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Home » Reader question » Reader question: What do Thai people know about Christmas?
Reader question: What do Thai people know about Christmas?
Dear readers,
Yesterday my Thai girlfriend was busy on line answering Christmas wishes. When I asked her if she knew what christmas actually is, she said "christmas is the newyear from the farang."
What about your wives, girlfriends? Do they know anything about the manger with the ox and the donkey?
Regards,
Philip
Ps: now to listen to a little jingle bells in Big C
– Relocated –
I think the knowledge of this is about as great as the knowledge of many expats or Farangs about the Ramayana story with King Hanoman, the monkey king. A story that is known in India as well as in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand – each in its own way.
I seriously wonder if Thais know that much about Buddhism? In my opinion, many Thais are mainly animists with a thin layer of Buddhism.
Yes, can Peter. You saw it very well. The Thai knows very little about Buddhism. They are speechless when I explain to them who Buddha is and how Songkran and Loy Ktrathong came into being.
Chander
Just as Thai Buddhism is a layer over the original Thai animism, so Christianity is a layer over the original pagan culture. The date of birth of Jesus is totally fictitious and falls on an originally pagan sacred time.
Well. My wife has European business partners and has been on business visits to Italy, Turkey and Germany a few times, so she looks beyond her (beautiful) nose.
We should also not forget that some Thai children from the upper class of the population often go to Christian, Catholic schools because they are better regarded. In total, there are approximately 400.000 children. I have quite a few students who have attended these Catholic high schools. This does not only apply to Bangkok, by the way.
In my condo there is an (artificial) Christmas tree with baubles every year and of course there is a real nativity scene underneath.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Catholic-schools-in-Thailand,-places-of-excellence-and-inter-faith-dialogue-13351.html
http://internationalschoolsbangkokthailand.org/christian-schools.html
My wife knows about Christmas as much as I do about the so-called Buddha days, loykratong, sonkran.
The difference is that on Buddha days in Thailand I am dry with regard to alcohol and Christmas is a great opportunity for her and friends to have a nice meal and to stock up on some booze.
I just asked my wife what Christmas is, the answer:
“Nice cozy food and drinks, a Christmas tree, presents, Christmas cards, reindeer. ”
One of her friends is Catholic. It is known that he then goes to church, but why and what do they do there? My wife wouldn't know.
But what does Christmas really mean? For Christians, the birth of Jesus, traveling to Bethlehem with the star in the sky, etc. That is their explanation. Is it what Christmas is? No, after all, Christmas is a mix of historical events and subject to change. So before Christianity it was the celebration of the solstices around this time (December 21), festival of light and lengthening of the days. The Christians had to integrate existing elements in order to integrate their ideas, or that happens partly by itself as a kind of evolution. Today, many who have not been raised Christians know little or nothing about what is in the Bible. For these many people, Christmas is just Christmas, presents, Santa Claus, days off. So what exactly Christmas is will differ from person to person. Its historical significance will be known to even fewer people.
And Thai and Buddhism? Will Khun Peter writes, which is largely animism and superstition. When I ask a Thai on a special day what it is exactly, the answer is usually “go temple”, “party, sanook”. If you then ask what or why they celebrate something, it is often not clear. And who was Buddha? A good wise man or monk from India (or Thailand). As long as you go to the temple properly - if it suits you - to make merrit, otherwise you will get adversity ...
How many “farangs” know that it was Imperator Augustus Constantine the Great who, in 321, celebrated the Roman holiday Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (Birthday of the Invincible Sun) on December 25? fixed, just a little after the mid-winter solstice, which has been celebrated for millennia? And that the Roman Christian Church used this date as its solemnity, while the Byzantine chose 6 John for it, with the first mention in 361? Well, the classical Greeks already knew this day as the “manifestation of the Deity”, so… Epiphany = manifestation of Jesus to the outside world.
The Celts and Germans used the green pine/spruce as a symbol of victory over winter. Charlemagne forbade any form of the old Germanic celebration and was able to enforce it after defeating and baptizing Widukind, duke of the Saxons. It was not until the 16th century that the Christians allowed this green tree to be re-established in some marketplaces. The competition arose in the 17th century: blowing glass balls as large as possible, which were hung as decoration in that green tree.
Santa Claus is a US corruption of the Dutch Sinterklaas, a celebration – despite all Calvinist opposition – celebrated in New Amsterdam, now New York.
The idea of the nativity scene comes from St Francis of Assisi, who built a stable in the middle of the woods of Greccio in 1223.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) it became increasingly common for the upper classes to throw large, elaborate Christmas dinners. Those who could afford it held large Christmas banquets during this time, inviting all kinds of family, friends and other relations.
How many farangs know all this?
What do you know about .. Loi Kratong etc ?
Nice job Harry!
Learned something again. 😀
Even if you ask the younger Farangs, many people can't tell the Christmas story and its meaning exactly.
The real Christmas story is completely alienated, and for many has only to do with gifts, parties, and excessive eating.
Before Christmas you see all kinds of so-called “Do Goodys” people who are extra concerned about refugees, and hunger in the world, for example, which is of course terrible, and after Christmas this is quickly forgotten, and it is usually only about own person.
Even children below them are measured by what they got or did, and often has nothing to do with why we celebrate Christmas.
In many countries, already in September, the trade begins to prepare for what should actually be a Christian festival, where it is only about making money.
Therefore it is not surprising that a Thai only connects Christmas with presents, and Party, because they have heard nothing else from many Farangs.
My wife sometimes shouts, echoing what she sees on TV, “Oh, my God! “. When I ask her who Jesus was afterwards, she has no idea.
Which doesn't stop her from taking a picture with every decorated Christmas tree these days, preferably decorated with a wide smile and red Santa hat.
You also can't blame the Thais for their limited knowledge of what Christmas is supposed to mean, namely the birth of that same Jesus, when even many farang see Christmas just as a series of days off, to be filled with presents. , eat ( say eat ) against the rocks, not to mention the liquor store. Many a neat family man lets himself be filled up like a sponge because he is bored to death.
The three wise men came from the East, and probably not from Siam, but that doesn't say much either. If my Thai fellow man would ask me what I know about Buddha's life, I would also be unable to answer most of the answers.
Many "believers" in the Netherlands also do not know the exact meaning of the Christian holidays. Christmas still works for most people, but Easter, Pentecost, Good Friday, etc. has something to do with Jesus and they don't get any further. And someone with a Christian background also does not know the background of the "faith" festivals of Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, etc.
I'm an atheist (I went to Christian schools so had the necessary bible lessons) and what I don't understand is that there are reactions in which Buddhism is seen as a religion with a lot of superstitions. We have to live on one earth with so many different people and so many different beliefs and rituals. Respect each other without judging, only then can we really live together.
Merry Christmas and a healthy and peaceful 2015
I don't see much judgment here. That few Thai have really understood the teachings of Buddha, the precise. knowing the story behind an event or realizing that various rituals are actually not Buddhist but have to do with animism and superstition is an observation without an opinion about it. As you say yourself, quite a lot of believers don't know how to tell what something exactly means. Personally, I think it's all fine whatever vision of life or combination of faith, beliefs, superstitions, traditions, visions of life (Buddhism is not seen as a religion) etc. also has. It's fine if people treat each other the way they would like to be treated.
Just like Christmas is a Christian festival according to some, but others don't care about it, have a different view (solstice, simply having fun together, etc.). In my view, a Christian interpretation is one of the possibilities. That is not good, bad, right or wrong, but an interpretation. Everyone should just give their own interpretation to the holidays and enjoy it.
It is impossible to say what Christmas is -it is different for everyone-, unless it is a historical description of how far our knowledge of this goes back.
Looking at the question, and the answers to it, I see no point in judging, just stating.
Whether someone sees Christmas just as an opportunity to catch presents and eat a lot, whether he spends the whole day on his knees in front of a nativity scene, celebrates the winter solstice or the feast of Mitrades, is convinced that the birth of Jesus is celebrated (because neither in the Gospels nor anywhere-there is a time of year fixed, even the year is wrong, because Herod died in 4 BC) or whether this whole event was a forced compromise of Constantine the Great: it will do me some.
Why a people thousands of km away from all this history (the Thai) should care about it at all, or have come to see it as a commercial feast: it will make you happy.
I have only one idea about it: learn the traditions, sensitivities and norms & values of the environment you live in and use it to make others happy and therefore: whoever does good, meets well.
Anyway… I have always found a little knowledge of other peoples and regions fun and interesting.
I just came across this, Coconut asking random passersby at Central World what Christmas means to them:
http://bangkok.coconuts.co//2014/12/24/thais-explain-what-christmas-means-them
–== “What does Christmas mean to you?” ==–
– “It's a celebration of foreigners, but we're all a part of the the world, and Thais should rejoice and celebrate with them.” — Col. Wanchana Sawasdee, 42.
– “It's a happy day. It's a day to spend time with your friends and families.” — Kalayakorn Tasurin, 20.
– “Christmas is fun. I want a toy plane as a present.” — Poon, 5.
– “I think of presents when I think of Christmas. It means surprises and cool weather!” — Kitti Chareonroong-uthai, 18.
– “It's a festival of giving.” — Malinee Suwidechkasol, 54
– “It's a foreigner's festival. They give each other presents.” —Amphon Nernudom, 33
– “It doesn't really mean anything to me, but I could use the cold weather!” — Ratchanikorn Duangtadam, 22 “I don't think it's that important for Thais.” —Natthakarn Disadee, 20
– “It's a good change, here and also an opportunity for people to celebrate something new.” —Pairat Yuma, 50
“Honestly? I think it's irrelevant in Thailand because we're not a Christian country.” Chayada, 23 and
“Although I think the festival is irrelevant, it's always nice to see that people enjoy it.” —Parawee, 22.
– “Christmas makes us feel excited for the cold weather, and there are many activities to enjoy doing.” — Duangcheewan Pong-iua, 19
What great responses!
Read them all and learned something from them. Thank you everyone for responding to this statement. Especially if you live in Pattaya and the decorations are more intense than in Europe. Top!
I myself have only been living in Thailand for 9 months and I have learned a lot from the many responses here. My girlfriend herself also knows very little about Christmas, but I did (try to) explain it to her. For all expads here a Merry Christmas.
Guido.
When I ask my Thai friends what Christmas is, they get answers related to many beautiful lights and presents. Very few know that Christians then celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
I always try to explain it by comparing Christmas to Vesak (Wesak) the day the Theravada Buddhists celebrate the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha. Christmas is certainly not a “farang new year” I add.