The Grinch can rest easy this year, Christmas will be ruined by covid instead. The prospect of a (digital) version of the holidays will not please many
Let's put idealism aside. Of course, not everyone loves Christmas. Not everyone looks forward to a reindeer sweater and the embarrassment of warm socks (at best) or a paperweight (at worst). And not everyone is totally looking forward to seeing the whole family. Not infrequently, the proverbial holidays of peace and quiet turn into a scramble for gifts, groceries and one big family fight. In the end, however, everyone usually sits down together at the table with carp (schnitzel) and salad. Because Christmas is often the only time of the year when families can spend time together - regardless of all the accompanying stress factors. Only this year adds a stressor far more powerful than just family friction, the coronavirus. And it's also quite effectively taking on the role of the Christmas anti-hero, the Grinch. So the question is how successful he will be.
It is the spread of a new type of coronavirus that is still on the rise, and it may well cause even Christmas gatherings and celebrations to be shrouded in an atmosphere of pervasive danger. People will be faced with a very difficult choice - they will have to decide whether to take a certain risk (or expose others close to them) or to forgo family reunions.
Digital Christmas?
The idea that we should spend Christmas in a radically different way than we are used to is in the air. Christmas markets are under threat, not to mention Christmas shopping. And in Scotland, for example, the government is already threatening people that if the epidemiological situation does not improve, there will indeed be a digital Christmas in the country. And really strictly, the police should literally break up Christmas parties and check how many people are sitting at the festive table or drinking afternoon tea (at five o'clock) and eating sweets...
But despite all the risks, it may well be that digital Christmas will not happen in Scotland or anywhere else after all. Of course, restrictive measures are one thing, the definitive denial of cultural tradition is another. And that is very firmly entrenched. What's more, thanks to evolutionary mechanisms, scientists believe that people are even directly convinced that the risk of spreading the disease is much lower in their families than when they meet people who are not part of the family. The same is true for members of groups that share a certain identity (i.e. work teams, friends, etc.). Indeed, in prehistoric times, strangers were already a general threat (even at the level of disease transmission), which means that in practice people still have an ingrained idea that it is possible to be more trusting of people with whom we share something. Of course, this doesn't mean that this "collective identity" would protect us in any way, quite the contrary, but it's quite possible that regardless of the restrictions, people simply won't accept them. And to expect anyone to "give up" Christmas for the sake of the general (or even personal) welfare is highly unlikely, even in light of current government compliance, at least in the Czech Republic.
Santa is coming!
We in the Czech Republic, of course, cling to the tradition of Christmas dominated by Santa Claus to some extent. However, he hasn't taken any active role in dealing with the upcoming holidays :-), so we'll have to settle for the fact that at least Santa is definitely not packing it in the upcoming Christmas season (and instead his elves are wrapping one present after another). In Lapland, where Santa's village is located, they are preparing for all those who would like to really enjoy the Christmas spirit. The only condition to visit is to pass a covid test and prove yourself with a negative result that is not older than 72 hours, which is required by the Finnish government. " Together with the Lapland hospital network, we have created a covid-safe travel model. We are fully committed to all safety measures so that tourists can be assured that we are doing everything possible to make their visit to Santa's Village completely safe," said Sanna Kärkkäinen, who is in charge of Santa's PR :-).
Zdroj: Giphy
Christmas: cancelled?
So, although there will be Christmas in at least Lapland, we in Central Europe are still living in Christmas uncertainty. A possible answer to what this year's holiday will finally look like is again offered by science. According to it, people have a certain "kin selection" coded into them, a mechanism that automatically favours relatives over other (strangers) in many choices. And this also applies to holiday gatherings - regardless of the fact that family gatherings are often no idyll, we still attend them simply because we are subject to a certain instinct to maintain familial ties. This is despite the fact that one recent analysis has clearly shown that the risk of catching covid-19 from a member of one's own household is close to 20%.
On the other hand, there is the psychological level. For while some people say they hate Christmas, others love it. But regardless of one's own relationship with the holiday, which is often far from peaceful, togetherness, well-being and just time spent with loved ones are important. The question, then, is whether the psychological discomfort of giving up Christmas together is not a greater risk than contracting coronavirus. In any case, at least Santa's lapdog aide is clear and says that "Christmas is definitely not cancelled"...
