Finding true 'concord' at the holidays
Dec. 23—In this, the darkest time of the year, the city of Concord is aglow.
In front of the State House, lanterns shimmer on an impressive steel menorah, a Christmas tree sparkles with colored lights, and soft light illuminates a traditional Christian Nativity scene.
Nearby, a spotlight shines on a winter solstice display that depicts the Founding Fathers, the Statue of Liberty and the Bill of Rights.
Welcome to the holiday season in New Hampshire's capital city.
While many communities have opted to avoid holiday displays for fear of offending some, Concord's approach is "the better way," said the Rev. Raymond Ball, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic parish: "When the public square is made available to the different groups and people in the community, to show forth what's important to them."
"It's about having mutual respect for people of different faith traditions," he said. "It's a great testament to the community and what binds us together."
"People in Concord are pretty cool about this type of thing, pretty tolerant of others' beliefs," agreed Tim Sink, president of the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce.
Turns out that spirit of coexistence hearkens back to the birth of this nation. The city's name means "a state of agreement: harmony," according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
That's no accident.
During Colonial times, a boundary dispute arose between the governments of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, according to Elizabeth Dubrulle, director of education and public programs at the New Hampshire Historical Society.
The language designating the border was imprecise at best.
"It says three miles north of the Merrimack, so nobody knows what that means," Dubrulle said.
As settlers explored farther inland from northeast Massachusetts, they realized that the Merrimack River turns and runs north to south. Massachusetts claimed its territory extended to the source of the river, not its mouth, she said.
"So you've got two legislatures trying to get people to settle this land," she said. "But some charters are conflicting with one another.
"So the whole thing is a mess," Dubrulle said. "It sounds like the Wild West."
Both sides appealed to the British king to settle the dispute, and the crown in 1740 decided the dispute in New Hampshire's favor.
The problem was, plenty of people already had settled the area. Settlers in the town of Bow had a charter from the New Hampshire government, while residents of Rumford and Suncook had charters from Massachusetts.
Finally, in 1765, the two factions sat down and negotiated a compromise.
That's when Rumford was renamed Concord, "in the sense of harmony," Dubrulle explained. "So they hope from that point forward, everything is going to be calm and peaceful, but it hasn't been at all up to that point."
"It's aspirational," she said.
'Well-meaning community'
More than 250 years later, Concord — which eventually became the state capital — may be a bit closer to living up to those aspirations.
"I think it's great that we actually can let everyone's faith and beliefs be represented," Dubrulle said. "And I think that there is something quintessentially New Hampshire about that."
That spirit of co-existence also reflects an early motto for the new nation: "E pluribus unum," said Ball, the Catholic pastor.
"It's meant to be 'one out of the many,'" he said, "how we can look at the many traditions and cultures that make up the fabric and the kaleidoscope of our country."
Last Sunday evening, crowds gathered for the first night of Hanukkah, the eight-day Festival of Lights in the Jewish faith. There were treats for the youngsters, a dancing dreidel and the ceremonial lighting of the menorah.
Rabbi Levi Krinsky, executive director of Chabad of New Hampshire, which sponsors the annual observance, said the menorah has been a presence on the State House grounds for 33 years.
"It's very welcoming and very rewarding for many people," he said.
"We don't take it for granted," Krinsky said. "It's peaceful and happy and puts smiles on people's faces and puts warmth in their hearts."
Concord Grange, Aerie 613, sponsors an annual Christmas parade and tree-lighting festival on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
This year's was the 71st annual parade; in all those years, it was only canceled once for weather, according to Brian Blackden, who directs the event for the Grange. Even during the pandemic, the parade went on.
Concord, Blackden said, "is just a well-meaning community."
He's happy to see the menorah and Christmas display share the public square each December. "I think it shows that different religions and different thoughts can be together and be OK with one another," he said.
"It's supposed to be a good time of the year for everybody," Blackden said.
'Love one another'
The Nativity scene is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Council 112. Roger LaFleur, the council's grand knight, said the tradition goes back for decades.
Christmas is a central event for faithful Christians, LaFleur said. "This is when the baby Jesus was born and came down to earth to be sacrificed for all of us men and women for our sins and for our salvation," he said.
Jesus' message was clear, he said: "To love one another. That's where we put our faith."
In that spirit, LaFleur said he welcomes the Hanukkah observance that shares space with the Christmas display. "This is the time of year for sharing, and giving, and caring," he said.
"What kind of a person — what kind of Catholic — would I be if I were to look down my nose and push them aside and say they have no right to share their faith and their belief?" he asked. "It would be pretty hypocritical."
People of all faiths have values in common, LaFleur said: "You believe in sharing, you believe in a God, you believe in love, you believe in peace."
In Concord, non-believers also have their place in the public square.
Jack Shields puts up the annual Winter Solstice display, featuring Ben Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the Statue of Liberty worshiping the Bill of Rights placed in a manger.
It invites the community to "join us in honoring the Bill of Rights, adopted on December 15, 1791, which reminds us there can be no religious freedom without the freedom to dissent."
"Keep religion and government separate," it proclaims, and gives the website for the Freedom From Religion Foundation (ffrf.org), a national nonprofit organization promoted in a TV commercial by Ron Reagan, the son of former President Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
Counterpoint
Shields, who grew up Christian but is now an atheist, said the area in front of the State House is "a free-speech zone."
"Anybody can go down there and spout off anything they want," he said. "That's how they all coexist."
Shields said he doesn't "give a hoot" about the plaza having a Christmas tree, which he said "has morphed into goodwill and whatever you want to put onto it."
He put up his display in response to the Nativity scene, which he thinks would be more appropriate in front of a church. "The creche is definitely a religious statement," he said.
But he said, "They insist on having it in the public square." So he'll keep putting up his Bill of Rights display every year.
"This is my counterpoint," he said.
The Bill of Rights display doesn't bother Rabbi Krinsky. "We don't proselytize," he said. "We're just there to reach out to the Jewish community."
Krinsky encourages everyone to observe their faith, whatever that may be: "To wear their religion proudly, to be proud of their heritage."
"We're so proud of New Hampshire, that it's so happy and peaceful," he said.
What message does Concord, and by extension New Hampshire, send with this approach to the holidays?
"That we do have this sort of independence of spirit, and that we recognize that other people have that independence as well," the Historical Society's Dubrulle said. "And we honor it by giving their beliefs and their values as much importance as we do our own."
"At our best, that is what we're supposed to be," she said.
The Knights of Columbus' LaFleur offers a different answer: "Hope."
"There's still hope for our country, there's still hope for our world, to be able to repent and to be able to find a way to share in what we share in Concord.
"It's not too late," he said.
