La Maunia Le Kirisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou

For the past couple weeks it's been about 5C below normal - in the 60's instead of the 70's. It started to warm up again this week, but there's been so much rain that today's editorial cartoon featured a TV set that said "This Week in NZ" on a screen that was leaking a puddle onto the floor. Today was "a bit squally" - typical kiwi understatement for the off-and-on torrential rain that alternated with blue-sky-and-sunshine EVERY 15 MINUTES ALL DAY LONG. At one point there was enough hail on the balcony to make me hum "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas."

And it does look like Christmas, sort of. Several buidlings downtown are flooded with green and red lights at night, shopping malls are packed and the streets and stores are loaded with Xmas decorations. But to my pagan spirit it doesn't really feel like Xmas: the days are getting longer and the sun doesn't set until around 9:30 pm. Last weekend, courtesy of CocaCola, there was a huge (100,000 people!) Xmas party in the Domain. There were carnival rides, food booths, a concert followed by fireworks, and everyone seemed to be wearing flashing-light Santa hats. The atmosphere was a bit like 4th of July, but with Xmas carols.

While getting used to new traditions, it's been fun to hear new Christmas music, too. Radio Hauraki is my new favorite station; it's mostly classic album rock - heavy on English bands - but they've been throwing in a few seasonal ditties also. The best so far was an all-male chorus singing (to the tune of "Winter Wonderland") a song I'd never heard before: "Walkin' Round in Women's Underwear". (You can find the words at http://www.acme.com/jef/netgems/womens_underwear.html.)

Last night Ali and I went to Ponsonby's Christmas festival. (Ponsonby is a trendy neighborhood that was the center of Auckland's gay community until recently. Now it's so yuppie and mainstream that the oldest(and best-named) gay bar in town - Surrender Dorothy - is closing it's doors. End of an era.) There were clowns, balloons, and a bubble machine, the local firehouse sponsored a "sausage sizzle" and cotton candy sales, and D'Vice, a local specialty shop, was handing out their "toy" catalogue and free condoms to passersby.

Ponsonby is home to Franklin Road, where the homeowners have a Christmas light festival-cum-competition. Some people really go all out, making their houses look like Snoopy's tree in "It's A Charlie Brown Christmas." My favorite was the palm tree wrapped in red rope lights and electric coconuts (multi-colored light balls hanging amongst the palm fronds). Ali's favorite was the curvaceous, bikini-clad "Miss Claus" in flashing pink neon.

There was also a Mariachi band and a reggae band - who could conceive of a Xmas celebration without them? - and assorted strolling carolers, but the best thing by far was the Samoan gospel choir. They had gorgeous voices and you don't know what you're missing until you've heard "Hark the Herald Angels" in Samoan. They sang mostly in Samoan - a beautiful Polynesian-related language, but they also sang a few carols in English, plus a rockin' rendition of "Feliz Navidad." The finale, of course, was "La Maunia Le Kirisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou." ("We Wish You A Merry Christmas," in case your Samoan is rusty.)

The worst thing about celebrating Christmas at the wrong solstice is that all kinds of traditional holiday activities - like staying inside to cook rich and festive foods - aren't that appealing in summer. But today's weather was "perfect" - honestly, you couldn't have paid me to go outside - for staying in, playing Christmas music CDs, and baking pepparkakor. With gingerbread smells filling the house and Vince Guaraldi playing "O Tannenbaum," it feels pretty Christmasy after all.

Cheers,
Sandie