You’ll notice the picture on the right (or here if it is no longer a recent pic) is a snowy christmas scene… But it’s not quite right, there is something not quite normal about it… The snow isn’t snow at all, but instead is a sort of foamy, soapy snow-substitute that makes your eyes sting and needs to be washed off in the handy portable shower when you are done playing in it (if you are a child, or wish you were a child…).
This is Singapore, less than 2 degrees north of the equator. Yet when you go into Starbucks you find Toffee Nut Lattes, “Christmas Blend” coffee like at home, Santa Claus wears heavy red winter clothing in the humid, 30+ degree weather, there is an attempt at an evergreen Christmas tree (all the trees are evergreen around here, there is no autumn!) and all kinds of other things that are Christmas-y.
But why are they Christmas-y? In the UK (or US, or wherever in the Northern Hemisphere) they are Christmas-y because it is the middle of winter and that is the season in which Christmas falls. The only green trees around are evergreens, Santa needs to keep warm because he’s going to be braving a mid-winters night to get all the kids their gifts (or coal!)… We put nutmeg and cinnamon into stuff because it is warming, sweet heavy toffee-nut lattes are wonderfully warming on a winter’s afternoon… Snow falls (sometimes!) and is cold and crisp and doesn’t even make your eyes sting!
But here in Singapore it isn’t mid-winter. It’s as warm as ever and sticky to boot! Why make trees that look like evergreens, why not use local trees? Why not have Christmas Ice Cream, or something that is suitable to the season in which it falls instead of winter warmers? Why not put Santa in a t-shirt and shorts (aside from the fright kids will get from a fat old man not wearing enough…)? Why not forget the snow and just make your own Christmas traditions and festivities based on the festival and the context it is being celebrated in?
This is the aim of contextualisation, when we as missionaries take the gospel to another culture. When we attempt to bring it to a new place or develop it in an existing stronghold we must be careful not to simply transplant our traditions and practices into the new culture. To do so would mean that Christianity would remain a western import, something that is foreign and strange, unsuited to the culture and society into which it is being brought. Sure the society may adopt these traditions and practise them, but their initial contextual meaning will be lost in a society without the initial context. Much like our Christmas-y things being based around the context of winter, here in Singapore that context is lost and so the reason behind having snow, or having an evergreen tree, or soothing and warming coffee is lost. It is simply being done because that is how it is done. How can they even hope to be guided through these meaningless, contextless paraphernalia to the meaning behind the traditions?
Of course I haven’t even touched on the more basic issue of commercialisation at Christmas. We see it in the west and it has obviously had a huge effect in the east, certainly in Singapore.
Anyways… it won’t be long now til I am in Hokkaido where Christmas will see plenty of real snow…!
Tags:
christmas,
contextualisation,
culture,
fake snow,
missions,
snow,
tree 
