FATHER LIAM SAYS: Alternative
names for today’s Feast in Ireland were – and perhaps still are – ‘Little
Christmas’ and ‘Women’s Christmas’.
Families that cooked a turkey for Christmas, in years past, might very
well have a goose for the Epiphany – or vice versa. The Christmas Season was so treasured in the
depths of a cold, dark pre-electric winter that people did not want to let go
of it. In certain parts of the country
there was the custom of people holding ropes across the roads leading from
their village as a sign of their wish to prolong the happy season and not let
it escape from them. So calling it
‘Little Christmas’ was meant to emphasise its greatness rather than its
smallness!
It
was called ‘Women’s Christmas’ because – in theory anyway – the men were meant
to do all the cooking and washing up on this day in recognition of how
tirelessly women had worked to ensure that everybody was well looked after at
this special time of year. I must say
that I never experienced this actually happening but the name ‘Women’s
Christmas’ may have encouraged the men folk to be a little more appreciative
than usual.
In
the run-up to Christmas this year the best-selling book in Spain has been
causing a sensation. The author is an
Italian lady, Constanza Miriano, and the book is published by the Catholic
Archdiocese of Grenada. It is packed
full of advice for newly-wed women, but I do not recommend that any man give it
as a present to his wife on Women’s Christmas or indeed any other day – even
though the book is a best seller in Italy as well. The success of the book must be due to the
fact that it is so outrageous – as maybe gathered from its title – ‘Get Married
and be Submissive.’ It has indeed a very
particular view of the wife’s role. In
Spanish its title is 'Cásate y sé
sumisa'.
One
passage reads: ‘It’s true, you are not yet an experienced cook or a perfect
housewife. What’s the problem if he
(your husband) tells you so? Tell him
that he is right, that it’s true, that you will learn. On seeing your sweetness and your humility,
your effort to change, this will also change him.’ It goes on: ‘If you only do what is right for
you, what you think, then you are not married to a man, you are married to
yourself. Instead of doing that, you
should submit to him.’
Obviously
the fact that this book has been published by a Catholic Archdiocese has added
an extra dimension to the furore surrounding it. It has managed to unite Spain’s constantly
feuding two main parties which have been at each others’ throats since the
Civil War of the 1930’s. The Socialists
have warned that this book fuels ‘inequality, chauvinism and discrimination.
Perhaps we can see why they arrived at that conclusion! The governing party – Partido Popular – is
equally incensed. The Equality Minister,
Ana Mato, has demanded that the book be withdrawn because it shows a ‘lack of
respect for women.’ I think she may have
a point!
Some
critics have far more trenchant objections.
They insist that the book encourages violence against women, pointing to
passages such as: ‘We (women) like humiliation because it is for a greater
good.’ On November 25th,
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, demonstrators
gathered in the northern city of Bilbao and tore up dozens of covers of the
book. A few days later a parody –
‘Submissive Wedding’ – was staged outside the residence of the Archbishop of
Granada. Protestors held up banners
reading ‘Submissiveness Kills, 702 women murdered since 2003’ – a reference to
the death toll from gender violence in Spain.
Granada City Hall has asked the Attorney General’s Office to look into
whether the book contains material that would justify legal action.
The
man at the centre of this controversy, Granada’s Archbishop Francisco Javier
Martinez, has come out fighting. In a
statement he said that the outrage over the book was ‘ridiculous and
hypocritical, adding that abortion was a more real example of violence against
women.’ The debate over the book and the
role of the Archbishop is causing some people to look more closely at the
relationship between the Church and the Spanish State. Attention is drawn to the massive State
funding that the Church enjoys as well as some of its privileges, such as
exemption from Land Tax.
Meanwhile
the next book by Constanza Miriano that the Archdiocese plans to publish should
be less contentious – it could scarcely be more. It is a guide to marriage for men with the
title: 'Cásate y de la vida por ella’ – ‘Get Married and Give Your Life for
Her’
