Editorial: Do we know it's Christmas time?

Read any Western newspaper around this time of year, and the editorial pages will be full of the commercialism of Christmas. With all the lights, all the razz-ma-taz, all the glitzy showiness of the holiday season - has the Christian festival lost its real meaning, swamped instead in the money-grabbing world of business opportunism?

Come December, the streets of London, New York, Paris are awash with lights, music, Father Christmases; there is no escaping the all-pervasive 'holiday' spirit. Neighbours vie to out-do each other every year with the tacky audaciousness of their decorations; whole cities fight, year on year, for the most dazzling of lights.

But how much of it is genuine good will, the pundits would ask – and how much a way of simply making, and spending, more money every year? How much of the 'real' meaning of Christmas remains in the ever more ostentatious show of it?

Come to Accra, however, or walk the streets of Kumasi – and where is this same holiday spirit of which those elsewhere have grown so skeptical? Yes, some of the more touristy, and mostly foreign-owned, hotels and restaurants are decked out with Christmas trees and ring with chirpy carols; but how many offices or homes have the same festive cheer to them?

Corporate Christmas cards and hampers are something which Ghana is very good at; a more general embracing of the Christmas spirit is something we are not. Indeed, for anyone wanting to escape the invasive nature of Christmas elsewhere, Ghana could be seen as an ideal get-away. Avoid the market places and the occasional restaurant, and December 25 could be just like any other holiday day of the year. The beaches of Accra will no doubt be thronged with crowds yet again, as Ghanaians enjoy a precious day or two of no work. Many businesses will break for the season; indeed, even The Statesman will be on vacation. But what is so Christmas-y about a day away from the office?

In some ways, our careful avoidance of the expensive show of Christmas elsewhere is perhaps commendable; why should a developing country such as Ghana waste its money on prettying the towns for a few short weeks of the year? you could argue.

Perhaps this is why there is very little in the way of ‘official’ recognition for Christmas in Ghana. Oxford Street in Osu sparkles with bright lights and tinsel, for example – not because of any pay-out from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, which has more pressing demands upon its budget, but because of the private enterprise of the street vendors. Elsewhere in the capital, it is easy to forget that it is December at all and not an ordinary February day.

But does this matter? you might again ask. Why should we fall into the same, foreign-crafted mould of commercial opportunism at Christmas time into which Western societies have plunged – particularly for a celebration with such comparatively short roots in Ghana? Christianity has taken a hold in Ghana only over the past century or so – so why should we let it supplant older, more firmly established celebrations? Ghana has no obligation to imitate the colonial forefathers who developed the traditions of Christmas – indeed, fake snow and fir trees in a country which has never seen a winter time can be something of an uncomfortable juxtaposition.

Christians still recognise the celebration as an important event in their religious calendar, you might say – the birth of the Messiah, the beginning of the miracle that saved the world. Families still tend to gather over the holiday, and spend quality time together. Why does Ghana need to pay Christmas any more attention than that?

But the "Christmas cheer" of elsewhere comes with a sense of community, communal responsibility, of charity and of giving, which Ghana has also failed to embrace – to our definite disadvantage. There may be little worth emulating in the sometimes empty commercialistic wastefulness of another Father Christmas, another set of expensive lights for the tree; but the kind of corporate and community goodwill which has become characteristic of Christmas elsewhere is an example of what we as Ghanaians should be doing for our poor and needy at this time of year.

Every year, the Guardian newspaper in the UK runs a Christmas charity campaign; this year, it is raising money for Practical Action, which works with people suffering from the impacts of climate change in the Africa, Asia and Latin America, and with mental health charities in the UK. It is one of a majority of businesses and media houses who tap into the supposed "spirit" of Christmas and turn this towards positive ends. Billions of dollars are raised for charity every year – as the holiday season is turned into a focal point for giving. For those who can, Christmas charity is almost an obligation. Offices and workplaces often create funds of their own – every worker donates a small amount of food for a homeless shelter or children’s home, for example; people pay a token sum to work in fun outfit or "mufti" instead of their usual uniforms – with the proceeds given to a worthy cause.

In Ghana, we have more than our fair share of the needy; and sometimes less than our fair share of people willing to help. Whilst the commercialism, the fakeness, of a very glitzy Christmas might be better left elsewhere – with Ghana a welcome haven for those who want to avoid it, perhaps – this sense of giving at Christmas time is something we ought to embrace with the warmest of hearts.