Christmas, China style

Christmas is almost upon us, and it is getting mighty chilly. My oil heater/air con combination is struggling pathetically to warm my apartment (after several hours of operation, it has gone from 7 degrees to 11 degrees). Worst of all, I've failed to utilise the best system of staying warm: dong zhi dumplings. It is already too late for me; had I eaten dumplings on the winter solstice day my ears would have stayed toasty-warm all winter long. (Not sure this works all over China, but it's a scientifically proven fact here in Shaanxi province.) Better crack out the ear muffs then.

Aside from the Merry Christmas signs displayed in shop windows (or, sometimes, just the word 'Merry') and the Christmas songs (like 'Ding Ding Dong', the Chinese version of Jingle Bells, or my personal favourite - 'Old Macdonald Had a Farm'... not kidding), the first real indication that the big day was imminent was the sight of the street vendors yesterday evening, selling all the festive essentials. Like 'Scream' masks. Devil horns. Witches hats. Hmm.... Do you spot something amiss here? Christmas is a time to march on the streets (leave cars at home, because you aint driving anywhere!) and chuck fireworks at each other. Christmas = Halloween. Not entirely sure why. Not entirely sure the Chinese know why either... I've asked, and there seems to be a general, vague belief that this is how it's done in Western countries, and so they're just copying 'us'. Odd? Yes. A bit wrong? Probably. Great fun? Of course it is!

I first set foot on Chinese soil in June 2007. First song I heard was Wham!: Last Christmas.

圣诞快乐 everybody.

EDIT (2nd Jan 2009): After a little further probing I've found that this method of celebrating Christmas (=Halloween) is not typical of China but is peculiar to Xi'an, where I currently live. I'm told that other Chinese cities have a more standard interpretation of the Christmas celebrations. But this begs the question: Who was it that decided Christmas in Xi'an should involve marching/devil horns/witch hats? Fairly safe to assume that it was the lets-use-up-all-the-leftover-Halloween-crap monster, but we may never know for sure.