Thais know that Xmas is a big farang holiday and they love to help us celebrate, since, as you know, Thais always love a party!
One Christmas day I asked a BG I was with if she understood what Christmas was about. She said something about a man in a red suit with a cute little red hat named Santa. "Christmas mean Santa day, Yes?"
I said, "No, not really. That is just something made up for children. Christmas is Christ's birthday." Looking at me just a wee bit like a little kid who has just been told there is no Santa Claus, she said, "Who he? He no Santa?" It seems she had never heard of anyone named either Christ or Jesus.
So I told her the story of how on Christmas day Baby Jesus was born in a stable with the animals and how he grew up to be the God of the farangs(didn't want to confuse her by saying he was King of The Jews), but how because that didn't go over to well with the government, things went poorly for Jesus and he ended up getting nailed to the cross unitl he gave up the ghost."
She thought that it was quite a strange story, and at the end of it, she was confused by the part about the crucifixion. "What you mean, cross?" she asked with a puzzled look on her face. So I explained with my fingers the shape of a cross and then pantomimed the part about the crucifixion, pretending I was hanging on a cross.
Suddenly her eyes lit up and she smiled a smile full of Christmas cheer. "Oh, oh, I know," she exclaimed excitedly, "I know Christ. He man on necklace farang ladies wear!" She said she had seen many farang women wearing necklaces with a cross pendant, which sometimes even had the form of a man attached to it. It had seemed a little bizarre to her, and she had wondered about it. Now two mysteries were solved at once, the mystery of why farangs celebrate Christmas and the mystery of why farang women wear such odd jewelry!
All that heavy thinking had made her quite thirsty, so with that I ordered another round and we got down to the serious business at hand - celebrating Christmas day!
JayBee
