New York Sign Language Christmas in New York Celebrates Faith in Money By BOB YAMPOLSKY	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
ＮＹはモノとお金のクリスマス さあ、クリスマス！　有名なロックフェラーセンターの巨大クリスマスツリーを筆頭に、街中は華やかなデコレーションで飾られます。しかしその一方、子供や親類へのプレゼント、アパートの管理人へのチップなどの出費もかさみ、筆者は頭が痛いようです。

The guys from Quebec are back, selling their Christmas trees. Every year they arrive on the day after Thanksgiving, and a stretch of sidewalk just outside our building becomes transformed into an outdoor Christmas tree market.

The trees are beautiful and fragrant, and the lights and decorations are festive. The young men selling the trees have a rustic, north-country charm. They dress in sensible woodland clothes, speak with funny French Canadian accents and are cheerful and efficient in their work.

Despite their outrageous prices, they do a brisk business. Because people are feeling rich these days, they don't mind shelling out for a nice tree. Last year these guys sold $70,000 (¥7.35 million) worth.

That's Christmas in New York: It's beautiful and festive, and it's all about money.

Christmas is the time to hand out tips to the people who work in your building. Some large buildings actually hand out lists of the people who work there to help make sure that you don't miss anyone. Our super and handyman, very helpfully, slide a card under the door, just to make sure that we do not forget them.

Last year I gave $45 (¥4,725) to the super, $40 (¥4,200) to the handyman and $20 (¥2,100) each to the three men who take turns as guard in the lobby. A small staff, thank god.

But I still could have used a list, because I couldn't remember the name of the third guard. This is important because you write the person's name on the envelope that holds the card with the money; it would be rude not to.

I did seem to remember that his name was something exotic and difficult to spell, so I came up with a clever way to finesse the issue: When I handed him a blank envelope, I asked, "How do you spell your name?" He said, "S-A-M. Sam." This year I'm giving the guards $25 (¥2,625).

In my family, we're still at the believing in Santa Claus stage. This means that on Christmas Eve, my kids put out milk and cookies for Santa. As soon as they go to bed and the lights go off, they hear bells and reindeer hooves. When they wake up in the morning, the milk and cookies have been consumed, and their presents await them under the tree.

Kids write letters to Santa, requesting specific toys. If they ask for too much, parents say, "If you're greedy and ask for too much, Santa might not bring you anything." So it's easy to keep these costs reasonable. At my house, Santa's going to spend about $40 a kid, tax included.

That's just the beginning. You have to figure in about $25 more each for smaller presents from Mama and Papa (They'll get at least six more presents from assorted relatives.).

I also have to get presents for nine other kids on my side of the family. These will range from about $20 for my niece and nephew, to about $10 (¥1,050) for my cousin's stepchildren. I'd like to keep it under $300 (¥31,500) for children's presents this year (We're sensible in my family, meaning the adults do not exchange gifts).

On top of the expense, there is the monumental task of going to stores and battling the holiday crowds as you try to find presents that are both appropriate and within budget. You're hot and sweaty in your bulky winter clothing, and everywhere you turn there are people in your way. There are whiny kids and witless parents and dishearteningly long lines, and each new credit card purchase seems to add that much more burden to your heart.

It gets dark before 5 these days. But the gloom of the season is dispelled by the festive displays across the city. Apartment windows and storefronts are decorated with lights, and there are trees and decorations in almost every lobby. Where the pockets are deepest the displays are gaudiest.

Office buildings in midtown seem to compete with each other for grandest display: giant wooden soldiers at one, a whole forest of Christmas trees at another. Rockefeller Center is displaying its biggest Christmas tree ever this year, the last of the millennium. It towers over the skating rink and, with its thousands of colored lights, is very pretty at night.

There is a certain delicacy about religion at this time of year. In New York, there are many Jews, who celebrate Hanukkah. There are many Muslims, too. And there is a celebration called Kwanza, which is something of an African-American alternative/supplement to Christmas.

So you make sure your cards say "Season's Greetings" instead of "Merry Christmas," and you ask people how they are spending the holidays, rather than how they are spending Christmas. For most of us, that is about the extent to which traditional religion intrudes upon the Christmas season.

It is conventional wisdom here that Christmas has become a secular, materialistic celebration. I agree that it is materialistic, but I do not think that it is secular. Future historians will look back on our era and understand that our fevered spending was in fact an intensely religious act. For they will see what we have not yet admitted to ourselves: that in New York, at the end of the 20th century, the prevailing religion centers around money.

Shukan ST: Dec. 24, 1999

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