ROME (AP) – Families who usually get together for Christmas at a hearty, persistent meal, celebrated except on Fridays, services have changed online and gift exchanges have been reduced to one of the most unusual and shortest seasons holiday in recent decades.
The coronavirus left almost no one affected.
Patricia Hager, 60, delivered homemade caramel rolls for breakfast to family and friends in Bismarck, North Dakota, a state that was not hit until later in the pandemic, but was hit hard. It seemed that every time he opened his door this holiday season, someone had left smoked salmon, walnut baskets or cookies.
“This year the love of Christmas is expressed at the door,” she said. “I am glad that people will probably be with us next year with the vaccines. I can give up anything for that. “
With a child to be in February, Song Ju-hyeon from Paju, South Korea, near Seoul, said home was the only place he felt safe. The government reported 1,241 new cases on Friday, a new daily record for the country.
“It doesn’t look like Christmas anyway, it doesn’t wander the streets,” she said.
“It’s Christmask,” said the Daily Nation in Kenya, where an increase in cases led to a short strike on Christmas Eve. The holidays have been turned off in central East Africa, as an extinguishing nest has prevented church vigils overnight.
Pope Francis has brought his Christmas blessing from inside the Vatican, breaking with his traditional speech from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to tens of thousands in St. Peter’s Square. Tourism in Italy has virtually disappeared, and government restrictions on holiday coronavirus have thwarted any plans by locals to move to the market.
Citing a reason for optimism, Francis said that the development of COVID-19 vaccines shines “lights of hope” on the world. In a passionate appeal to leaders, businesses and international organizations, he said he must ensure that the most vulnerable and needy in the pandemic are the first to receive the vaccine.
Bells were rung around Bethlehem during the traditional feast of the birth of Jesus. But the closure of Israel’s international airport for foreign tourists, along with Palestinian restrictions banning long-distance travel in areas it manages in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has kept visitors away.
In Beijing, official churches abruptly canceled the Mass after the Chinese capital was alerted after two confirmed COVID-19 cases last week. Two new asymptomatic cases were reported on Friday.
With savings around the world, it has not been a year of generous gifts. Robin Sypniewski of Middlesex County, New Jersey, has been sent twice from the school lunch service and is now on reduced hours as her husband retires next week as a garbage collector and her daughter struggles with student debt.
Sypniewski, 58, bought pajamas for his daughter, compared to a diamond bracelet last Christmas. Her husband received a $ 20 plaque depicting his Polish heritage, compared to a tablet last year.
“The bills must be paid this month and next month. With reduced hours, it’s hard, “she said.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil, 56-year-old taxi driver Dennys Abreu sailed overnight in the vast city to cover the $ 300 monthly payment for his car, which he bought after losing a car. job in construction. An estimated 14 million Brazilians are out of work.
“All I can do is work as hard as I can, manage and hope that this damn virus goes away next year,” he said.
Meanwhile, church services have changed online. The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles celebrated five Masses at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, with a maximum of 130 people, compared to a pre-pandemic capacity of about 3,000. All were broadcast live.
The Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, had five services, but the personal presence was capped at 25, compared to 2,000 before the pandemic. A Christmas Eve contest that normally takes place in person has been recorded and submitted online.
“I must remember that Christians have been celebrating Christmas for hundreds of years, in all sorts of circumstances,” said Fr. Elizabeth Marie Melchionna, the church’s rector. “Some external appearances are different and yet the essence remains the same. What has not changed is that essential longing and celebration of love that is born of Christmas. “
In Paris, members of the Notre Dame Cathedral choir sang in the church for the first time since a 2019 fire, wearing hats and protective suits against construction conditions.
The pain was prevalent among the families of more than 1.7 million people worldwide killed by the virus and about 80 million infected.
Margarita Reyes, 60, is among four people in her home who caught the virus in Calexico, California, near the Mexican border. Her 69-year-old husband died within three weeks, and her 35-year-old daughter has been on a five-month-old oxygen device. They were too sad to celebrate in any way.
Suzanne Rose of Raleigh, North Carolina, delivered homemade spaghetti to the doorstep of her quarantined daughter, a restaurant manager who was exposed to the virus at work. Her son, a firefighter, was also exposed.
“The air came out of the balloon” without her children for Christmas, she said. A video chat did not replace watching movies in the same room with them and her husband.
Closure of borders and blockades have ruined some plans. Thousands of drivers were stranded in their trucks in the English port of Dover, devoid of the coronavirus tests France is asking amid growing concern over a new, apparently more contagious virus variant. The British army and French firefighters were brought in to help speed up the tests and free food was distributed.
With Colombia closing its borders to prevent the virus from spreading, Venezuelan migrants could not go home for the holidays. Yakelin Tamaure, a nurse who left Venezuela economically two years ago, wanted to visit her mother, who is breastfeeding with a broken leg.
“I’m trying to send her money, but it’s not the same as being there,” she said.
But many took steps. A pre-pandemic Christmas in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for 53-year-old Kristin Schrader meant hosting a large dinner with appetizers for her visiting brother from Denver, her parents, who live in the city, and passing friends. . This year, she opted for a social outing with her husband and 13-year-old daughter to watch a man dressed as Santa Claus in a canoe on the cold Huron River with his dog. There was also a discreet dinner on the agenda.
“It’s very difficult when you all stay in the same house to gather a lot of enthusiasm for the three of us, when we look at each other months and months ago,” she said.
The 70 residents of St. Peters, a nursing home in the northern Spanish town of El Astillero, held video talks or 30-minute visits with the family, separated by a Plexiglas wall.
“This terrible thing came to us, so we have to accept it and do it patiently,” said Mercedes Arejula, who met her mother.
The nursing home only allowed one relative inside. A niece blew kisses from outside.
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Spagat reported from San Diego.
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PA correspondents contributed to this report from around the world.
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This story has been corrected to show that Suzanne Rose is from Raleigh, North Carolina, not Winston-Salem.
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