Deck the halls with bougainvillea

As Christmas loomed high in my consciousness, I visited one of the many malls in Jakarta to do some present shopping. As part of the season's festivities, the mall had invited a group of carolers to sing time-honored Yuletide classics -- tunes like White Christmas, O' Christmas Tree and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.

Tired of roaming, I stopped for a while to watch the carolers with their gay outfits and their harmonic voices as I sang along with a song or two. However, as I mouthed the lyrics of the carols, a sudden realization struck me. Here I was, singing about white snow falling, children playing with sleds, snowflakes resting on pine trees and mistletoe hanging from trees -- even though I have never experienced that kind of Christmas.

Were the lyrics wrong? Not at all, except for the fact that non of the lyrics I sang depicted the way Christmas is celebrated here in Indonesia, simply because Indonesia is a tropical country in Southeast Asia where coconuts grow and rain falls in a deluge, not in drifts of snow.

This lyrical misrepresentation is not restricted to carols only. Neither the myth of Santa Claus climbing into chimneys nor the tradition of decorating pine trees relates well to Indonesia as there are no houses with chimneys here and evergreens rarely grow plentifully in this heat and humidity.

I realized that for as long as I have celebrated Christmas, I have celebrated it in a Western fashion, with plastic Christmas trees and holly, Christmas stockings and Christmas cards with snowman designs on it. I have even dreamed of being able to wear thick, furry coats as I trudged on streets laden with snow, just like the song White Christmas.

And it is not only me -- many other Southeast Asians who celebrate this festivity are in the same boat.

It struck me that we Southeast Asians don't have a uniquely Asian way of celebrating Christmas using our distinctive customs. For decades, we have tried to follow as best as we can the Christmas customs of the West, from sprinkling styrofoam on the ground to resemble snow as we read Christmas stories with winter settings.

We have never tried to recreate the spirit of Christmas with the conditions relevant with our life in the tropics. Instead of adapting a culture, we adopt it. That is unfortunate because by adopting, you cease to be original and creative.

Yet by infusing and blending your own culture into another, you are not only preserving your culture but also showing the pride you have for the unique characteristics of your homeland.

Several reasons can be attributed for this phenomenon. One reason why Orientals still adhere to an Occidental Christmas is because Christmas originated from the West. However, culture defined, is the set of ways a group of people does things. If we Orientals celebrate Christmas every year-end, doesn't that mean that Christmas has been slowly integrated into our rich culture.

If it has, doesn't that mean that it's time for us to infuse "traditional" Christmas customs with our own?

So how should Asians celebrate Christmas Asian-style? Perhaps, instead of decorating fake Christmas trees, we could decorate a miniature palm tree; use boughs of bougainvillea instead of hollies (for they both have the color red) and replace that turkey with ayam kalasan. And why not create a carol or two that depicts an Asian Christmas.

Finally, we should pray for no rain instead of praying for the miraculous appearance of snow because December is a notoriously wet month. The nearer Christmas customs are to our own culture, the dearer this celebration will become.

-- Mariel Grazella