I’m 55 years old and I’ve never had an Xmas tree.  Not terribly surprising, I’m a Jewish atheist. And depending on my mood, symbols of Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic church, can serve as reminders of close to 2,000 years of Christians oppressing and murdering Jews.  Okay, that’s a bit heavy-handed on my part.  At any rate, while I no longer believe in the Jewish religion, Jewish culture is deeply ingrained within me.

Last year, my gf never mentioned putting up any Xmas decorations in the house.  This year, far more secure in the relationship, she’s demanding a Christmas tree.  And as much as I don’t care for the idea, if this is “our” house and not just mine, then I think I have to respect her wishes.   And maybe I can sneak a few Jewish ornaments onto the tree – if such things exist in Hong Kong.  (One year a relative actually installed one of these in her home and we decided we’d call it a Hanukkah Bush.)

She doesn’t want to wait until the week before Xmas to get the tree, she wants to get it ASAP – presumably so it can die long before the actual holiday.  (Unless we go for a fake one?)  But I have no idea where to get such a beast.  Where does one buy Xmas trees in HK?

While I have no interest in the Christian religion, I do enjoy good historical documentaries and the BBC makes some of the best.  So we’ve been watching A History of Christianity, presented by Oxford professor Diarmaid MacCulloch.  The first episode of this six-part series traces the development of Eastern churches, which apparently reached all the way into central China by the 7th century (and then all but disappeared by the 9th).   The second episode traces the rise of the Catholic church and how Rome, the center of the empire that killed the Christ and then proceeded to persecute and kill Christians for 300 years, ended up becoming the religious center of the world for more than a billion of them.

I like the facts and figures behind this, the demystification, the straight-forward presentation of historical events – actual events, not myths or fables.  MacCulloch, who to my eyes looks more than a bit like Randy Newman, gets to wander all over the world and you get that great BBC documentary photography, itself worth the price of admission.  But some of the info is quite dry and the editors attempt to jazz it up with all sorts of tricks – from MacCulloch sitting in a pub hoisting a pint while discussing a topic to quick cutting between lovely travelogue shots of people in markets or boats in harbors while he’s talking.   As a matter of opinion, the material presented isn’t merely dry, it’s presented in a somewhat disorganized, scattershot fashion.  I suspect it’s better presented in the accompanying book and I might be tempted to pick it up.

I don’t suppose the BBC would ever produce a “History of the Jews” series (or have they already done so?) but I think such a series would also make engrossing viewing – tracing the path of the Jewish people across Europe and Asia for almost 2,000 years, Israel, the Inquisition and so on.  By the time I’ve finished watching MacCulloch’s series I’ll probably know more about Christianity than I know about Judaism.

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