Asia adopts Christmas

The Philippines and South Korea, of course, with histories of US presence and large evangelical subcultures, have a major head start. Parts of downtown Seoul look like a yuletide photo set piece for holiday catalogues. Some Christmas-tree shapes are built atop Buddhist pagodas and stand several stories high. Underneath, recorded carols ring out, including black gospel choirs shouting "Glory! glory!" as shoppers with gift-wrapped parcels pass by.

Of course, the globalized grafting of pleasing, colorful images, and the lure of time off with presents hardly counts for an awareness of the historical meaning of what religious scholars refer to as "the Christ event." In China, Christmas is translated as "holy birth." But few humble mangers are found amid the tinsel. Some Chinese evangelical ministers and Catholic priests remain behind bars, some with heavy sentences - for promoting their interpretation of the Gospels.

Still, as the amalgamated holiday gains currency, literally, it is becoming a kind of momentary pause in the Asian urban flow. In Korea it is a day off, with presents and cards exchanged even among nonChristians. In China, it is emerging as a time for family and friends to gather. In a recent six-city study of holidays in China, only 15 percent of respondents felt foreign holidays were as important as Chinese days. But the perception of the content of foreign holidays among Chinese is of note: 57 percent of men said that while Chinese holidays stress food or new clothes, foreign days stress "spiritual communication." Among women, 60 percent said they find more "relaxation" in foreign observances.

The second-biggest Western import holiday is probably Valentine's Day. Paper hearts, love letters, and chocolates are all the rage in Asia. In Japan there are separate men's and women's Valentine's days. But the exchange of cards and gifts is still often a cosmopolitan affair that gets frowned on in rural areas. In India's heartland of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, for example, the idea of young males and females going over the heads of parents to express fondness for one another has caused the trashing of shops that sell the offending cards and chocolates.

Father's and Mother's Day are holidays that have taken off because they reinforce local Asian traditions of honoring elders.

Thanksgiving is still getting started. Urban Chinese know about the holiday, but it's often associated with superstitions about "gods of the kitchen." Still, the Chinese try to accommodate it. A US executive says he found himself in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, two years ago on Thanksgiving. He asked a local official about getting turkeys for his American management team. The official searched the stores but came up empty. But he told the expats not despair. Sure enough, two golden brown gobblers were on the Thanksgiving table, overseen by a beaming official. Later, through other channels, the executive found out the local zoo was missing two turkeys.

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