Xmas Orchard Disney
by Kenneth Lyen
The National Council of Churches of Singapore has expressed its concern about this year's (2018) Disney-themed Christmas street light-up on Orchard Road, and said that it buries the meaning of the festival.
Is this overreaction?
Maybe we should ask a more fundamental question: is Christmas a religious or a secular holiday? This question is particularly important for Singapore, because the majority of the population are non-Christians, and we have been encouraged to be inclusive in our approach to religious matters.
Christmas may have started off as a religious holiday, but over the millennia, Christmas has been celebrated by increasingly secular approaches. Indeed, the current portrayal of Santa Claus living in the north pole using elves to manufacture toys, flying off on a sleigh drawn by reindeer, and squeezing down chimneys, does not conjure up a terribly religious image.
Furthermore, Disney characters are not the only celebrity personae joining our Christmas festivities. This year Pokemon and Barney the Dinosaur are also featured in Singapore. Why are we discriminating against poor Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck?
Do you think the Singapore National Council of Churches is a bit too thin-skinned, a bit too whiny?
May I suggest we adopt a Singapore character to celebrate Christmas next year? Anyone willing to propose Charlie Chan Hock Chye?
Kenneth Lyen
3 December 2018