Christmas Eve of 2016

By Park Moo-jong

Around this time of every year, many people, either Christians or non-Christians, used to be aflutter with the thought of enjoying Christmas in a somewhat heady social atmosphere.

The Salvation Army bell's sound and Christmas carols from store speakers used to heighten the Yuletide mood for parents, kids and young lovers heading home with gifts in their hands.

Ahead of every Christmas, one of my diehard habits is to recall the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in my school days in the 1960s, when there the "dreadful" night curfew from midnight to 4 a.m. existed.

Fifty-two years ago, back in 1964, Christmas Eve meant perfect freedom particularly to young people as the night curfew (which was enforced for 36 years and four months from 1945 to 1981) was lifted.

"Disorder and frenzy" made the headlines of the morning newspaper on Dec. 25. In Seoul, tens of thousands of citizens, mostly in their 10s or 20s, poured out onto Myeongdong Street to celebrate through the night.

From the entrance of the country's then most affluent street to Myeongdong Cathedral, the street was literally "filled" with crowds and they had no need to walk because they were automatically pushed ahead by the people behind them.

A total of 1,182 crimes were reported on such a noisy and drunken night, according to the newspapers, even though hundreds of volunteer "mothers" campaigned on the streets for "spending Christmas Eve with the family," braving the biting cold. (Some people quipped that the volunteer women's children spent the holy night alone without their moms).

Ten months later, a news report was the talk of town: More babies than ever were born in October 1965 as a "certain result" of the frenzy of Christmas Eve and they were called "Christmas children."

Christmas was also a gift itself to most poor kids until the 1970s. The kids who had never gone to church on Sundays used to become one-day Christians because they were given various gifts from cookies to stationery.

One of the joys at that time was to make Christmas cards for ourselves. How busy were we drawing trees, snow-covered cottages and sleighs on white cardboard with crayons throughout the night?

Such a night is a thing of the past. Today, it's really hard to find people around me who send their own Christmas cards to friends and others. Their smartphones do the job of sending text messages and various stickers wishing Merry Christmas.

No matter how the tide of time flows, it is a great pity that the young people of today do not know the pleasure of receiving homemade Christmas cards.

Christmas is already a merry holiday also for non-Christians, except for believers of some other religions. The latest census shows the significance of Christmas in Korea.

In Korea, Christians number 13,560,000 out of a total population of 51,690,000, accounting for 27.6 percent; followed by 7,6200,000 Buddhists or 15.5 percent. Of the Christians, Protestants number 9,676,000 (19.7 percent) and Catholics 3,890,000 (7.9 percent), according to a Statistics Korea report Monday.

However, the holiday lacks the festive mood in the year 2016 due to the difficult situation the country faces now following the parliamentary impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.

The staggering economy is adding injury to the public livelihood. In the wake of expanding avian influenza, human flu is spreading especially among students, forcing schools to break for winter earlier than usual.

The streets, especially those in Seoul, are not expected to be jampacked by people enjoying Christmas Eve tomorrow. Instead, downtown Seoul will see again — for weeks in a row now — mass rallies of citizens angry with President Park's mismanagement of state affairs, allegedly influenced by her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil.

They will continue to take to the streets for protests tomorrow night and on New Year's Eve to call for Park's immediate resignation, irrespective of the impeachment, and for the Constitutional Court's prompt proceeding with the impeachment trial.

The rally organizers claim that "candlelit vigils" on the two special eves will show that the "people's democracy in Gwanghwamun Square will not die down until Park steps down and our gathering will continue until the Constitutional Court rules in favor of the people."

They also said that "holidays will not hinder citizens showing the power of the people on the streets."

It is a coincidence that the rallies are held every Saturday and the two eves fall on the same day.

But I hope Christmas Eve tomorrow will be a "pure" festive night to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, with citizens, hand in hand, enjoying the holiday without any political motives or goals. The rally can be held the next day, Sunday.

Regardless of religions, Christmas is a festival the largest number of the global population enjoys today as the "Mass of the Christ."

Aren't the conservatives-progressives and rightists-leftists tired of their ceaseless conflicts? How about a ceasefire for a festive day tomorrow?

I am dreaming of a (not white) Christmas when Santa Claus will be coming to town with bags full of reconciliation, compromise, conversation and concessions.

I wish you a Very Merry Christmas!

Park Moo-jong is The Korea Times advisor. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter for the daily since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or emjei29@gmail.com