The following is a brief summary on how my Chinese homework looks like (before it was given a rough translation to Chinese, duh, and became really boring and un-witty- it’s very hard to be sarcastic in Mandarin!)
December 25th. The day that children all round the world covets and eagerly waits for. Everywhere you go, you can hear strains of those irritating, repetitive Christmas jingles, and Christmas sales are chock-full with a variety of products. Also, this is probably the only time where children are on their best behaviour. Ever heard the line, “He knows when you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake.” Yep. It’s firmly rooted into tradition. Be good or else!
I, personally, do not believe in the existence of Santa Claus. Perhaps, if I were born in the West, then I might still believe in him. But when you live in a country that no such customs like the westerners; for example hanging stockings beside your chimney (Sorry, no chimneys. Perhaps Santa would like to crawl up the rubbish chute?), or leaving out milk and cookies for him, as well as carrots for the reindeer (Can’t fit through the grilles on the window). Presents are placed under a fir tree (fake, obviously) laden with decorations and blinding fluorescent lights by the parents passing themselves as a pseudo-Santa. Honestly. How is Christmas spirit going to work here in Singapore?
In this country, many children have the misconception that Christmas is all about getting presents, leaving long lists of ‘wants’ for Santa to pick up. Some of the cleverer ones already know that ‘Santa’ comes in the form of their parents, after a night of careful observation of the goings-on beside the Christmas tree. I decided to find out for myself, how many people actually believed in Santa Claus?
After interviewing some of the folks around my block, I compiled the results into a series of tables and charts, and found that mostly those who believed in Santa Claus were the younger children. The disbelievers were mostly young adults and teens over the age of fifteen.
If there were more activities for children to get to understand the true meaning and origin of Christmas, perhaps more people would believe in the existence of this jolly old man. Start from young, as they say.
