Caracas, Venezuela, Sep 5, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
“This year, in homage and gratitude to you, I am going to decree that the Christmas season [begins] on Oct. 1,” declared Nicolás Maduro, leader of the ruling socialist regime in Venezuela, Sept. 2 on national television.
“For everyone, Christmas has arrived with peace, happiness, and security,” Maduro added. According to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, this is not the first time the socialist regime has done this, as in 2019, 2020, and 2021 it also decreed the “advance” of the Christmas season.
Maduro’s announcement came just hours after the Venezuelan justice system issued an arrest warrant for Edmundo González Urrutia, who won the July 28 presidential elections by a wide margin, according to vote tallies published by the opposition. However, the National Electoral Council, controlled by the governing socialist party, declared Maduro the winner.
Through a statement posted on Instagram Sept. 3, the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference (CEV, by its Spanish acronym) reacted to Maduro’s decree to move up the start of the Christmas season, stating that this Christian holy day “should not be used for propaganda or particular political purposes.”
“Christmas is a celebration of a universal nature that commemorates the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The manner and time of its celebration are the responsibility of the ecclesiastical authority, which ensures that the true spirit and meaning of this event of spiritual and historical richness is maintained, as it marks the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” the CEV emphasized.
The bishops also reaffirmed that Christmas is a time “of reflection, peace, and love, and must be respected as such.”
The Venezuelan bishops recalled that Christmas begins Dec. 25 and ends on Jan. 6 with the Epiphany of the Lord.
“To prepare for Christmas, the liturgy offers us the time of Advent, which this year begins on Dec. 1. These celebrations are accompanied by traditional Christmas parties and Masses ‘de aguinaldo’ [the local custom of singing joyful hymns even though it is still the penitential season of Advent],” the bishops concluded.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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This Venezuelan political declaration reminds me of the Philippines where Christmas unofficially starts by September 1 as a matter of cultural, not political, declaration. The season stretches all through the suffix-“ber” months. By this time, Filipino Catholics start having the lights and ornaments of the season at homes, offices, malls, and streets. Carols get played on broadcast media, the foremost of which is the Philippines’ 30+year old unofficial hymn of the season, “Christmas in our Hearts.” The weeks leading to September 1 the social media is flooded with memes of the singer-composer Jose Mari Chan that compares well with Santa Claus whose coming is joyfully awaited. Here’s his first rendition of his classic carol this year… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbv-cqA1-ek