I read the other day that to serve some twisted notion of “inclusivity” and political correctness, a country in Europe has officially discouraged calling the Christmas holidays ‘Christmas holidays’, instead recommending ‘Winter celebration’ or some variation on that.
How odd! I won’t even get into the absurdity of this example of the culture war mentality or the arbitrary havoc wrought by cancel culture. It’s odd to compare this mentality with what is commonplace here in the East.
Christmas display in Beijing.
As I’ve written about before, my experience living and traveling Asia, has been that Christmas is celebrated with sheer enthusiasm and unabashed fervor in places like Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, China, even Cambodia.
Santa arrives in Cambodia!
None of these are close to being Christian countries. They are basically Buddhist. And China, Vietnam, and Cambodia are COMMUNIST COUNTRIES. Yet, their godless populations openly embrace the Christmas festivities, seeing nothing contradictory or offensive.
Christmas in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Granted, these celebrations are basically secular, sans mawkish religiosity. Hey! What’s new? Christmas is in America and much of the West just an orgy of spending on gifts, excessive amounts of food and libations, and piling on glittery decorations. Santa is not a religious icon, and I don’t remember seeing Mary and Joseph, votive candles, and frankincence at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, which officially kicks off the Christmas season. Visa and Mastercard each had a float.
Japan does Christmas in style. This year we went to Osaka and two floors of the huge Hankyu Department Store were Christmas themed. There was every holiday gift item from all over the world there.
