Free from consumerism

Also in wealthy Germany, in times of crisis Christmas is a festivity marked by simple gestures, and not a consumerist frenzy. So in the period of Advent there is a recovery of traditions: preparing home-made pies, underlining the meaning of the crèche compared to the Christmas tree highlighting that Christmas is the event of the birth of Jesus which is celebrated on December 25 and not three months earlier, as written in consumerist calendars. Follow a series of initiatives by the German Churches due to take place in the period of preparation for Christmas. “Advent is in December” the German Evangelical Church (EKD) has been reminding for years in the website www.ekd.de. “In some places, streets and shops you can see Christmas decorations already in mid November”, states a passage in the EKD website. “Can you still wait for the time of the anticipation of joy?” asks EKD, recalling that “the period of Advent must be circumscribed so as not to lose its meaning and its significance. Only in this way can we perceive that ‘Time comes, and so does Advent’, the coming of God”. In order to share Christmas preparations, the EKD website provides the tools to create a personalized digital calendar of Advent by sending an email with the link to the box of the corresponding day containing images and short texts. In the evangelical portal it is also possible to send a verse from the Bible on Twitter for each day of Advent. The involvement of 14000 Facebook users against consumerist publicity is the result of an initiative promoted by Melanie Zink, referent for pastoral care in the archdiocese of Bamberg. Outraged for an advertising campaign that caters Christmas message as the feast of presents, with the catchphrase “You decide Christmas under your Christmas tree”, Zink explained on the Catholic portal “katholisch.de” that he availed himself of the social network to raise public-awareness on the Christian message of Christmas. Christmas placards. In Hattingen, North Rhine-Westphalia, near the billboards with traditional publicity for Christmas gifts there are seven different billboards. The picture of a newborn and three words: “God becomes man”: focusing public attention on the traditional meaning of the festivity. The action was promoted by the city’s parish churches of St. Peter and Paul, St. Maurice and St. Joseph to express faith in the fact that by incarnating himself and becoming a child, God wished to be near mankind. “Such a spectacular message from the mundane angle cannot be simply proclaimed inside the churches. It needs to be proclaimed also in the streets and in squares across the city”, said Karl-Heinz-Leibold, one of the promoters. The initiative is supported by a website, www.hattingen-katholisch.de, that will remain active also after Christmas. In it visitors will debate this theme and gather information on the various offers of the parishes during the period of Advent. The cantors of the star. The fund-collection campaign of the Cantors of the Star will leave this year from the Dome of Magonza. On 28 December some 2500 children and young people dressed as the Magis will take part in the inaugural ceremony of the greatest solidarity initiative in the world, promoted by children for other children in need. The campaign is organized by the child missionary initiative “The Cantors of the Star” and by the Catholic youth organization Bdkj. Past December 7, while presenting the event to journalists, cardinal Karl Lehmann, Archbishop of Magonza, pointed out that “the Cantors of the Star are convincing Church ambassadors, since they bring to people the joyful message of God’s incarnation”. The campaign for 2012, at its 54th edition, is dedicated to the defense of the rights of the child worldwide, notably in Nicaragua. Offerings will be devolved to the creation of support structures for children who are victims of sexual abuse in the Latin American country. The president of the organization Klaus Krämer said: “Societies will have a future only if children’s rights to education, medical assistance and living spaces are respected. That’s why, he added “some 500 000 Cantors of the Star in Germany are involved. In the period of Epiphany they will go door to door as advocates of children’s rights”. In the campaign of 2011, according to figures released by the organization, the children and the youth took part in the fund-collection initiative across almost 12000 parishes, schools and kindergartens, collecting 41.8 million euros that will fund support initiatives to children in Africa, Latin America, Oceania and Eastern Europe.