Christmas, by any other name

Praia da Luz, a few days just before Christmas. Normally bustling with activity, you could hear a pin drop across the main square. Where was everybody?

In the health shop, Meri Hanlin informed me that she’d “had to do a Bruce Springsteen in the street” three times the week before. A Bruce Springsteen? “I went out into the street and screamed: “Is anyone ALIVE out there!” at the top of my voice…This week, things are a little better.”

But as uplifting as it always is talking with Meri (a Canadian), she was not the kind of minority nationality I was looking for.

Towards the sea, I found just the pair: Madhu Panicker and Raj Kumar in the Saffron Indian Kitchen.

Both Hindu, they informed me that “Hindu people love Christmas”. “We like all holidays, no problem!” They beamed at me over a delicious cup of hot chai. “At Christmas we all go to church and we have lots of lights in house,” Madhu elaborated. “We make paper stars and we eat chicken. Chicken curry!”

But what do they do here, in Portugal? “We have day off! We will go and eat chicken curry with friends. Maybe go to Sagres. Have nice day!”

And how is the pair finding life in Portugal? “Very good,” beamed Madhu. “I make Portuguese nationality, and then I bring all family over!”

Madhu explained there were 50 or 60 Indian families living in Lagos, but that socialising is difficult as he only has a morning off a week – other than Christmas day, of course.

Only a morning? Shouldn’t he get two days off a week, like everyone else? “Here people work with European rules, but we work with Indian rules. Only one morning every week. The rest of the time, work”.

But like so many immigrants from poorer countries, these two Indian gentlemen are simply grateful to have a job at all – just like Nikolai Kuryan, from Belarus.

Nikolai is one of our more poetic readers. He’s been in touch with us a couple of times over the past year, with letters so delightful we’ve never really known what to do with them.

He’s thanked us for helping him “exchange his life”. Self-taught in English, he said that once he discovered Algarve 123, he never read any other local newspaper – and that he takes us with him on bus journeys back home to Minsk, reading the paper from cover-to-cover to perfect his Portuguese and English.

Thus, he was the instant choice for another foreigner in the Algarve at Christmas. So, what is Christmas like in Belarus?

“We celebrate two Christmases! Our first is the Catholic Christmas, on the 24th/ 25th and the second is the Russian Orthodox Christmas, after the New Year, on 7th January.

”For me it was interesting to learn that in Germany, Father Christmas is called St. Nicklaus, because in my country, we call him Ded Moroz, which translates into Grandfather Frost.

“In my country, Grandfather Frost comes with his granddaughter Snegurochka! It is a time of family celebration. Much eating and enjoyment around the table. Lots of snow. Children throw snowballs on the street. It is a beautiful happy time.”

So does he miss his life in Belarus?

“For me, coming to the Algarve has given me better life – one that is not possible in Belarus – and I like so many things here!

“When I first came here I thought this land was magical, beautiful – a wonderland. I felt good in my soul to see so many lakes and rivers – and the towns and streets so full of charm! You can walk here, in the evenings, and not feel tired as there is so much to see! You don’t like to go home! Every town is totally different, but every one so nice! I have lived here five years now, and I really can say: Algarve - tu meu amor!”

Nikolai currently works in Sines, in a factory, as he says jobs in the Algarve are “more difficult in winter”, but he tries to come to Lagos every weekend, to enjoy the “special place” he now calls home.

Meeting people like Nikolai, Madhu and Raj, one realises that Portugal, for all its current problems, is not all bad. We should remember that this Christmas, and give thanks for the little we have. Plenty of other nations aren’t so lucky…