Whether Christian or Buddhist, Vietnam Is Crazy About Christmas

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Like most Vietnamese, Nguyen Ngoc Binh is a Buddhist. But when Christmas comes, he wraps a pillow around his belly, dons a red suit, and covers his face with a bushy white beard.

Mr. Binh is so enamored of St. Nick that he has set up a Santa Claus training academy with a curriculum that covers everything from toys to reindeer to Jingle Bells. He has trained 25 Santas this year, and they're struggling to keep up with their booming gift delivery business. Vietnam is going crazy about Christmas, and no where is this more apparent than in Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, Vietnam's capital of commerce, Catholicism, and fun.

"I hope Santa will bring me some toys!" Le Hoang Son, 4, said, running around a shopping mall in a Santa suit. "I want so many different kinds of toys!"

Vietnam's Catholic minority has been celebrating Christmas for years. But after the communist victory in 1975, the holiday fell out of favor with the authorities, and believers celebrated quietly.

Over the last decade, as Vietnam has opened up to the outside world, the holiday has made a furious comeback. With the government gradually increasing personal, religious, and economic freedom, people of all faiths and backgrounds have embraced this latest Western export as enthusiastically as they drink Coke or watch MTV.

The holiday is a nice fit in a culture that loves giving gifts, doting on children, and singing karaoke. Vietnamese enjoy belting out Christmas songs, especially "Feliz Navidad."

In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's business hub, Christmas is as commercial a venture as in the West.

Santa poses for pictures with children in front of a downtown Christmas display brought to you by Diana, a purveyor of feminine hygiene products, whose logo adorns Frosty the Snowman's belly.

Vietnamese Christmas is not only about entertainment, however. On Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, a huge crowd gathers around the cathedral in downtown Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate the birth of Christ and pray.

For the Catholics in the crowd, it is a solemn occasion. For the many Buddhists, it is an interesting spectacle.

Mr. Binh's Santas are paid to deliver gifts on motorcycles, including to orphanages as an act of holiday charity.

Vietnamese Santas are called Ong Gia No En, meaning Old Man Noel. Mr. Binh searches for big, tall Santas, but mostly has to settle for short, skinny ones.