17/12/2009BMS World Mission workers Lizz and Pete Maycock give us a glimpse of why Christmas in Thailand is such a wonderful time:
From the UK to ThailandWhen we left the UK on 1 December, the Christmas season was already in full swing - in fact it had been for some time! Christmas lights were up, Christmas cards had started arriving and we were already a little tired of hearing the same old 'Christmas' songs in the shops.
Arriving back in Thailand, we realised again just how different the experience of Christmas is for local Christians. Most obviously, Christmas is not celebrated at all by the vast majority of the population.
What does X stand for?Most Thais regard Christmas as a purely Westerners' festival. One of Abigail's Thai language alphabet books had 'Xmas' for 'X', with the definition as 'the white foreigner's New Year'.
The more astute businesses cater for the ex-pat and tourist communities with Christmas trees on sale and even imported mince pies in some Bangkok supermarkets. For the most part, Christmas will pass unnoticed and Christmas Day will be a normal working day.
Several Christmas daysSo how do Thai Christians celebrate Christmas? Well, they do not all celebrate on the same day! In fact, today (12 December 2009), we celebrated Christmas with a group of women from five different hill tribes here in Chiang Mai. On 19 December, we will join with the Karen Baptist Bible School and local churches to celebrate Christmas.
Other churches will hold special worship services and activities on 25 December. This is partly so that the churches can invite their friends and relatives from other areas to join them in sharing in the intensely social occasion that Christmas has become.
Hear the good news Christmas is an opportunity to spread the good news about Jesus' birth to those who have not yet heard. Many village churches will hold events and invite entire villages to come and hear about the Christmas story.
Every Karen church will organise carol singing - seen as a chance to visit church members, encourage those on the fringes of the church and witness to those who are not Christians.
A time to share Christmas is all about sharing - but not at all about presents! The Karen Christians have no real Christmas tradition of giving and receiving presents as we understand it.
Instead, Christmas is a time to enjoy shared meals as a whole church, to provide snacks and fruit for carol singers and perhaps bring offerings of money and produce to the church to help the poor and needy. It is the time of year when the sense of community identity and 'togetherness' is at its strongest.
That sense of community is strongly reflected in the celebrations that occur on 'Christmas Day' - whenever that is!
A typical Christmas Day programme in a Karen church might run like this: 5.30am - a sunrise worship service, of quiet reflection and prayer.
10.00am - a family service (and we mean that - no Sunday School here!) running through to lunchtime, then the whole church would share a meal together.
Dusk - everyone gathers in an outdoor space, bringing a mat, some firewood, blankets and plenty of clothes. As darkness falls, the fires are lit and the atmosphere builds. After a time of worship, the evening programme begins - a mixture of songs, dramas, dancing, story-telling, stand-up comedy (really!).
Christmas is not a drag I remember one particularly memorable Christmas celebration where a young man dressed in drag, impatiently waiting for his turn on stage, decided to go up on stage early and join in a rather dull dance routine by some younger girls. It wasn't the most sophisticated humour I'd even seen, but in its context it was absolutely hilarious. I have never seen an audience laughing so hard -I began to be genuinely concerned that a few of them would never recover.
Christmas is fun! And after the last performance has finished, families gather around their fires and many will sleep out under the stars.
A real reason to celebrateAs I write this, I realise that on Christmas Day in the UK, most of us will spend maybe an hour with our wider church community. After all, Christmas time is all about family, right? Christians in Thailand have a very different emphasis. We won't expect presents this year from our Karen friends - not even Christmas cards. But we're sure of a warm welcome into the midst of a vibrant, excited Christian community who are delighted to be able to celebrate their Saviour's birth once again.