How past our Christmas memories interior?
CHRONICLE: Our surroundings enhance both our memory and sense of belonging. When we celebrate Christmas, this becomes especially apparent.
“She lit a new one. Then sad she under the most delicious Christmas tree; it was even larger and more ornate than what she had seen through the glass door of the rich merchant, now last July; a thousand candles burned on the green branches, and variegated images that those who adorned the boutique windows looked down on her. The little one stretched both hands in the air – then the brimstone plug was extinguished. ”
The fairy tale “The little girl with the lollipops” by the author HC Andersen takes place in the middle of the Christmas holiday on New Year’s Eve. The girl strokes off the sulfur sticks that she actually has to sell, to warm up instead. One sight after another describes Christmas celebrations in Rome which have never themselves been a part of, but which have viewed through the window from the outside. For her, they are good rooms. She can vividly imagine what it is like to be in them, what it smells like, how hot it is there and the people who are in them.
What is a home?
The interior of the home consists not only of floor, walls and ceiling, but also decor, furniture, objects, pictures and personal parts, sounds and smells. In combination with us as residents, this creates a home, a small extension of ourselves that gets a physical expression. A home gives us a base and a place to feel a sense of belonging.
The need to create a physical framework around ourselves is fundamental.
Architect and professor of interior architecture, Edward Hollis, believes that interiors play a role in not only remembering who we are or where we are from, they remind us of the very act of remembering – a memory always begins in a room. The space and the home itself represent a place where our past and who we are expressed in objects we have chosen to surround ourselves with. We also connect the past to the future by being in space and experiencing it. It gives us a sense of being part of a larger whole, a continuity among us humans.
It becomes very clear in us if we lack this base, as the girl with the brimstone sticks does. The need to create a physical framework around ourselves, whether it is permanent or temporary, and especially in the context of a holiday, is fundamental.
The surroundings create memories
Christmas celebrations create a special atmosphere in our homes. The different places get smells and sounds associated with the celebration from the food we make, Christmas trees, Christmas decorations, music and people gather. An important premise for remembering something is whether “there are clues in the situation which are associated with what one must remember”. When we celebrate Christmas, we repeat a number of traditions and customs every year. Almost all take place within the framework of the home. The home, with its content, mood and people, serves as clues to the memories we create through actions that take place and the interaction that occurs in or between people in what we perform the customs.
By, for example, decorating the Christmas tree with the same decoration every year, we reconstruct the memory from the years before about the Christmas tree. We can place where the Christmas tree stood in the living room and attach an event to it, perhaps recognize the smell of it or remember that the same Christmas decoration hangs on her tree. In this way, a sense of continuity arises and where we come from becomes clearer to us.
A Christmas-decorated room where the traditions are repeated is delimited and has a special character and atmosphere.
The same thing happens when we look at a home from the outside or visit someone else. We have with us a frame of reference against which we constantly compare the world around us. We perceive the imprint of others on their private rum and interpret them against our history. The girl with the goodies can still interpret what she sees, through her own frame of reference, even though she herself may have never experienced it. Her memories are her experiences and they are a part of her.
“The little girl with the brimstone sticks” is a Christmas story, but it also tells about what joy you can create in a room and how basic we must be for a physical framework around our lives and the Christmas celebration. A Christmas-decorated room where the traditions are repeated is delimited and has a special character and atmosphere. This helps us to have clear clues to which the memories of Christmas can be linked.
References:
Andersen, Hans Christian: The little girl with the brimstone sticks. Adventures and Stories. 69-72. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 189.
Edward Hollis: The Memorial Palace. London: Portobello Books, 2014. (Summary)
Juhani Pallasmaa: The room, the place, the room and the self. Klingenberg, Ellen (ed.) Interior Architecture. 164-171. Oslo: Spartacus Forlag AS / Scandinavian Academic Press, 2007.
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