Skarpi,

Great to hear from you in Iceland. I am in Australia, but grew up in England in a family that celebrated Christmas as a religious and social but mainly family festival.

It has a very special meaning for me, because 25 December is also my birthday, and I would have no other day, as much of the world is celebrating.

I know about the pre-Christian pagan festivals, which some people say they are keeping, but mostly know little about. In Australia it is also of course mid-summer rather than midwinter. But I drove through snow in Australia, in the Snowy Mountains, on Christmas Day 2001!

There is common dismay at the commercialistion of Christmas. It is in fact a great nuisance to the retail industry as well to have such a concentration of business in a short period. I saw an interview with three butchers explaining that it is a very stressful time for them too. So maybe we should call a truce!

For me, it is the only festival I know of, religious or not, that is about birth, and held mainly for children. As I arrived at that time too, it probably helped me to see it that way. Also, I had all my early Christmases in a family with many other children, who were and generally remain the focus of attention. So for me it is mainly the festival that celebrates children.

While many of us distance ourselves from Christianity, the Bethlehem story is possibly the most tender and charming I have come across in any religious or legendary tradition, and it strikes me as sad that people will pointedly ignore it. I am happy to acknowledge the great festivals of whatever cultural or religious tradition, that are part of our common human heritage, usually for the same reason that other things survive in the folk tradition - because people found enduring meaning in them.

I have a copy of 'The Heliand', of the time a thousand years ago of your great Icelandic Sagas which I have also read in translation. The Heliand (The Healer) was a version of the gospel in Saxon reset as a great Northern epic, sung in the mead-halls of Northen Europe as Christianity arrived. It was how many of our European ancestors first heard the story, recast as a contemporary tale about a great healer chieftain, in a land of hillforts and warriors. This is from it:

"His mother, that most beautiful woman, took him, wrapped him in clohes ad precious jewels, and then with her two hands laid him gently, the little man, that child, in a fodder-crib, even though he had the power of God, and was the Chieftain of mankind."

Why not start another thead, Skarpi, and tell us about folk in Iceland? We'd love to hear.

Happy Chistmas to all,
Chris