! In actuality, more of Tif's family could communicate in English than were willing to admit...
We spent Christmas Eve at Tiphaine's Aunt and Uncle's. Her Auntie was very kind to me and spoke much English for me. Before she was married, she was a sort of nun who worked with Mother Theresa in Calcutta! We went to Christmas Eve mass in a beautiful village cathedral which was so full we couldn't all find seats. It was beautiful... The whole experience. The liturgy in French, singing along to French Christmas hymns, the starlit sky upon exiting the huge old cathedral with the crowds of people who only ever visit it once a year... I felt so alone, yet Christ was so near.
On Christmas day we visited the coast, the cliffs tall and dramatic and white against the cerulean sea. We continued on to their family's castle. Yes, a castle. With all the cousins and aunts and uncles milling around the gargantuan rooms, drinking champagne from pretty long-stemmed glasses. Again, I couldn't speak to anyone and felt awkward and alone, but I was spending Christmas in a castle, so I could hardly complain :)
We had a third Christmas celebration at Tif's Grandparents home the next day. In many ways, it was the most familiar day of them all-- Grandma's house, young cousins scurrying about, a beautifully-laid feast. But by the end of the day, we all sat around the Christmas tree and one of the cousins picked up the guitar and everyone began to sing and my heart was ACHING for my own family. My time in France was full of awkward loneliness, some encounters with some very rude Frenchmen making vulgar propositions, and a visit to Paris that was soaking wet and cold and a little big magic-less, but my lowest moment of my Christmas in France was locking myself in the grandmother's bathroom that evening to have a right cry and wonder again at the life I had chosen, or He had chosen me for. But it was in that moment that He comforted me the most with His strength, reminding me again that my truest Home is in Him, and so I can go anywhere and be there... It's a lesson that He continually teaches and it emboldens and encourages and holds me still.
My only advice in this, like in all things, is just to look to Him. Trust Him to be enough. And He is.
Merry Christmas, Missionaries!
He is most definitely reason to celebrate :)
In Lesotho, Christmas has become a time for churches to have huge conferences. In one respect, it is good that people acknowledge 'the reason for the season' in celebrating together, but I feel that they are missing out on the important family time that Christmas means to many of us.
Over the years, we have adapted a mixture of different traditions to make our own special West family Christmas Day. We spend some time in the morning at the church conference, leading the Sunday School lessons, before retiring home for a slap-up 'turkey with trimmings' meal at home. We have swapped Christmas 'pud' for a refreshing fruit salad, usually served in a watermelon basket (after all temperatures are around 30 deg). We make a point of sharing our meal with relatives or neighbours, so that they may also experience the love and joy that makes Christmas special.
My advice to those who may be preparing for their first Christmas away from home is keep it simple. Don't get too carried away with making it exactly as it was at home, but just take some of the best ideas and things that are easy to find and share the day with someone who may never have experienced such a special Christmas before.
When it came to Dec 25th, my house mate worked (as he could get 3 times the pay!) and I was left in the house with his parents acting like Christmas had already been and gone. It was hard knowing that the rest of my family was 'back home' celebrating ... and I did feel a little homesick. However, in the afternoon my house mate's Dad took me out cross-country skiing, something I'd never done before, and I loved it.
So it was all very unusual ... but once I had realised the benefits of the situation around me and the things I could do that I couldn't do back home, it felt much better. Something I tried to keep in mind with the Christmasses we subsequently spent in Africa (no cross-country skiing, though!).
This year as we have kids we are trying to make more of an effort, preparing with Advent activities - making decorations and having some other children round to the house once a week to do Chrismassy things. We are also planning to celebrate Christmas day with some other missionaries, which makes the day more special and gives us all something to look forward to. The more the merrier and we hope it will be fun for everyone.
Happy Christmas Claudia!