Mirror
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In
the days gone by… Trying to capture the spirit of Christmas in all the commercial hype of today’s world is difficult to say the least; so a trip down memory lane was the best antidote, seen through the eyes of the older generation. Mrs. Rukmani Eheliyagoda, (78 years) an elegant lady with all the energy of a sprightly teenager, moaned about the fact that Christmas is so fraught with tension. “We lived Christmas; it was a great joy and a very personal celebration. People were more relaxed,” she stated reminiscing about Christmas of her youth and childhood, during the 1950s. When speaking of the preparations that got under way for the great event, she remembers that “old Suaris” who had 52 years of loyal service at her mother’s household, had been entrusted with the Christmas shopping list. “He was like a true English butler and knew what to buy and where to get it”. She remembers that as a child, she and her siblings would gather whatever was suitable to make Christmas cards at home for their parents. Painstakingly cutting out old cards and other decorations, they would write all their loving thoughts inside the cards before putting it in the mailbox on Christmas day. As a young girl, in the 1940s living at her parents place in Mt. Lavinia, she says carollers were common during Christmas with church groups going around the neighbourhood and filling the air with beautiful Christmas carols sung the old fashioned way. The Christmas meal she remembers was of a true English style with, “the good old stuffed turkey and ham, plum pudding and cream-brandy butter made at home, which was a must at Christmas. Of course, it cost only one tenth of what we pay now to make such a meal”. She remembers the grand feast in her house where her mother allowed their maids who loved to play the “rabana” to do so along with the lighting of firecrackers. Mrs. Eheliyagoda of course says that several things are the same today as it was then. Her husband dressing up as Santa Claus for the kids (four girls and one boy) for example. “They were so excited about it that even as they grew older they pretended not to know that it was their father acting as Santa.” The Christmas parties too were apparently the same with clubs hosting parties. However, she says that hotels were not in the habit of holding any celebrations during the season except for the New Year parties. She would go for Midnight Mass at All Saints Church, Hulftsdorp and would also make sure she attended the morning service as well – a practice she continues to this day. “When we were kids, we would wait breathlessly till the flaming Christmas cake was brought in by my mum who would cut it with the flames. It was such a magical feeling. Now of course we don’t do it, the arrangement is too elaborate.” Yule logs, Breudher, Bolfiyadhu (a Dutch cake) and milk wine are among the seasonal treats that she remembers – “milk wine was very popular at the time – such a mild and lovely home-made drink,” she states with a twinkle in her eyes. Christmas celebrations didn’t stop on December 25; “We had this family tradition where on New Year’s day, a huge table was laid out with all sorts of home-made seasonal treats and at least 100 people would troop through our house between 2.30 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. just visiting us and wishing us for the New Year. I continue this tradition to date.” “Oh, the spirit of sharing was truly alive in those days, in fact, every child who would visit the house, beginning from two weeks before Christmas, would receive a gift,” she says with a sweet smile while adding that Richard Peiris had the best balloons at the time which all kids would clamour for. Basil Perera (84 years), an energetic, alert and active gentleman, launched into what Christmas was like when he was a young man in the 1950s with a dreamy look. “No one could mistake the approaching of Christmas because the whole neighbourhood would fill with the sound of fire crackers on December 1.” The shops would begin advertising their Christmas-wares from the first week of December, “but of course I never chose gifts for the children, my wife did everything,” he says, adding that the children included several nieces and nephews. “When I was a little boy, I remember that all I wanted was balloons, crackers and a mechanical toy, which I would break and repair. We usually received new clothes, shoes and a hat,” he says adding that the tradition continued when he had his own children even though it was not easy when his daughters came along since they needed, “two new dresses each, chains and earrings.” Sighing that everything was of a better and higher quality (“the shoes were definitely not pasted with Multibond like today,” he declares with a cheeky grin), he says that he and his wife would uncomplainingly walk all over Pettah, after arriving there either by bus or tram car from Kotahena, to get the best available in terms of gifts and other items for the season. Like today he states that the general preparations would include the whitewashing and the colourwashing of the house, buying new curtains and sprucing up its appearance. “I worked for 46 years in the field of life insurance and we got our Christmas bonus about two or three days before Christmas – I would hand it over straight to my wife,” he says with a pleased look. Appreciating the easy economic life of the days of yore, he remembers that for, “just 10 rupees you could easily buy something valuable – maybe even three Japanese toys, 100 rupees would have been enough to have a great Christmas meal with beef, chicken and maybe even pork.” He then deftly changes the subject by asking me whether I keep a Christmas card list. “The job of the wives was to keep a record of those who sent us Christmas cards and make sure we replied. A Christmas postcard was about five cents.” Moving on to the Christmas meal, he remembers that Breudher (Ceylonese Dutch Burgher families have been making Breudher for generations) was a must for breakfast and that lunch included bacon, eggs, chicken, his wife’s still-talked-about seeni sambol and a different kind of rice every year. Sweets would invariably include love cake, “filled with cadju nuts” and wine was plentiful. Jogging his memory to the transition period after World War II, he remembers that, “firecrackers were not lit as often as before out of fear but food items were available to celebrate Christmas as usual,” since the local producers stepped into fill in the void created due to the difficulty in obtaining imported goods. While mischievously stating “the men were truly drunk by the time they came in for their Christmas meal, because the liquor was good those days,” he remembers that carolling and nativity plays were an essential part of Christmas in his neighbourhood in Kotahena. Echoing what many fail to recognise today, in all earnestness he emphatically states, “Christmas is not only a time for enjoyment – it has become so commercialised now. It is actually a time to remember our Salvation.” |
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