Having a slightly surreal moment this weekend; my lovely
other half and my parents are meeting up for a pre-Christmas lunch. It feels
very alarming not be there to control all eventualities. Not to be able to kick
my father under the table if he becomes more than usually strange (this is the
man who once attempted to locate a duck pond by quacking) or indicate to my
other half, very gently, that my mother will definitely NOT be on social media.
Although she is now reading my blog (“David, where have you put Helen’s blog?”)
so who knows, I may come back to find her friending me on FaceBook and asking
plaintively why I keep ignoring her tweets. But in the spirit of Christmas, I
thought I might share the preparations that the James Clark Ross is making for
the big day and the ways in which previous expeditions and explorers have
chosen to celebrate this midwinter festival.
I should probably mention that I love Christmas. Absolutely
love it. It's the one time of the year when it’s acceptable to have chocolate and
alcohol with breakfast, to eat until you feel mildly sick and to open presents
with the same kind of joyous abandon with which Scottish reavers descended on
particularly affluent villages. So it won’t be a huge surprise to know that
I’ve posted my Christmas cards from the Falklands. They may well arrive sometime
after the New Year, but this is not the point. The point is that I tried! My
presents for family- various souvenirs from the James Clark Ross- have already
made their way home with the previous crew and even now I’m waiting for the
rapturous cries of joy (which will be clearly audible across the Atlantic) that
will greet the discovery of a JCR-logo’d top that’s far, far too small.
The drawers under my bed are stuffed with glossy papered
presents- waiting, full of promise, for me to open them. I’ve left one of my
bars of dark chocolate with the purser, under strict instructions that he can
only give it to me on Christmas day (or I probably won’t have any left). My
favourite decoration- a stocking that I think my Mum made- is hanging in pride
of place on my curtain rail! And most importantly I’ve started listening to The
Hogfather audio book, without which it is impossible for me to feel properly
festive. And also more keen than usual on black pudding and all related pork
products...
 |
| My stocking |
Before leaving the good ship JCR, the scientists on the
previous cruise were kind enough to put up the Christmas tree and decorate the
bar/social area. It now looks deeply festive in a wonderfully garish kind of
way. If I was to be unkind, it looks slightly like Santa vomited in the bar-
which I always feel is the optimum kind of Christmas decor to aim for. If there
aren’t enough twinkly lights to blind a reindeer then what, may I ask, is
Christmas really for? Regrettably, as we have quite a tight time frame to get
all the science work finished before getting to Rothera, it doesn’t look like
we’ll be taking Christmas off. We might have a half day, however, which would
be very nice. And I’ve been assured by the head cook and his sous chef, that we
will still have roast turkey with all the trimmings!
Christmas is for many a Christian festival, but there have
been midwinter festivals celebrated for thousands of years. Generally these occasions
are related to the winter solstice and probably celebrate the fact that the
nights are finally getting shorter and the sun is slowly returning to the
skies. In Antarctica, things are slightly topsy turvy. Whilst Christmas may
still be celebrated by the teams down there, the December period of the year
doesn’t represent a period of darkness and enforced inactivity. Rather December
is the mid-summer period when the majority of outdoor work can be done. The
actual midwinter celebrations in Antarctica are usually partaken of by the
wintering teams who make each other presents and have a mid-winter feast.
But Christmas still has its place for the Antarcticans. It
may not be necessary to salute the return of the sun, but it’s always a good
idea to have a celebration to lift the spirits of the team and to provide a
safe outlet for difficult emotions. The Belgica expedition in 1898 became mired
in the sea ice of the Bellinghausen Sea for almost a year. Amundsen reported
that the crew began experiencing gloomy thoughts, paranoia and began hearing
“uncanny screams” after a year of consuming what the ship’s doctor called
“embalmed beef” in tins. Cook (the ship’s doctor) gives a description of a
particularly bleak and dismal Christmas dinner in which the crew had to feign
enthusiasm and “doubt of our future was pictured on every face.”
Lessons were learned from the experiences of the Belgica
expedition and attempts were made to introduce a spirit of frivolity into
future Christmas celebrations. It was difficult to have a full Christmas dinner
whilst manhauling sledges across Antarctica, but Christmas was at least a time
of double rations. Scott’s Discovery expedition feasted on “pemmican, biscuit,
seal liver, boiling cocoa and large spoonfuls of jam” during Christmas 1902.
One hopes, not all in the same bowl-full. This represented a welcome break from
a period of semi-starvation and Scott described a “sense of comfort which had
not been experienced for weeks.” Scott also mentioned Shackleton ferreting in a
sock, only to produce a plum pudding which he had squirreled away for the
occasion and served immeasurably to lift the spirits.
The most impressive celebrations however, were by the ship
Erebus which was captained by James Clark Ross – our namesake. The Erebus
anchored itself to a massive ice floe and the crew carved from the floe a ball
room complete with ice throne for Cap’n Ross and a refreshment area with an ice
table! I feel that this sounds like a splendid idea; I can just see us lighting
up an ice berg with flashing disco lights as Noddy Holder booms out into the
frosty Antarctic air...
“Merry Christmas Everybody!”
NB : I recommend the very interesting article “Christmas at
the Poles” by Shane McCorristine and Jane Mocelline in the Polar Record Vol 52
Iss 5 Sept 2016.
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