Dec/Jan 10 - Singapore Swimming Club

Traditions
Burning Arches light the way
In BANGLADESH, the Christian village men would
cut down scores of banana trees and replant them in
pairs along the paths leading to churches and outside
their homes. The huge leaves are bent to form
arches. These are set ablaze as guiding light for the
faithful.
How the poinsettia earned its
place of honour
The poinsettia is widely accepted
as the Christmas flower.
There is a story of how this
flower came to be given this
honour. Long time ago, a young
boy in MEXICO was walking
to church to pray before the nativity scene and
on the way realized that he had no gift to offer the
Christ child. So he gathered up some plain, green
branches and placed them at the manger. Even as
the other kids were laughing him down, the branches
started to bloom bright red poinsettias right before
their very eyes.
On Christmas day blindfolded children take turns,
using a stick, to try and break a decorated clay piñata
dangling at the end of a rope from a tree branch.
Once broken, the children rush to recover the candy
scattered on the ground.
Christmas on 6 January?
Armenian Christians together with Christians from
the Greek and Russian Orthodox communion who
still use the old Julian calendar, start their Christmas
celebration on 6 January when the rest of the
Christian world is celebrating the Feast of the Three
Wise men which is their twelfth and last day of
Christmas.
Waiting for “Christmas Old Man”
Christian families in CHINA decorate their Trees
of Light with colorful ornaments made from paper
in the shapes of flowers, chains and lanterns. The
children also hang muslin stockings hoping that Dun
Che Lao Ren or “Christmas Old Man” will fill them
with gifts and treats.
Presents of Soaps, Sweets and
Pencils
In GHANA, children and older
people, representing the angels in
the fields outside Bethlehem, go
from house to house singing carols before going for
church service in their native attire. Later on there is
a feast of rice and yam paste called fufu with stew or
okra soup, porridge and meats.
In LIBERIA on the west coast of Africa, most homes
have an oil palm for a Christmas tree, which is decorated
with bells. On Christmas morning, people are
woken up by carols. Presents such as cotton cloth,
soap, sweets, pencils, and books are exchanged.
Parol to welcome baby Jesus
Closer to home, the people of THE PHILIPPINES
have the unique tradition of making 3-D parols or
star lanterns made from thin strips of bamboo and
covered in thin colored, plastic film to symbolize the
guiding star that the three wise men followed to find
Jesus Christ; it is also the Filipinos’ way of inviting
the spirit of Christ into their home – a mental reverse
of the notion of “no room at the inn”. The star
symbolizes the willingness of each home to “house”
the baby Jesus. Thanksgiving dinner is eaten with
the traditional lechon or roast suckling pig and pansit
(noodles).
Finally in SINGAPORE, the Eurasians borrow their
traditions mostly from their Portuguese ancestors
and British colonialists. After midnight mass, the
families would return home to supper with traditional
dishes such as feng, curry debal, ham, roasts and
sugee cake with almond marzipan and wine. This is
on top of the English inspired ham, roast turkey and
Christmas pudding.
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