It's already Christmas in Badalona

The irony of the calendar has made the eviction of the 400 people who eked out a living in Catalonia's largest settlement amidst the solemnities and revelry of Christmas, the celebration of the birth of a Christ Child that took place in a court of animals, with homeless parents rejected by every household, and with the mother infancy resting on the straw of an ox and a millstone, all of them Christian.

There are people who make an ideological banner of Christmas. For example, at the PP's celebration the other day, Feijóo proclaimed, quite pleased with himself: "If one is Catholic, why should one apologize for being Catholic? [...] I won't say happy holidays. I'll say Merry Christmas!" There are also people who make a banner of opposition: the organizers of end-of-term school festivals under the banner of the winter solstice (they say it's so as not to offend or impose any belief) and the institutions that perform shameful political balancing acts and set up nativity scenes.insideAnd not in the public square. And some take advantage of Christmas to put the city on the map. Mayor Albiol himself has turned Christmas into a draw for Badalona's businesses these days, with more than a million LED lights in the streets and a 42-meter-tall tree. Nothing is missing, and they're trying to compete with Vigo.

For years now, Christmas has been a time for show, and its religious meaning has been replaced by a commercial hurricane. So, hypocrisy regarding Christmas is taken for granted and affects everyone, believers included. But something stirs at the inconsistency of seeing so much affirmation of Catholicism and Christmas tradition coinciding with the same days when hundreds of people are sent to sleep rough, like on the first December 25th.