The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is tracking a man in a red suit led by what appears to be a red-nosed creature high above the Earth. He is expected to enter American airspace sometime in the next 12 to 24 hours. NORAD is urging everyone to stay in your homes, ensure that your children are in bed early, and leave out milk and cookies by the fireplace.
For up-to-the-minute tracking information and the latest sightings, please visit the NORAD website.
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Merry Christmas everyone.
Mash, now I want to know if the Santa mythos has any currency in the Moslem world, in marketing or such. While Ramadan periodically lines up with Christmas, the lunar calendar ‘slips’ relative to the Gregorian calendar. Do kids in Bangladesh ever notice or wonder about the guy in red? Has marketing brought this symbol to South Asia?
Mr. Bill, there is a small Christian community in Bangladesh. In fact, there is a massive church right in the middle of Dhaka (Ramna Church) that was just down the road from where I lived as a child. At Christmas, they would decorate the church with lights. I don’t recall Santa Claus as a child although things have apparently changed and the guy in red makes visits to Christmas parties all around Dhaka city these days. Capitalism is here to stay.
A lot of Christians call Christmas Bara Din (the big day) in Bangladesh. My mother and all her siblings were raised by a nanny we called Boowa (don’t know her real name). She also raised me and my brother for a little while. She seemed to me to be atleast 200 years old 🙂 She was Christian and made sure we all knew about Bara Din. And of course the fact that my mom studied at a convent and I went to a missionary school run by Jesuits helped to spread the word.
Christian missionaries in Bangladesh no longer try to convert. They mostly do social services and charitable work. That conversion thing was not going so well.
Bangladesh is the second largest Muslim majority nation in the world. Unlike Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh is a secular country and does not ban other religions. So, Muslims, Hindus and Christians have lived there together for a long time. However, the recent rise in worldwide Islamic radicalism also has impacted Bangladesh. There is a radical Islamist movement in Bangladesh – and though they are a minority, they are allied with the current government and are gaining in strength. These radicals had fled the country in 1971 but have since crept back and started to gain in strength like a virus.
Here is a news article from Bangladesh about this year’s Christmas. It gives you a flavor of how its celebrated in the capital city: http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_33170.shtml
Incidentally, Eid-ul-Azha this year will likely be on New Year’s Day. So, its a busy season in Bangladesh:
http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/12/25/d61225060577.htm
Ha! I put up the same link because well, have kids must track Santa!!
All the best Mash, I don’t know if you celebrate it at all (as in, just exchanging presents sans the religious aspect) but in the Christmas spirit, I’m going to go through all my blogger friends, appreciating and acknowledging each and every one of them. You’re up soon!
hugs to you and your family!
Ingrid
Uh oh. 😮
Knowing this administration they’re already scrambling F-18 fighters over Washington D.C. airspace as we speak.
Hi Mash,
all the best wishes to you and your family for the Christmas days and the new year.
Doro
Doro, Robbie and Ingrid, Merry Christmas! o:-)
Robbie, I hear Santa’s sleigh is hard to track 🙂
Ingrid, I just read the post and feel a little humbled by it. And yes, we do exchange presents, put up a Christmas tree, etc. My daughter leaves out milk and cookies for Santa and clears the area in front of the chimney so Santa doesn’t trip over anything. This year she drew Santa a couple of pictures also. She ran down this morning to open her presents and was thrilled that Santa had drank the milk and eaten the cookies she left out. 🙂
A bit late, but I hope everyone had a happy Christmas and is looking forward to New Years!
I miss the days of leaving out milk and cookies for Santa. They ended when I barged in on my mum wrapping our presents in her room. I
Important life lesson #1: always knock.:)
Just to piss off Bill O’Reilly…
Merry Krishna and a Hare New Year!!! :d
:d That’s good.
Maybe you should send him a
ChristmasKrishna card to cheer ‘im up.;)Ho ho HO, Mash! And a Merry, MERRY spirit of Christmas to you!