You can find some very interesting Christmas items here - and some real bargains. For example for $15 or $20 you can purchase a very nice 2 meter tree in our local grocery store - artificial of course. Christmas decorations to hang on trees are also quite inexpensive.
Unusual to those of us from the west are the Santa outfits that come in all sizes for infants and toddlers. These outfits even come with a Santa hat. Next to Santa figures, snowmen are the most common here. Today we drove by a ten foot blown up Snowman outside of a furniture store. Of course very few Vietnamese have ever experienced snow first hand. However I guess they have all seen it on TV and in movies.
Thinking of warm Asian countries, I asked Jinggoy my co-worker from the Philippines about singing Christmas songs in the Philippines. Sure enough he knew the words to "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas". A white Christmas would be a disaster in the Philippines or Vietnam. Warm mittens, gloves and earmuffs are already being worn in Hanoi by those on motorbikes. Scarves are common everywhere. However even here in the north of Vietnam, the night time temperatures have not yet dropped below 12 degrees celsius or 16 degrees in the daytime. (Today it warmed up to 21 degrees.)
Yet in spite of the western commercial Christmas influence, it is rare to find a creche (manger scene) unless you visit one of the few Roman Catholic neighborhoods. On the other hand, the story of Christ is so foundational, is so much a part of our heritage in western society that it is quite acceptable to share this story in other countries at Christmas. Many of our friends take the opportunity to share the real Christmas story to English classes filled with students. I know of at least one local company and a factory owned by Christians where the Christmas story is shared at the annual Christmas party attended by Vietnamese workers.
We know that in western cultures the story of Christ and Christmas is often obscured by the commercial emphasis or at best, obscured by a total emphasis on giving to family, friends and the less fortunate. Imagine how obscure - how unknown it is in countries with no Christian heritage.
Unusual to those of us from the west are the Santa outfits that come in all sizes for infants and toddlers. These outfits even come with a Santa hat. Next to Santa figures, snowmen are the most common here. Today we drove by a ten foot blown up Snowman outside of a furniture store. Of course very few Vietnamese have ever experienced snow first hand. However I guess they have all seen it on TV and in movies.
Thinking of warm Asian countries, I asked Jinggoy my co-worker from the Philippines about singing Christmas songs in the Philippines. Sure enough he knew the words to "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas". A white Christmas would be a disaster in the Philippines or Vietnam. Warm mittens, gloves and earmuffs are already being worn in Hanoi by those on motorbikes. Scarves are common everywhere. However even here in the north of Vietnam, the night time temperatures have not yet dropped below 12 degrees celsius or 16 degrees in the daytime. (Today it warmed up to 21 degrees.)
Yet in spite of the western commercial Christmas influence, it is rare to find a creche (manger scene) unless you visit one of the few Roman Catholic neighborhoods. On the other hand, the story of Christ is so foundational, is so much a part of our heritage in western society that it is quite acceptable to share this story in other countries at Christmas. Many of our friends take the opportunity to share the real Christmas story to English classes filled with students. I know of at least one local company and a factory owned by Christians where the Christmas story is shared at the annual Christmas party attended by Vietnamese workers.
We know that in western cultures the story of Christ and Christmas is often obscured by the commercial emphasis or at best, obscured by a total emphasis on giving to family, friends and the less fortunate. Imagine how obscure - how unknown it is in countries with no Christian heritage.
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