By Lee Hyon-chol
In my hometown, Hapchon Samga in South Gyeongsang Province, there has been a small church in the middle of the village for about a century or so. As far as I know, my mother and her siblings were Christians even during the difficult time of Japanese occupation. They seemed to have had a hard time keeping the faith against the suppression of Japanese imperialism.
After the liberation from the Japanese occupation they were able to enjoy freedom of faith. Christmas, however, was said to become a major holiday only after the introduction of carols by the American soldiers participating in the Korean War. Among the famous carols are ``Jingle Bells,” ``White Christmas” and ``Adeste Fideles,” to name a few.
We became very interested in those carols as somewhat different from our traditional songs. That's why our church plays some carols in English through the amplifiers installed on top of the church bell tower at this time of the year.
I think it happened to be my first experience of listening to the strange language of English through the Christmas carols. When these carols were played through the loudspeakers, we also felt relieved because it was a signal of the beginning of the winter vacation that could release us from the bondage of school.
Almost all the children of our village got together around the hot stoves in our church because our Sunday school teachers taught us songs and directed a couple of plays for the special programs for Christmas night. Sometimes we were lucky enough to eat sweet potatoes roasted on the lid of the hot stove supplied by some unknown adult believers in our church.
One thing more important than anything else was on Christmas Day we had a special meal of hot beef soup with a bowl of warm rice and an assortment of rice cakes. The villagers around the church gathered together whether he or she was a Christian or not at the Yuletide season. Everyone in our village was invited to this big birthday party for Jesus Christ.
Now when I awake from my daydream of Christmas about 50 years ago, I find myself in a strange city where there are no more carols, bell towers or loudspeakers that remind us of the beginning of the winter vacation.
There are a lot of churches built with advanced technology and science and there are too many kinds of Christmas gifts to buy in the department store, though.
I have plans for a couple of dinner meetings around Christmas in buffet restaurants at the sky lounge of a department store commanding a fine view of our city. The thing I miss most, however, is something like the hot roasted potatoes, the hot soup and the warm bowl of rice at the church nearly half a century ago.
I still can’t see why I miss the poor meal at church on Christmas Day rather than that at a rich table at an expensive restaurant tonight?
The writer is an adjunct professor for the English language department at the teachers' college in KyungNam University, South Gyeongsang Province.