Dear Friend,
Did you know that many Native American Tribes became Christians around 400
years ago? Bet you didn’t hear that last year the Iraqi government declared
Christmas as an official holiday for the first time in the history of the
nation? Or that India is home to many Christians and there is some evidence
that St. Thomas visited the southeastern coast of India in 52 AD?
With Christians in every part of the
world the celebrations of the birth of Jesus Christ is heavily influenced by their
own distinct history and culture.
America
Native
Americans celebrate the holiday with traditional dances on Christmas Eve and
sometimes singing Christmas carols in their own languages. A Jesuit missionary wrote the first Native American carol around 1640 for the Huron
Indians. The Hurons built a small chapel as well as a manger where the animals
inside represented a fox, a buffalo and a bear.
Many Native Americans found that the
story of Christ's birth fulfilled tribal prophecies and felt Jesus'
message was in line with the wisdom handed down by their ancestors. Looks for Buffalo,
an Oglala Sioux spiritual leader, says, "Everyday is our Christmas. Every
meal is our Christmas. At every meal we take a little portion of the food we
are eating, and we offer it to the spirit world on behalf of the four legged,
and the winged, and the two legged. We pray--not the way most Christians pray--
but we thank the Grandfathers, the Spirit, and the Guardian Angel…We also pray
that the Great Spirit's son will live again" Looks for Buffalo goes onto
describes gift giving as well, “We explain to the little children that to
receive a gift is to enjoy it, and when the enjoyment is gone, they are pass it
on to the another child, so that they, too, can enjoy it. If a child gets a
doll, that doll will change hands about eight times in a year, from one child
to another." Learn more about Native American programs in
Cleveland here.
Iraq
There have been Christians in Iraq since the time of Jesus. Last
year was the first year that the government declared Christmas an official holiday. The celebration in
Baghdad, sponsored by the Interior Ministry, included Santa, children dressed
in costumes representing various ethnic groups in Iraq, art displays made by
elementary school children, and the launching of a hot air balloon with a large
banner of Christ with another banner of the Iraqi national flag below it.
Traditionally,
Iraqi Christians marked Christmas by gathering in
the courtyard of the home on Christmas Eve where one of the children in the
family would read the Nativity story while the rest of the family held lit
candles. At the story's end, the family would put their candles to a bonfire
made of thorns. The way the fire burned would determine the family's future. On
Christmas day a similar fire would be built in the church and the congregation
would sing hymns while the fire burned. At the end of the service, the bishop
touches a member of the congregation to confer his blessing. That person would
in turn touch a celebrant near them and the chain of blessings, called the
"touch of peace" would continue until everyone in the congregation
had been blessed.
India
Christians in India represent only 2.3%
of the population, yet Christmas is enthusiastically celebrated by much of the
country, regardless of one's faith. Though there have been Christians in
India since the first century AD, the tradition of celebrating
Christmas was introduced only recently by the British when they controlled
India.
True to the multilingual and
multicultural nature of Indian society, Indian Christians celebrate in a
variety of ways. The Christians of Telugu
celebrate with the Kolattam or stick dance and songs about the birth and
life of Jesus. Tamil Christians draw the kolam, a kind of
sacred sand painting, and crib making is an important part of the community's
celebration.
In Mumbai, formerly Bombay, Christians
buy or create star-shaped paper lanterns which decorate their homes and
streets. In South India, they light small clay oil lamps and place them on
their flat roofs to indicate that Jesus is the Light of the World.
Everyone expresses their good wishes in
their local dialect. "In Hindi and Urdu, Happy/Merry Christmas is 'Bade
Din ki Mubarak'; in Sanskrit it is 'Krismasasya shubhkaamnaa'; in Bengali
'Barodiner shubhechha janai'; and in Tamil it's 'Christhu Jayanthi
Nalvaalthukal.'"
However you say it, InterAct Cleveland
would like to wish our Christian friends a very Merry Christmas!
Have a comment? Do you have your own story of Christmas from around the world?
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