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Merry Christmas Everybody !


Hugh_Hoy

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Christmas festivities take root

 

 

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Sales of one of the traditional symbols of the Christian festival are soaring as Thais join foreigners in the festivities.

 

''They apparently want to feel the atmosphere,'' said Srivitta Watsiriseree, a deputy managing director of Bangkok Christmas Decoration Export, which makes artificial Christmas trees.

 

She said her company had witnessed skyrocketing sales of Christmas trees in Thailand this year.

 

About 10,000 trees from 30cm to 12m tall have been sold for home and public display.

 

Christmas tree producers started to see a rise in demand for Christmas trees and decorations in Thailand about 15 years ago.

 

The growth of hypermarkets with large retail space helped spur domestic sales. Another factor is that artificial Christmas trees are relatively cheap in Thailand.

 

But not all Christmas trees can convey the genuine spirit of a holiday that was initially intended to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ but has been overtaken by commercialism.

 

Almost all the trees sold in Thailand are made from PVC and there is little demand for expensive, imported genuine trees apart from among very wealthy people or top-end hotel chains, said Ms Srivitta.

 

In the United States, which imports many artificial trees from Thailand, an environmental debate is ongoing over the benefit of real Christmas trees. Supporters say they leave a smaller carbon footprint because they are not made from plastic or shipped from abroad.

 

However, this does not take into account the fact that artificial trees do not have to be replaced every year.

 

Should Thais feel even a twinge of guilt about celebrating what has become known as a Christian holiday but which started off as a pagan winter festival? The symbolism of the Christmas tree to Christianity is dubious as it was originally condemned in the King James Version of the Bible as a heathen Middle Eastern tradition predating Christ by hundreds of years.

 

The prophet Jeremiah wrote that a tree was cut down and carved or decorated in the form of a god or goddess before being overlaid with gold or silver.

 

Both English and American Puritans condemned decorated Christmas trees, and even carols, as a ''heathen mockery'' of a sacred event.

 

But Ms Srivitta thinks we should just relax and enjoy the holiday. ''Christmas is widely known as a time of celebration and a fun time at the end of the year. People don't bother trying to find a real tree because an artificial Christmas tree can help us jazz up our homes and create a festive atmosphere,'' she said.

 

BP

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p.s. I don't remember the King James translation of the Bible ever saying a word about Christmas trees. :hmmm:

 

 

On googling I find that Jeremiah ranted about some "heathen" nation that chopped down trees and decorated them about 7 centuries before the time of Christ! I'd always been told Christmas trees were an old Germanic custom, which makes a lot more sense. I can picture Hermann decorating a tree and then getting lit up after he had creamed the Roman legions. 

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p.s. I don't remember the King James translation of the Bible ever saying a word about Christmas trees. :hmmm:

 

 

The xmas tree is indeed an old tradition from the time before christians screwed up our part of the world.

 

Anyway, Merry Xmas to all from Sweden.

 

ALHOLK

 

P.S. We are having a green xmas in Sweden (southern). This is great as I hate snow and ice.

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