Pattaya Mail — Letters
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Dear Editor:
I am not anti-religion or anti-Christian but I found Susan Dooley’s article, Christmas: A Time for Love, Hope and Peace, quite uninformed and a bit ethnocentric.A little more research would have given her statements credibility.
Christmas is not ‘always celebrated on December 25th’. In most countries in Eastern Europe, Christmas is celebrated on January 6th.
‘They believe he died and rose again, offering eternal life to all,’ is confusing and is the significance of Easter, not Christmas. There is no explanation of the connection between Christ’s death, resurrection and the redemption of the world. That should be left for your Easter issue.
‘Christians follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, so they celebrate his birth,’ is a very shaky statement to make. We follow many people’s teaching on various subjects, but that does not mean we celebrate their birth as a matter of course.
If everyone followed Christ’s or any other Avatar’s teachings, we would live in a perfect world.
‘Christians decided to celebrate Jesus’ birth at the Roman festival Saturnalia. This was a mid-winter festival... Thus the snow’. Scholars believe that the decision was to celebrate Christmas during the Celtic and Germanic mid-winter solstice. This accounts for the snow. It seldom snows in Rome, even in mid-winter.
‘...the whole Roman Empire became Christian.’ Constantine did become a Christian, so the official religion became Christianity. But most of the population continued practising the old religions for centuries.
‘The Bible contains stories about the birth of Jesus.’ The Old Testament contains prophecies about the coming of a Messiah, but no stories about the birth of Jesus, as he was not yet born. The New Testament contains the gospels.
The Virgin Mary was not a ‘young girl’, but a young woman of marriageable age in those times. The Archangel Gabriel did not ‘ask’ Mary to conceive the Baby Jesus. According to the New Testament, She was anointed by God and Gabriel, God’s messenger to earth, performed the Annunciation.
‘Shepherds, who had the lowly occupation of tending sheep...’ I find this elitist. What is low about being a shepherd? Who has the right to say that any honest occupation is low? Maybe they should have worked for IBM?
‘Kings, or wise men...’ Which is it, kings or wise men? The three men who came to the Infant Jesus are generally called Magi, from which English receives the word ‘magic’. It is generally assumed that they were scholars and mystics. All Magi were astrologers.
‘Christmas trees were first set up in Germany’. Wrong again. Christmas trees were first set up in Strasboug, France.
‘Today, there are Christmas cakes and Christmas carols.’ Festival cakes originated in Roman times and a ‘carol’ is a round dance which was known in 12th century Europe.
‘The red-bearded Santa Claus emerged from the United States’. Santa Claus came from the Dutch Sinter Klaas.
Saint Nicholas was born in Lycia, Turkey and not in Greece.
When publishing articles on religions and other subjects which have had a great effect on the history of human-kind, I feel your writers should do some research.
Thank You,
Graham Jennings
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Dear Sir,
In Pattaya Mail, Vol. V. No. 49 of 5th December, I nearly laughed my head off... 1) "Not to let dead bodies wash up on shore" & "You know what I mean..."
The problem of the near ending year... A puzzler for our loyal police to solve!
The sea has tides that ebb and flow, according to Nature.
Debris from winds that blow out or in for sure.
Thus how can police on land arrest dead bodies washed up?
Or stop their travel to the sand, with fetid corpses face-up?
Bodies should not in sea get drowned. If this sad fate did arrive,
We should be sad, be propound, and give thanks that we’re alive!
A few silly notices:
A feast for gourmets. Children are also relished.
No dogs allowed except on leash. Children accepted by hand.
Do not walk on the grass unless you have to cross over.
Smoking prohibited when air-conditioned.
Mai Ben Arai
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