They call it “the coldest, driest, windiest place on earth.” The highest temperature ever on the continent of Antarctica was 59F. The lowest temperature was -129F Blizzards are common, though very little snow actually falls. In mid-summer the sun never sets. In mid-winter it never rises. Through November and December of 2010 I am privileged to serve as chaplain to the scientists and support personnel at McMurdo Station on Ross Island, situated at the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.
Christmas at McMurdo is anything but glitzy.Actually, it’s rather drab.
But, in my opinion, that’s quite all right. The hype, hysteria, and neurotic busyness that define Christmas in most of the world are not something people miss here. Whatever shopping you can do can be done in about 15 minutes.I probably do twice that much at home.
There’s no running down to the hardware store for lighted Santas and animated rain deer.What you do is pull out a dusty fake Christmas tree from dusty old box and see if you can find some tinsel and ornaments that may or may not work well together;all from the odd assortment left over from previous years.
Whatever you don’t have, you make…out of whatever you can find.We don’t wait until the last minute to decorate, either.Some people start as much as a week ahead.Christmas Eve is a workday, but for this occasion most people get both Saturday and Sunday off.That is a special treat and the weekend is planned.There’s something to be said for this kind of Christmas.People get together and contribute whatever their talent is, for the benefit of the whole community.
The season, more or less kicks off with the Women’s Soiree, a variety show performed by women, held in the Galley, and attended by a large part of the community.Here’s where women trade in their Carhartt overalls for dresses and heels.As we say back home, “they clean up pretty good.”
Tonight the carolers were heard at dinner time in the Galley and A Charlie Brown Christmas was performed on its second showing in the Chapel.
Good Grief!
The Cast Takes a Bow
Parties large and small are planned for Christmas Eve, and much of the community will meet in the Chapel for a celebration of the Nativity, with carols and a choir anthem. Mass will be celebrated, assuming the weather clears, and Father Pat can get back from the South Pole in time. Sunday will be the second day of Christmas with individual Catholic and Protestant worship services.
Actually, it’s beginning to look alot like Christmas;a little more humble than it does back home, but a lot like Christmas none-the-less. I'm going to like our McMurdo Christmas. I wish you could be here.
People have been living here at McMurdo, year around, for more than 50 years, and plane loads and shiploads of supplies have been coming in all of that time. How do we keep from being inundated with trash? The answer is fairly simple. We use the rule of the National Forest; "Pack it in--Pack it out."
I visited the "Trash Hut" the other day, where all refuse (including human waste from the base camps) is packed in boxes and prepared for recycling somewhere else. The packed up waste will be loaded on container ships at the end of the summer season.
Waste is pre-sorted at the dorms and at the dish return area in the galley
Large cardboard receptacles around town collect the sorted waste
A similar process is followed at the base camps, which may be many miles from McMurdo
All of that collected waste is dropped of at the "Trash Hut."
While McMurdo has a state of the art sewage treatment plant,
the base stations also bring in packaged human waste.
Note the sign at the cowboy's knees
that suggests that human waste be delivered out in back.
The workers like to keep their work area warm, and...well you know.
Some very nice people further sort and package the waste.
Various machines help them with their job
A fork lift manages the yard out in back
until the boxes can be moved to a larger storage area.
Here it awaits the coming of a container ship to carry it all away,
where it will be neatly recycled somewhere far from here :)
