Christmas Kitsch

It's unbelievable how much the Vietnamese love Christmas. I didn't even expect them to acknowledge the holiday's existence but the reality is that they're more nuts about it than many Americans. A few days after Thanksgiving, true to Western form, the Christmas trees came out and most shop windows were spray painted with fake snow and messages such as "Merry Chirstams." Spelling true to Vietnamese
form. The Christmas spirit has since accumulated to the point that I have heard nothing but Christmas carols in public places, and all the shop windows are encouraging consumption for Christmas. I even spotted a herd of Santa's speeding down the street yesterday, obviously late for a show or party. A friend of mine recently attended a wedding where the waitresses were dressed as Sexy Santa girls...

Where did all this hype come from? Over the last few weeks we have hypothesized that the Christmas kitsch of Saigon has many sources. First of all, there's the fascination with Western culture and tradition that was first instilled in the war years when the streets were flooded with American soldiers and ideas. This imitation can be seen in many areas of the culture, including my school where the students are convinced that the American way is the best way. We also came up with the idea that the Vietnamese don't have as many traditional cultural celebrations as we do and celebrating Christmas is just one way of releasing some cheer. Plus which, Christmas is a festive, fun and enjoyable holiday that adds life to the Decembers of many people throughout the world.

But my favorite hypothesis is really that the Vietnamese love their kitsch. They love their neon lights and tacky signs. They love bright, loud colors and music to match. And the Christmas spirit embodies all of these ideas, and has been wholly embraced by Vietnamese living in Saigon. So, although Christmas in 100 degree
sweltering motorbike fumes sans family will be strange, at least I'll be able to see Santa's, shop till I drop and listen to joyous yet hideous pop songs such as "I'm logging onto Santa.com!" Ha ha ho and merry Christmas!