Tower and Town, December 2014

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Editorial: The Season Of Celebration ... And Commemoration

Very soon there will be a lot of it about again: the rampant commercial side of Christmas, and then the gathering together of the family and the joyful celebration in church and chapel, singing the carols and listening once more to the story of the Nativity.

Currently we are poignantly commemorating the events of 1914, and this will continue as the centenaries of the battles and the losses of the First World War roll on through the next four years. Next year brings us centenaries of Magna Carta, and the Battles of Agincourt and of Waterloo, but let us reflect first on what happened on Christmas Day in 1914 in France.

On Christmas Eve the sound of men singing 'Silent Night' came from the German trenches; British troops joined in the singing. On Christmas morning these Tommies and these Fritzes, who had been enemies, met in no man's land, exchanged small gifts of food and tobacco, and played football. The 'authorities' did not approve of this fraternization, and tried to hush it up and prevent it happening again.

Not all the pieces in this edition are obviously about Christmas or the New Year, but they are all in some way about bringing people together and recognizing our common humanity. In Peace.

John Osborne