With Santa Clauses in trendy malls, giant Christmas trees in hotels and holiday treats on supermarket shelves, Christmas cheer is can't be missed in this Muslim city. In fact, the holiday kitsch is at an all-time high in Dubai where many residents revel in the commercial hype of the Christian holiday.Though winter temperatures feel more like summer here, it hasn't stopped people from purchasing Christmas trees, which are shipped in from colder, northern countries, and taking pictures with Santa amid fake falling snow inside a local mall.
Despite a growing rift between some Muslims and Christians, it's no surprise that the commercial side of Christmas is all the rage in Dubai, home of other over-the-top, flashy attractions including an indoor snow skiing park and man-made islands created in the shape of palm trees. The majority of the 800,000 citizens of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates are Muslim. But an estimated 3.7 million foreigners also live there. Though most are guest workers from other Arab and Muslim countries, many come from predominantly Christian countries including Britain.
Anger toward the West and Christians by some Muslims has escalated over the past year after cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad were first published in a Danish newspaper and following the explosive comments made by Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI in September about violence and the prophet.
| Unlike conservative Islamic Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, which bans celebrating non-Muslim holidays, and Kuwait, where debates spring up about whether it's un-Islamic to wish people Merry Christmas, Dubai has long been the liberal bastion of the Arabian Peninsula where people from all countries and religions seeking to reap the benefits of its booming economy live. |
The commercialized Christmas shopping spirit is most prominent in Dubai's vast malls, which feature displays of fake snowmen, furry polar bears and fuzzy reindeer wagging their heads as they pull sleighs full of presents.
| A snow storm erupts every hour at the Emirates mall, where for US$11, children can visit Santa and receive a gift. Across town at the Ibn Batutta Mall, fake Santas strum electric guitars, singing "Jingle Bell Rock." At the Wafi City mall, an Egyptian-themed shopping center built around a fake pyramid, children played among gingerbread houses and shoppers listened to Christmas carols. |
Dubai's legions of hotels and clubs also seem to be competing to outdo each other to attract well-heeled residents to luxurious Christmas dinners. Many have sent teenagers to slip fliers under apartment and office doors in neighborhoods favored by expatriates. One hotel, the Mina a-Salaam, even boasts a giant, brightly lit Christmas tree that floats on a raft in an artificial lake.
The Christmas frenzy has spilled over to residential neighborhoods. At one apartment complex, fliers are posted inviting residents of all denominations to Christmas parties, and the greeting "Happy Christmas" is in vogue here, even among non-Christians.
Newspapers also have jumped on the Christmas bandwagon, with the top headline of the Khaleej Times, an Arabic daily newspaper, on Sunday reading: "Look, it's Christmas" above a picture of a mother and daughter wearing Santa's hats.
Emirati resident Loloa al-Khalifa, dressed in the traditional black cloak or abaya, said she welcomed the Christmas cheer while taking photographs of her 1-year-old son in front of holiday decorations at one of the malls recently. "I'm very proud of our traditions but happy that my son is growing up in such a cosmopolitan city," al-Khalifa, a Muslim, said.
| More pix found here |