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This column is for self-study or classroom use and gives guided help with reading the wide variety of writing styles and topics that appear as feature articles in the Bangkok Post. The lessons include background information, skill-building practice and vocabulary explanations. December 23, 2003 Sharing Christmas stories INTRODUCTION

This is the time of year for some seasonal activities. Though most Thais are Buddhists, many are curious about some of the traditions of Christmas, just as many Christians are interested in Buddhism. So today’s trivia and activities can be a chance to learn something to test your Christian friends. See if they know what you will learn here. Teachers: This is an activity that can produce some decoration for your classroom, as well as some new language and conversation about Christmas traditions. You might want to start the lesson by asking students what they know about hanging Christmas stockings and why there is sometimes a star on top of a Christmas tree. You should explain that many Christmas traditions have their origins in pre-Christian or non-Christian practices of early people. So students will need to know that the Druids were priests of an ancient religion of Ireland and Wales; that pagan in this context means non-Christian; and that the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year. Have students work in small groups and give each group one of the stories. The story of the Christmas Star is longer and has several parts so you may want to have two groups divide up that story. Each group can then make an illustration of their story with the information briefly summarised in written points and drawings. For an alternate activity with a more advance class, you might also consider using the stories as a group and regroup activity creating an information gap. Each original group would read one story together. Then regroup the class so that new groups are formed with each student in the new group having a different story to share. Students: Here’s what to do: Your teacher will give you a short story about some Christmas custom or symbol to read in your group. Read the story and talk together about how you could make a poster to illustrate it. You will need to have pictures on your poster, of course. Also summarise the ideas in your story in a few brief written points and drawings. Note: There is more trivia – all about turkeys – in this week’s feature focus on page 5 here in learning post.

OUR STORIES FROM THE BANGKOK POST Of mistletoe and magic Mistletoe has apparently been used as a decoration in houses for thousands of years and is also associated with many pagan rituals. The Druids would cut mistletoe off trees in a special ceremony five days after the new moon following the winter solstice. The priests believed that the mistletoe would become damaged if it touched the ground, so they used a special white cloth to catch it. Two white bulls were then killed and offered to the gods while prayers were said. As part of the ceremony, priests gave out mistletoe branches to the people, who believed they would keep them safe from evil spirits and storms. Kissing under the mistletoe The tradition of kissing under the mistletoe could have come from the Viking association of the plant with Frigga, the Scandinavian goddess of love. Or it may be from the ancient belief that mistletoe was related to fertility (being able to have children). It is thought to be correct and polite behaviour for a man to remove one berry when he kisses a woman. When all the berries are gone, there is no more kissing underneath that plant. It is believed that an unmarried woman not kissed under the mistletoe will remain single for another year. What's with Christmas stockings? According to a very old tradition, the original Saint Nicholas left his very first gifts of gold coins in the stockings of three poor girls who needed the money for their wedding dowries (money and/or property given by the family of a bride or groom to the family of the other when they marry). The girls had hung their stockings by the fire to dry. Up until lately, it was traditional to receive small items like fruit, nuts and candy in your stocking, but these have been replaced in the last half-century by more expensive gifts in many homes. The tradition of a lump of coal in the stockings of naughty children comes from Italy. The Christmas Star The stars that appear in the sky today are the same ones that were there two thousand years ago around the time Jesus was born. However, astronomers can't identify a new star that appeared anywhere near the possible time. So could the star that led the three wise men to the manger where the birth of Jesus took place have been a shooting star? Not very likely. A meteor lasts only a few seconds or minutes at most. The wise men followed the star for weeks. Not a comet either. Though comets can last weeks or months, modern astronomers can track them back many thousands of years and none were visible to humans at the time. Some astronomers have suggested that if we move the birth of Jesus to the springtime of 6 BC, we can explain the star because the planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were close together in the heavens forming a triangle. The wise men were astrologers who studied the stars and planets and are thought to have known of the triangle and that it had appeared before the birth of Moses (a famous Biblical leader). Perhaps they interpreted it as a sign of another great event. This may have been the star of Bethlehem. But whatever the astrologers say, many people still believe that the strange star did appear, and that it was simply a miracle. • This lesson was prepared by Maureen Paetkau, a professional teacher of English as a second and foreign language and Assistant Manager and Webmaster for Learning Post at the Bangkok Post. Read our other instant lesson here. Return to our home page. | Comments to Maureen at maureen@bangkokpost.co.th | | © The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 2003 | Last modified: December 22, 2003