![]() ![]() ![]() As Czech Republic enters another uncertain period, hope is all the more fragile. We don our face masks, sanitise our hands and vaccinate, hoping for the best for ourselves. The waves of lockdown and infection rates have numbed us beyond fatigue. No time in recent memory has felt darker than the past 18 months or so. But the darkness we face this season seems a little deeper, thanks to our ongoing battle with COVID. These are seasonal circumstances we are familiar with from year to year. It’s even been reported that up to 10% of the total population in Europe experience seasonal affective disorder -a yearly increase in depression due to the winter darkness. The loss of freedom to go out and the literal cold seeping into our bones affects us psychologically creating the potential onslaught of depressive moods. The Christmas obsession with light suddenly made sense.ĭuring prolonged times of darkness, it’s easy to sink in despair. ![]() My first few European Christmases gave a new meaning to all the imagery I had taken for granted as a child - candles, glowing angels, lights as both house and tree decorations, hanging “shining stars” upon “highest boughs”. If you happen to work somewhere with no windows, as I did for some time, then good luck getting your recommended daily dose of vitamin D. Coming home from school after 4pm? It’s dark. The thought of cosying up to a crackling fire, building snowmen and ice skating on natural ponds.It’s all fantastical and charming! Much more so than heat waves and bush fires! However, one thing that isn’t quite as fantastical or charming is the seemingly perpetual darkness - something no amount of Mariah Carey or Nat King Cole can prepare you for. Our British heritage combined with a taste for contemporary American pop culture (too many repeated viewings of Home Alone and Jingle All The Way no doubt) means that we have internalised the romantic nature of snowball fights and sledding even if most of us don’t see snow for the first time until much later in life. My childhood may have consisted of Christmases in the summer, but the imagery of dark, cold wintery nights is embedded even in the minds of Australian children. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2023
Categories |