I hear that there's a new version of that Christmas song Bob Geldof put together twenty years ago for famine relief in Africa, the one featuring every living pop star together in one room, singing for a lot of charity and a little publicity. (There was also a Canadian song that did the same thing for the same cause called 'Tears are not Enough', bringing together Geddy Lee and Kim Mitchell and Brian Adams together in the same room, and that image right there is well worth the price of admission and, besides, it's enough to make a grown man weep, it is. I'm not sure who our version of Bob Geldof was. Maybe Mr.Dressup?)
I always liked that Geldof song. Still do. It's catchy and seasonal, with a melody, point and purpose.
But there's one line that alwasy struck me as kind of odd. It's the one that goes: "Do they know it's Christmastime at all?"
Now, that line is about the starving people of Ethiopia, right? And I don't think Ethiopia is the most Christian of countries, although I'm sure the various missionary groups that are out and about are doing their virtuous best to convert the country (and the continent, and the world, and...)
So, the question is: Why would they know it's Christmastime? Why should they even care?
I'm nitpicking, to be sure, and what the hell, it's only a song, and a song written and performed for a worthy cause, so I'm not knocking it for that reason. And I know that the line seems to represent something more than the season itself, but the whole spirit of giving and family and love that season represents. Got all that. It just seems like that's a good example of a western sensibility mixing itself up in a decidedly non-western place.
I'm not sure Cambodia knows it's Christmastime. Well, that's not entirely true; there are a lot of stores here in Phnom Penh that cater to foreigners, so there are actually artifical Christmas trees assembled here and there, with actual Santa Claus hats on sale, should the urge arise to wear one of these caps in the hundred degree heat. And there are, of course, a fair share of Christians here, too, most of them recent converts (recent meaning the last ten years. There was even a newspaper article awhile back about how a fair number of ex-Khmer Rouge soldiers had suddenly found Christ in their later years. Funny how that is...)
Still, I'm almost forgetting it's Christmas. The air is hot and the sky is blue and there won't be snow around these parts for another, oh, never.
Do Cambodians know it's Christmastime?
Some of them, maybe a lot of them, do. They've met foreigners. They've watched t.v. They know the deal. Maybe not the specifics, no, but they get the gist.
Of course, this past year in Cambodia, like every other year, there's been the Festival of the Dead, and the Chinese New Year, and the Water Festival. (There was even, no joke, a National Hate Day until a few years back, where the public could freely express their hatred towards their former Vietnamese oppresors.)
Maybe the question for Africa and every other non-Christian nation shouldn't be 'Do they know it's Christmastime'?
Maybe the questions should be directed at Canada and England and Australia and New Zealand and America. We've exported our celebrations around the world; how many holidays and festivals have we imported? (Or are even aware of?)
Do we know it's the (Chinese New Year/Water Festival/insert any other foreign country's holiday here, including Iceland and Burkina Faso) at all?
Do we?
Do you?
