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Arquivo para December 20th, 2022

Christmas in China

20 Dec

Christmas has different connotations all over the world, the idea of ​​a date for the birth of Jesus is the commemoration of a God who became flesh, who was among us and by divine whim was born just on a census date so that he could be contact between the men, and in David’s village where Joseph and Mary went because the census takers should be in their home towns.

Also fulfilled is the prophecy (Isaiah 11:1-16) “There will come a descendant of King David, son of Jesse, who will be like a branch that sprouts from a stump, like a shoot that sprouts from the roots” and also a more incredible prophecy even though a virgin would conceive (Izaiah 7:14): “therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him ‘God with us’”, indicating the manner of Jesus’ coming.

The translation of the word girl as virgin is contested in some Christian beliefs, but the text is clear that Mary says she does not know any man (Lk 1,34) and Joseph moves away from her so as not to denounce her as the Jewish law said for adulteress, and later returns advised by an angel, none of these facts is a coincidence due to its originality, but all are providence so that men could believe.

Christmas in China is not an official date, other festivities such as the Spring Festival or the Chinese New Year are much more celebrated and remembered, but in the city of Yiwu, for producing Christmas products for the whole world, it is seen as where Christmas is the year-round, including the lights and decorations typical of everyone, in the last ten years Christmas has started to gain popularity, but far from being a date where the birth of Jesus is celebrated, it is the traditional western consumerist period that also arrived there with the big companies that today are international in automobiles and home appliances.

However, in the city of Macau, which has Portuguese origins and influence until today, for example, the street names are in Chinese and Portuguese, some memories of the real Christmas are seen there, such as the nativity scene in Vila Coloane de Macau ( photo courtesy of a friend in Chine).

I will be undergoing eye surgery these days and unable to use a laptop, so I leave you with a Christmas message of hope in a world of peace, that men may return to the difficult path or the narrow door through which Love, Mercy and Hope pass, a fairer, more fraternal world is possible if men disarm and join hands.