REFLECTIONS: ‘Red Christmas’

TANDAG, Surigao del Sur (MindaNews / 25 December) — Why is Christmas predominantly colored red? Perhaps, for commercial centers, red attracts the eyes and the attention of the potential buyers. It could also be the color of joy that best describes the season. In the liturgy, however, red signifies the flame of the Holy Spirit and of course, the blood of the martyrs. As for me, I would like to associate red with the radicalness of the birth narrative of our Savior.

Fr. Danny Pilario, CM, the current president of Adamson University, warned us about romanticizing the gospel and making Jesus become more ahistorical. 

Everybody loves a story with a happy ending. All we need to do is try to complete our ‘Belen’ (Nativity Scene) and we seem to have a perfect view of the birth of our Savior. Yet, if we truly delve into the details of the scene, we wonder how on earth the residents from Nazareth ended up in Jerusalem if not for a subjugating power that compelled them. 

The three wise men were used as bait to catch the Messiah by a regime that connived with a superpower. The first good news was announced to the outcast of the society, the poorest of the poor. If we look at the Belen, we can smell the state of oppression in the child’s birth. The presence of animals reminded us that they are creatures, too, who have their own intrinsic value. The whole scene is groaning for redemption as the Redeemer breathes our human air into his divine lungs: embracing our humanity with his divinity.

The ecology presented at the Belen is not meant to preserve the lowliness of God but to inspire us to be lowly in participating in his mission. The scene is not a static display of spirituality but a dynamic invitation to be part of the salvific action of God. We cannot look at the Belen only by sheer joy of the birth of our Savior.  We should look at it in its entirety, from Bethlehem to Calvary where the Baby Jesus will complete his mission. 

In this context, when we fix our gaze on the crib, we realize that our Christmas celebration is not anymore just about receiving gifts but instead turning ourselves into gifts for others. By saying so, I didn’t mean only to be Santa Claus for others but to participate in dismantling the structures that continue to breed poverty, that continue to abuse the rights of others, that simply replicate the repressive political situation 2000 years ago.

I don’t quite fit with wearing red on Christmas to signify my joy if only to be reminded of so many people still awaiting redemption. I love wearing red on Christmas if only to signify my participation in that salvific mission. A month ago, I encountered a group of red-wearing Matigsalug (tribe) women in an Environment Conference in Bukidnon.

The redness of their dress caught my attention at first, but when I talked to them, I realized that they were appropriately wearing the redness of their struggle.

Residing at Purok 8 (also called Sinandigan), in Brgy.Magsaysay, Quezon, they occupied the farthest community from civilization with no electricity yet. The priest who built a chapel there referred to their place as ‘Sitio I Love You’ as he jokingly said that one cannot go there without loving them first. Yet, a medical missionary sister who assisted their cause said that when you still go further from their location, it’s then called ‘Sitio I Love You More.’ 

These light monikers are quite opposite to what they suffered. All of them are primarily foragers and laborers. This group of women may not have much in them except the power of their stories and the strength of their memories. Only one of them reached Grade 5. Yet, they were fearless when they expressed how they were dislocated from their ancestral land due to the government development project. Displaced from their land, they were further reduced to poverty and vulnerable to abuses. They were helpless as their complaints were ping-ponged from one government agency to another. They were promised by their leaders to wait but it has been 10 years already and they still have no land to till.

Listening to them, I could feel their pains and hopelessness.  I felt embarrassed to think how far has salvation penetrated humanity. Today, in the comfort of my parish rectory, I wonder how would their Christmas Eve be? I’m sure the proposed P500 budget for noche buena of DBM is more than enough for them if only to cover their family for a day.

They wore red perhaps as an ornament for a proud Matigsalug ethno-linguistic group. Their redness confronts us to reconsider our Christmas celebration of excess and extravagance. Their redness behooves us to re-examine our Christianity if it truly aligns with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit or a call to martyrdom. I would like to think though that red also represents blood or the Passion. 

Fr. Danny concluded that Christmas has been political from the start. A Christmas celebration will never be genuinely achieved if it does not stir our blood into action.  

Christmas Day is just one day. That’s why we have a whole year round celebrating it by doing God’s redemptive mission: be kind to each one, oppose corruption, protect the environment, defend human rights, abolish ATL, defund ELCAC, etc.

Merry Red Christmas everyone!!

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews Fr. Raymond Montero Ambray heads the Integral Ecology Ministry, LGBTQ+ Apostolate, Church Heritage and Historical Commission of the Diocese of Tandag. He finished Theology at the Don Bosco Center of Studies and is a graduate of MA Anthropology at the Ateneo de Davao University, a member of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines and a founding member of Caraga Watch, an environmental watchdog. He is part of the Board of Consultors of the Bishop of Tandag. This reflection was first published on his FB page. MindaNews was granted permission to publish this)