Christmas, that is. It seems odd to me, in a country that is more than 95% Buddhist, Christmas even gets a look in. But it does, in the worst and tackiest ways, predominantly displayed through glittery, shiny, tacky, (yes I know I've just used that descriptor) decorations. I don't suppose many people really know what it's about. So Christmas in Thailand is the marketeers' wettest dream. The masses have bought into something that has no meaning whatsoever. But it's not only in Thailand, it was a cancer that started in the West, and has spread very effectively to all corners of the world where it has no business being.
Well, except Christmas is a business of course, silly.
Well, except Christmas is a business of course, silly.
I was lamenting this lack of spirituality and meaning to my beloved, and he remarked that for most people, of whatever religious persuasion, the marketing message had infiltrated the most diverse of cultures, so that now it represented the festive season in its entirety. People enjoy the mad buzz of partying, present buying, giving and receiving. And perhaps they do. Personally I find it an abomination. Not because it has no relevance to the birth of Jesus Christ, (that's entirely up to those who consider themselves Christian), but the meaningless materialism that has taken its place.
My particular bête noir, apart from the aforementioned ticky-tacky, is the creation of gift hampers by the supermarket where I shop. Apart from the dubious quality of content, (inter alia a bottle that looks like champagne, filled with "red grape" juice - ya wot?), these are strewn throughout the supermarket floors, lining the aisles and making navigating a trolley more tiresome than you could think possible. (Navigating a trolley in most supermarkets in this city ought to be an Olympic event, given the obstacle course that shoppers face.) There seems a particular art here for shop display, which must deliberately be in the way of participants trying to get through a store. This is most effective at entrances and exits and near to escalators. My upmarket and Westernised Thai friend describes it as the Temple Fair mentality; however ordered something is, there seems an amazing ability to instantly create disorder, with noise and chaos seemingly encouraging the unsure to part with oodles of cash on items of little or no value. What do I know? Perhaps it works.
Having just penned this little rant-ette, I found a CD in the bowels of the collection entitled Christmas Meditation, with Pachelbel's Canon in D, Handel's Messiah, etc etc. I've poured some jolly cocktails; the weather has turned unusually cool. We've opened the balcony doors; it feels positively wintry. All is well in this little world. And not a ticky-tacky in sight.
Anyway, on that note, be sure to enjoy Christmas y'all.
My particular bête noir, apart from the aforementioned ticky-tacky, is the creation of gift hampers by the supermarket where I shop. Apart from the dubious quality of content, (inter alia a bottle that looks like champagne, filled with "red grape" juice - ya wot?), these are strewn throughout the supermarket floors, lining the aisles and making navigating a trolley more tiresome than you could think possible. (Navigating a trolley in most supermarkets in this city ought to be an Olympic event, given the obstacle course that shoppers face.) There seems a particular art here for shop display, which must deliberately be in the way of participants trying to get through a store. This is most effective at entrances and exits and near to escalators. My upmarket and Westernised Thai friend describes it as the Temple Fair mentality; however ordered something is, there seems an amazing ability to instantly create disorder, with noise and chaos seemingly encouraging the unsure to part with oodles of cash on items of little or no value. What do I know? Perhaps it works.
Having just penned this little rant-ette, I found a CD in the bowels of the collection entitled Christmas Meditation, with Pachelbel's Canon in D, Handel's Messiah, etc etc. I've poured some jolly cocktails; the weather has turned unusually cool. We've opened the balcony doors; it feels positively wintry. All is well in this little world. And not a ticky-tacky in sight.
Anyway, on that note, be sure to enjoy Christmas y'all.
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