View from abroad - Christmas
Christmas has been causing a stir around the world
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Friday, 15, Dec 2006 12:01
Whether it be Grandfather Frost, Father Winter, Pere Noel, Babbo Natale or Santa Claus, the way people celebrate Christ's birth raises some interesting issues about the world we live in. In some cases, established tradition clashes with the changing world; in others, absurdity occurs.
Religious tolerance
In the US, attention is focusing on the Sea-Tac international airport in Seattle where a storm in a snowglobe erupted last week. A local rabbi is reported to have asked the Port Authority responsible for managing the airport to put up a menorah celebrating Hannukah. When the Port Authority refused the rabbi began considering legal action - resulting in the Christmas trees being, temporarily at least, taken down.
Unsurprisingly, the case has triggered a furore, with American columnists jumping at the chance to pontificate about the significance of the US' purportedly oversensitive culture.
"Every Christmas, the politically correct and anti-religion crowd gets into Scrooge mode, trying to deprive the great majority of Americans from celebrating Christmas in traditional fashion," Linda Chavez writes in the Post Chronicle.
"It would be laughable if it weren't so offensive," she adds, before arguing that banning religious symbols from public spaces would create a "Taliban-like" society.
Meanwhile David Horsey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer points out that any debate on the topic is bound to condescend and result in false assumptions being made about different religious groups.
"Plenty of Jews do not want their sacred Hanukkah symbol turned into yet another ornament in a commercialized, secular setting," he asserts, before rejecting the assumption that "Jews would all be happy if a giant electric menorah gets plugged in somewhere at the airport".
Vandalism
Sweden has possibly one of the most ridiculous Christmas traditions of all. A 43-foot Christmas goat erected in the city of Gavle has already been attacked by vandals, the Associated Press news agency reports.
The criminals tried and failed to destroy the extraordinarily festive animal by setting fire to it, but their malevolent plans were thwarted by plucky city authorities who had doused the structure with flame-resistant chemicals.
"Somebody tried to set fire to the right front leg, but the flame-resistant chemical worked 100 per cent," a smug Kurt Lagerholm, chairman of the goat committee, was quoted as saying.
The goat has enjoyed a stormy 40-year history, during which it has been attacked so regularly that it only reaches Christmas Day unscathed once every four years.
Climate change
Concern over lengthening odds about the likelihood of a white Christmas is not just bothering Britons, it seems. The Canadians are also worried that, in many areas usually guaranteed to get a fair snowfall around Christmastime, they will be missing out this year.
"Over most of Canada we see temperatures are going to be warmer than normal. I would say three-quarters of eastern Canada may not see a white Christmas," the Toronto Sun quoted meteorologist David Phillips as saying.
The Canadians even have an official definition of what makes a white Christmas - at least two centimetres of snow must fall for the midwinter to be officially bleak.
Celebrity mania
Finally, the Australian press is paying close attention to railway worker Tim Kelly, an ordinary man who receives Christmas greetings from celebrities around the world.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Mr Kelly's habit of optimistically sending famous people Christmas cards has in many cases paid off with a polite reply.
Among the celebrities who have sent him Christmas cards back are Elton John, Ronald Reagan and the Queen; Tony Blair has also sent the plucky Aussie a card. Good for him.
Nicole Kidman's card was returned unopened, however, resulting in her name being struck off Mr Kelly's list.