Abha from Nahran Mountain. December 24, 2013
[from FB post: May 12, 2014]
I don't know what to make of Saudi Arabia in terms of holidays. Officially, there are only three holidays, two religious and one secular (and even the secular one, National Day, is somewhat of an issue). On the one hand, it does seem rather austere and extreme. On the other, this place is devoid of the commercialism which seems to rob holidays in my own country of their true meaning. In some ways I find it refreshing here to be honest -- do you need a day to honor your mother, your father, remember your date of birth, etc etc? One could argue we should be doing these things all the time, not just one day a year...
Saad Ali Al Qahtani was from a very conservative family in Sarat Abide. He was one of my first students and was always keen to talk to me. He invited me out for a few drives on weekends and one early evening we drove up a dirt road to an overlook of Abha (Nahran Mountain). I will never forget realizing after we parked the car that we were just a couple of meters from the cliff edge. He had to gun it and slam on the brakes to reach the top, a terrifying experience in retrospect. The view over Abha was worth it AND it was Christmas Eve. I posted this photo on my work FB as " Christmas Eve in Abha" and one of my super religious senior colleagues commented "There is no Christmas in Abha". Yeah, he was right about that.
I think I was holiday-neutral in life until Japan. Japan was a double whammy for me. One, the Japanese gave gifts and kept track of them like some endless game of tag. People gifted me with stuff all the time and only later did I realize that I was then supposed to gift back. It became so insincere and tiresome that it put me off gift giving for the rest of my life. Some people go vegetarian, I went "no gift". Don't get me wrong, I love to give gifts to people, but randomly, not in any prescribed way or on a certain day. Related to that was Christmas. Christmas in Japan was huge even back in the mid 1980s. It was stripped of any religious significance and became purely a holiday of special foods and gift giving with trees, Santa, and the works. It bothered me for some reason, even though I wasn't terribly religious at the time. After that, I basically gave up on Christmas, too. Thank you Japan for changing my life.
I do have favorite holidays. Thanksgiving has to be one of the best for me. Who doesn't like gathering with friends and family, eating good food, and feeling thankful? Everyone can participate and relate to that. Also, Independence Day is not bad. All people should like their own National Day celebration and the American one is mid-summer with barbeques and fireworks. What is not to like? Not all holidays are bad - it is just when they get loaded with gifts and expectations that they seem to take on some Frankenstein quality that robs them of any meaning.
From my time in Saudi Arabia I enjoyed the non-commercialism of their holidays. I am NOT a huge Ramadan fan, but the build up in Saudi was not like what I saw Indonesia or Iraq. I am loathe to say I agree with the Wahabis on anything, but they might have the holiday stuff down. I do, however, disagree with them about Saudi National Day. There are devout Muslim Saudis who do NOT participate in National Day simply because it is not Islamic. I understand their stance, but what is the harm in celebrating nationhood as something of a unifying force?
These days I appear to be a total Scrooge at many holidays and in gift giving. However, I prefer to gift needed things to people I meet along the way in life when they need it, rather than give meaningless gifts to people I know well who basically have everything already. As for holidays, I am all for them as a day off work and a chance to travel a little, but not much more. Maybe I just got over consumerism earlier than many of my friends and family?