移民家庭的另類圣誕節(jié)

There’s Nothing Traditional about an Immigrant Christmas

Host： It’s hard to look around today and not see Christmas everywhere. But what if Christmas is not part of your tradition？ That’s the case for many immigrants in the U.S.， including Muslim actor and comedian Aasif Mandvi. And I talked to him recently about his new book called No Land’s Man.

In that book， Aasif， you share stories about growing up in the UK， so you must have seen your fair share of traditional Christmas， but your family’s Indian and Muslim. Did they feel 1）compelled to participate in any of that stuff？

Aasif： Well， you know， I don’t think my parents really knew how to celebrate Christmas. When we first got to the UK， we didn’t have a Christmas tree for， like， I think， the first 10 years， or something. It was sort of like my parents would just hide gifts behind the sofa.

Host： And， like good kids， who anticipated that Christmas day， were you hunting around for the presents and trying to get them open？

Aasif： Exact…you know， it…it just became really about just giving us gifts， and so they celebrated Christmas because we wanted to celebrate， me and my sister wanted to celebrate Christmas， you know， so…

Host： Right.

Aasif： I do remember the sort of， you know， waking up Christmas morning and opening gifts， which were often just wrapped in 2）brown paper or not wrapped at all， sometimes， just…they’re hidden behind the sofa.

Host： Is there one Christmas at the Mandvi household that you， kind of， really remember as being kind of，“this is a nice mix of two traditions，” or one that you remember that was just completely off the rails？

Aasif： Well， we have a funny Christmas tradition in our home. When we first came to America， my parents didn’t have a lot of money， and they were kind of struggling for a while. So that first Christmas they couldn’t really buy us a lot of gifts and so I remember， like， opening one of the gifts that we got， and me and my sister， we both had， Planter’s peanuts. And he had wrapped a bottle of Planter’s peanuts as a gift， and little bit like a joke. So now， in our home， every year， one of the gifts is a wrapped-up bottle of Planter’s peanuts.

Host： And here’s another take on the holidays， from Tam Duong. She’s from Los Angeles and lives in Boston， but her parents are Vietnamese and Buddhist.

Tam： My very first memory of Christmas is being in elementary school and learning about Santa and the 3）reindeers and Rudolf， but when I came home and tried to talk to my family about it， they had no idea what I was talking about. They said it was just a holiday， and we’re a Vietnamese family， and so Vietnamese people don’t usually celebrate Christmas.

So when I was a kid， I did write letters to Santa. I just never got a response. I would wait until midnight on Christmas Eve every night hoping to hear reindeers and Santa come down the chimney， but they never came. And eventually I’d always fall asleep， wake up in the morning thinking that there would be presents. But we would never have any presents under the tree， and then I thought it was because I didn’t have a chimney. Maybe Santa just missed us this year， and then the next year and the year after that.

Now， when I’m with my fiancé and his family， we do celebrate Christmas. And my fiancé and I， we go pick out a Christmas tree every year and decorate it， and that’s our little tradition， and we do exchange gifts on Christmas Day. But when I go home to my family， my parents—I think they want to celebrate Christmas， but they don’t know how， and so they wait for us to come home and do something with them. And so what we usually do is we just cook a big dinner and we’ll buy them， like， little gifts， and try to bring Christmas to them in a way. But if I’m not at home that particular year for Christmas， then they just don’t do anything.

主持人：環(huán)顧四周，你很難忽視那無處不在的圣誕氣氛。但如果圣誕節(jié)不是你的傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日，情況會怎樣呢？很多在美國的移民都遇到過這種情況，其中就有穆斯林演員兼喜劇演員阿西夫·曼德維。我最近就他的新書《無地之人》采訪過他。

阿西夫，你在書中講述了自己在英國成長的故事，那你一定經(jīng)歷過不少的傳統(tǒng)圣誕節(jié)。可是你的家人是印度人，是穆斯林，他們會覺得自己是被迫參與這些慶祝活動嗎？

阿西夫：嗯，你知道嗎，我覺得我父母真不知道該如何慶祝圣誕節(jié)。我們剛到英國時，我想，在大概頭十年里，家里都沒有圣誕樹。可以說我父母只會將禮物藏在沙發(fā)后面。

主持人：那你是不是也會像那些表現(xiàn)良好，期待著圣誕節(jié)的孩子一樣，四處尋找藏起來的禮物，然后試圖把包裝拆開？

阿西夫：確實是，你知道，圣誕節(jié)變成了只是送禮物給我們的日子，他們慶祝圣誕只是因為我們想過，我和我姐姐想過圣誕節(jié)，所以……

主持人：是啊。

阿西夫：我仍然記得那種情景，你知道，圣誕節(jié)那天早上醒來……拆開禮物，它們通常只用棕色的紙包著，或者有時根本沒有包裝，就藏在沙發(fā)后面。

主持人：在你們曼德維家，有沒有一個圣誕節(jié)令你印象深刻，是那種“混合了兩種傳統(tǒng)的美好節(jié)日”，或者，在你記憶中有沒有哪一次是很離譜的？

阿西夫：嗯，我們家有一個有趣的圣誕傳統(tǒng)。我們剛到美國時，父母錢不多，有一段時間過得比較艱苦，所以我們在美國過的第一個圣誕節(jié)，他們不能給我們買多少禮物。