NOËL, C’EST QUOI EXACTEMENT? (WHAT EXACTLY IS CHRISTMAS?)

Christmas trees + New Year's Eve parties + gifts + family feasts + sharing = CHRISTMAS. It is the perfect basic equation to which we can add a beautiful and pretty nativity scene, candles, fireworks, Christmas lights & trees, and a Bearded Virtue of red and white colors, symbolic colors of Christmas to create festive atmospheres in complete joy.

A few weeks before the end of the year, here we are in the Christmas season. A moment of joy, peace, sharing, prayer, and respect for the word and will of God. Behold, God humbly becomes a little child, God comes to be born among us, and God seeks to be born in us. For it is on this day that our savior, the redeemer, our Lord JESUS CHRIST was born. Christmas, that truly wonderful and magical time of year, is a celebration of beautiful season and traditions. A party for children, young people, and adults. The spirit of giving, the expression of love and gratitude, joy, and cheerfulness, and sharing with our brothers & sisters in the celebration of the birth of CHRIST contribute to making Christmas a very special time of the year.

And now more than 2000 years have continued to challenge humanity. Christmas is that inexhaustible joy which from birth to rebirth manifests for Christians the love of God for humanity.

Christmas is celebrated in the West every December 25 of each year. In Haiti, for some time now, we have noticed almost no celebration of this festival of Christian origin. The days follow one another, calamities, miseries, and sufferings too. Many Haitians live on the threshold of poverty. As for acts of insecurity, they are increasing almost everywhere on the Haitian national territory without hope of finding an improvement that could lead us towards an air of relief.

Despite all these difficulties, the Christmas celebration brings joy, contentment, and the spirit of sharing. Christmas is a time when we forget all our problems, all our headaches and only think about the Christmas party. The

Christmas celebration is especially noticeable in disadvantaged neighborhoods with Christmas songs everywhere you go, as Christmas celebrates with music, light, and color. Cleaning committees in each area, painting on the exterior walls of all neighborhoods and above all people wishing you a “Merry Christmas” here and there.

Christmas, a celebration of light, even in the darkest heart it shines, and the most deprivedhave the chance to feel the spirit of sharing and the desire to share. Christmas radiates thesight of blind people as they imagine the celebration and feel immense joy and pleasure.

The Management of YES!, Youth Empowered by the Spirit, wishes everyone a “Merry Christmas” and a great big "Thank you"!

Blessings, Sonido