Christmas Lights – 7th December
The Community Concert this year will feature the Hampstead Players reading scenes from the Dickens’ classic, “A Christmas Carol”, accompanied by the wonderful Junior and Community choirs.
The story of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, who is visited by three spirits on Christmas night, is well known. However, the context in which it was written, and its cultural impact, is perhaps not always so well remembered.
Christians had, of course, been celebrating the birth of Christ for centuries, but by the early 19th century many of the old customs had been lost with the breaking up of communities and migration of workers into cities during the industrial revolution. Indeed, puritans in the 17th century had tried to ban Christmas celebrations altogether, considering them debauched and unbiblical. But at the time of Dickens’ decision to write A Christmas Carol, the festival of Christmas was undergoing something of a revival, due in part to the influence of the reigning monarch Victoria and her German husband. Dickens saw an opportunity to capitalise on this and reignite the association of Christmas with the spirit of generosity and public duty.
In the opening scenes, Scrooge is visited by gentlemen collecting for charity to bring some comfort to the poor. When Scrooge refuses to acknowledge the need for a donation, the gentleman explain simply,
“We choose this time because it is the time, of all others, when want is strongly felt and abundance rejoices”.
Scrooge remains unmoved until he is led by the spirits through events past and present, forcing him to confront his own heartlessness and the suffering of others. Finally, he is shown a future in which he continues to lead his miserly and meaningless existence, his only legacy being the meagre earthly possessions which are callously dispersed over his freshly- dug grave. Scrooge sees the error of his ways, begs the Spirit for forgiveness and is ultimately redeemed. He emerges an altered man of whom, it was always said “he knew how to keep Christmas well”.
Dickens had been appalled by the living conditions of children he had observed on visiting Cornish tin mines, and after a visit to The Ragged School for street children in London. His own family had experienced poverty first hand when his father was forced into Marshalsea debtors prison when Dickens was 12 years old. He was forced to leave school to support his family and worked 10 hour days in a shoe blacking warehouse for a fraction of an adult wage.
Dickens recognised the potency that a heartfelt Christmas narrative would have in raising the awareness of a large section of society about poverty and social injustice. Released on 19th December 1843, all 6000 copies of the first edition of a Christmas Carol had sold out by Christmas Eve. By the end of 1844, 11 more editions had been released. Its enduring popularity is such that many believe it has shaped the way Christmas is celebrated today.
It seems all the more fitting given the context, that the retiring collection after our concert will be in support of the Children’s Society. It is calculated that 4 million children are living in poverty in the UK today. Amongst its many projects, the charity is lobbying for policy change to end child poverty, in particular by taking on the cycle of “problem debt” which families find themselves in just to meet their basic needs. They also offer one-to-one support for many of our most vulnerable children and young people.
There is still much work to be done to address the injustice and inequalities that prevail in today’s society. Perhaps, like Scrooge, we should all reflect on how we will “keep Christmas well”.