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| 1968.12.19 Amsterdam NY Recorder Page 10 |
Note that this is a reprint of sorts under a new title, of an article printed 1968.10.19 Auburn NY Citizen Advertiser Pg15 "Christmas different all over the world" missing the last two segments.
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| 1968.12.19 Amsterdam NY Recorder Page 10 "National Boundaries, Government Doctrine Do Not Affect Christmas" (AP) Article |
National Boundaries, Government Doctrine Do Not Affect Christmas
Stiltwalkers will parade in Nigeria, Chinese businessmen will play mah jongg and feast on snakes and dog meat in Hong Kong. And while American children receive flashy space age playthings, boys in the Congo jungles will make their own toys from wire.
Christmas knows no national boundaries, no government doctrines. It will be celebrated as a national and religious holiday in most lands, as a commercial holiday in others, and at private family gatherings in the Soviet Union where atheism is law.
Russians who do observe it will celebrate on Jan. 7, the Russian Orthodox date, rather than Dec. 25.
Although tradition is still strong in many countries, once-alien Christmas customs have jet-setted around the world. Santa Claus, while still considered a "gringo" in Mexico, is now tough competition for the Three Kings, the dominant Christmas symbol south of the border.
St. Nick, the Christmas tree and roast stuffed turkey are steadily replacing the traditional Precipios - manger scenes - in Italy. Other countries which once had annual gift-giving rites on New Year's Day, like Japan and the Congo, are adopting Dec. 25.
In the cold northern lands, Christmas is usually a family affair. In Austria and Germany families gather on Christmas Eve to sing carols, feast on roast goose and home-baked delicacies and wait for the Christ-kind-Christ Child - to deposit presents in a locked room. The tinkle of a little bell signals anxious children that the goodies have arrived.
Scandinavia has a long elaborate Christmas with all the traditional trimmings, trees, lights, decorations and groaning tables. Sweden's celebration does not end until the day after Twelfth Night, well into January.
A new wrinkle in Norway this year is a campaign of the Association of Christian Students denouncing the "near gluttony" of their countrymen at Christmas. Norwegians are noted trenchermen and the outcome of the students' campaign is doubtful.
While France celebrates an Anglo-Saxonized Christmas, Catholic Belgium contents itself with the traditional midnight Mass. In rural areas the celebrating stops there, except for some onion soup and blood sausage after devotions. But plastic Christmas trees and heavy German-style meals have invaded Belgian cities.
Thousands will make religious pilgrimages to the Holy Land, to Italy to see the Pope, to shrines and religious symbols around the world.
Israel does not celebrate Christmas, but the government has decreed that all holy places - Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem - will be open to Christian Arabs and foreign pilgrims.
Pope Paul VI will leave the Vatican to preside at midnight Mass in the steel mills of Taranto, southern Italy.
After spending Christmas Eve with their families, many Swiss take to the ski slopes on Christmas Day. In the sunnier climes of the Southern Hemisphere, where Christmas means mid-summer vacations, athletic Australians and South Africans form long caravans to their idyllic beaches.
The South African Broadcasting Corp., fed up with Christmas carols about snow, sleigh bells and reindeer, ran a contest this year to select a choral more suitable for temperatures of 80-100.
In Australia and New Zealand thousands will imbibe frosty drinks and speculate about the outcome of the Davis Cup tennis match with the United States Dec. 25-28.
Christmas in India is a national holiday, celebrated religiously by Christians and commercially by Hindus. Popular legend associates Christ with Lord Krishna, a favorite Hindu god, and confusion surrounding the two religious personalities results in a nationwide Christmas spirit.
In Hong Kong, Christmas for most is just another public holiday. But even department stores operated there by Communist China are filled with gift-wrapped packages. Chinese businessmen take advantage of the day off to throw gambling parties.
Christmas in Japan coincides with the traditional custom of Oseibo, the giving of presents at the end of the year to persons to whom one is indebted. Girl Santa elevator attendants in miniskirts are not much in evidence this year, unlike last year. The new fad is Christmas cards printed in Japanese with comical rather than religious themes.
In Latin America, Christmas brings music, exotic food and dancing to Venezuela; nine nights of drinking parties to Mexico, illegal firecrackers to Puerto Rico; dancing and drinking in Colombia, and a potent drink called Monkey's Tail - brandy and a coffee-flavored liquid - to Chile.
Santa Claus is the victim of Christmas in Brazil. It's not much fun wearing a false beard, padded red suit and pillow on the tummy in 90-degree weather. And while the Santas perspire, many Brazilians head for the beach resorts.
In Korea, the government of austerity-minded President Chung Hee Park has urged citizens to curtail elaborate celebrations and limit the Yule festival to religious affairs. It is the third successive year of a government slogan "Christmas with and for families."
Nigeria, torn by civil war and suffering import restrictions, also will have a subdued Christmas. Popular all-night drumming sessions and excessive merry-making have been banned, but traditional parades of stiltwalkers and masked dancers will be allowed.
Christmas is a special time for children and world's toy-makers. The fads of 1969 are being bought and wrapped.
In the Far East, Latin America, and some African countries, toys imported from Japan are the big sellers. These include battery-powered cars, space toys, model kits.
In the Soviet Union, Father Frost - Russia's closest thing to Santa - will deliver ice skates, dolls, model spaceships and that good old standby, the teddy bear.
Although Italy makes some of the world's finest dolls, the sales counters are piled with more modern toys. In France, soldiers are out, cosmonauts in. Major Matt Mason and his lieutenant, Storm, are very popular, closely followed by electronic construction sets, miniature business machines and a giant spray can filled with cream for play fights.
Austria has officially discouraged sales of toy weapons, but dealers aren't complaining. They say there is virtually no demand in Austria or West Germany.
A new fad among adult gift-givers in Norway is giving each other soccer pool coupons or lottery tickets. These can bring the recipient a jackpot worth thousands of dollars, or nothing.
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