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Christmas in Japan: From Mesopotamia to Colonel Sanders
Going at least all the way back to the ancient festival of Zagmuk, December 25 has been celebrated for thousands and thousands of years. The festival of Zagmuk was the Mesopotamian festival that lasted twelve days, including December 25. During the festival, the Mesopotamians visited their friends, exchanged gifts with each other and walked in processions with lights and songs. The Mesopotamians went singing from door to door too.
As the center of Western culture moved west from Mesopotamia to Rome, the Mesopotamian festival of Zagmuk moved too. Like Zagmuk, the Roman celebration included visiting friends and exchanging presents. One of these gifts was cake. The Romans also began to decorate their halls with greenery and candles.
The Roman celebration was Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the god of agriculture. The middle of the Saturnalia celebrations was on December 25. The Romans calculated that December 25 was the winter solstice. As the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice has always been an important day for most agricultural societies to celebrate, to scare away the dark times and rejoice that the days will get longer, leading to planting.
Eventually, Christmas became a religious holiday for Christians when they declared that Jesus was born on that day. Christmas was a predominantly Christian holiday for hundreds of years, but nothing lasts forever. Over the past several hundred years Christmas has become more of a commercial holiday, focusing on Santa Claus, giving and receiving presents, and having a good time. Thousands of Christians, disappointed in this have turned their back on Christmas and now celebrate the Festivals of the God of Israel.
Now, thousands of years and thousands of miles from the Mesopotamian festival of Zagmuk, Japan has its own form of Christmas, shaped by some of the old aspects of Christmas and some new ones: Kentucky Fried Chicken and Fujiya Food Service Co., Ltd. Fujiya is a Japanese confectioner founded in 1910 in the city of Yokohama. These two corporations, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Fujiya, have helped to shape modern Christmas in Japan.
Colonel Sanders and Kentucky Fried Chicken came to Japan in 1970 when Japanese were eating much less meat and poultry than today. Kentucky Fried Chicken was striving for success in Japan, but not finding it. As a Christmas promotion, Kentucky Fried Chicken tried to market fried chicken as a Christmas treat. Kentucky Fried Chicken employees dressed up in Santa Claus costumes and Japanese lined up to buy fried chicken, imagining it was a traditional American Christmas dinner.
Every year in Japan, millions and millions of Japanese now purchase Kentucky fried chicken for their Christmas dinners. Millions of other Japanese also serve chicken as part of the Christmas dinner. Japanese look at Colonel Sanders and note his resemblance to Santa Claus. In Japan, Christmas now means fried chicken and KFC.
Japanese are also interested in traditional American desserts. In 1910, the Fujiya Co. sold the first Christmas cake in Japan, which was a sponge cake decorated with strawberries and chocolate. Topped with cream and a sugar Santa Claus figure made from sugar, the cake finally became popular in the 1950s. As economic success came to Japan, the number of Japanese families with refrigerators grew.
Almost everyone had a refrigerator by the late 1960s, and the butter cream changed to whipped cream. Strawberries became available year round and became part of the modern Japanese Christmas cake. For some reason, Japanese imagine that their Christmas cakes are designed after American Christmas cakes. Americans in Japan do not see this, looking at Japanese Christmas cakes and thinking more of birthday cakes.
Other aspects of Christmas in Japan include the holiday being a romantic holiday to spend with your true love, including a romantic gift. Japanese also put children’s presents next to their pillows so they see them first when they wake up in the morning, and let’s not forget reservations. You will probably need a reservation to get that KFC chicken. After all Christmas is KFC’s busiest time of the year.
If this seems entertaining to you, imagine how entertained the Mesopotamians would be by how you celebrate Christmas.
Aaron Language Services at http://www.aaronlanguage.com
provides translation and more for a primarily Japanese client base. If you are an experienced editor, specializing in medicine or the hard sciences, click on the menu where it says personnel.
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Question by sweetchilli: I want to buy a christmas tree decoration from Hong Kong when i visit in May, any ideas where i can purchase?
Im going to Hong Kong In May and would like to pick up a xmas tree decoration as i have done in other countires ive been too. Does anyone have any ideas where i would find one?
Best answer:
Answer by s dammi
hi..i don’t think at that time(may)you get any christmas decorations.i have not seen..any where in the city.but i will tell you normally where they sell it and how to go their by train.
in wan chai mtr exit A3 and just cross the road.you can see street market,
in mon kok mtr exit tung choi just follow the name boards,
in Prince edward mtr exit fa yuen street.just follow the name boards
or try jusco plaza,japan home, its every where,or wing on center in sheng wan.
Add your own answer in the comments!
Some people may have good reasons for preferring an artificial Christmas tree to the real thing, though we can’t think of any at the moment.(Editorials)(Editorial): … from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
This digital document is an article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), published by Thomson Gale on August 30, 2007. The length of the article is 536 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
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Title: Some people may have good reasons for preferring an artificial Christmas tree to the
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Fake or real? Tree debate rages on: tree growers, sellers go on the offensive.: An article from: Mississippi Business Journal
This digital document is an article from Mississippi Business Journal, published by Thomson Gale on December 20, 2004. The length of the article is 952 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
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Title: Fake or real? Tree debate rages on: tree growers, sellers go on the offensive.
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Local groups will recycle your Christmas tree for small fee.(Holidays): An article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
This digital document is an article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), published by Thomson Gale on December 30, 2005. The length of the article is 620 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
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Title: Local groups will recycle your Christmas tree for small fee.(Holidays)
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There will be no Christmas cards this year; no poetic musings chiming good will and cheer. Instead, Santa shares this video missive from the Oval Toy Shop that Artic gift factory that resides at the worlds icy top. Indeed the past 12 months have swept a frigid chill, a climate so cold it has frozen a world of free will. Lets take a moment to recap what we have seen, so every adult child can grasp the words Santa does mean. For starters, the North Pole endured an endless election campaign partisan bickerings to determine which party should rule and rein. The Elves and Reindeer each politicked over change we can believe, its result forcing all Northern Pole residents to lament and grieve. We heard about reverends that were far from Wright, and terrorists with Ayers designed to instill lasting fright. We witnessed candidates who were momentarily suspended, as our Northern economy quickly became up-ended. Fuel costs for Santas sled had soared feverishly high; real estate values for the Toy Shop plummeted from its sky. Even Santas investments were worth less than a dime, with Wall Street executives belching over their blatant crime. CEOs of our big Toy Factories jetted here with tin cup in hand, asking partisan leaders to bail them out from homemade quicksand. Even with billions of North Pole dollars set deficitedly aside, job loss would only overwhelm the tumult of this rising blue tide. Artic residents now face loss of both job and home, as oversea wars continue to grow and …