A Winter in India

These Christmas decorations were in the Beauty Parlour at our hotel. Kate went to get her hands henna tatooed (not permanent), and Dave and Rob each got very good haircuts. The people who run the shop are Moslem. It made us stop and think how odd the Christmas story and its customs must sound to someone who isn't Christian. OK, Chrsitmas is Jesus' birthday. He was born in the desert, but you put decorations on a pine tree and dress up as Santa Claus to celebrate. Jesus later died on the cross, so why not celebrate the more religious part? Skip the intervening 33 years and put the decorations on the cross. The henna artists were asking us questions about what was the name of that tree that we use. (In addition to these pictured, they did also have a decorated rubber tree, as in the tree that rubber comes from, not a tree made of rubber).

The Laughing Buddha is a nice addition. The rose petals are what we saw as offerings at the Sikh Temple, so we have most of the bases covered.