#13 "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden

Good Morning, day and evening. 10 days till Christmas. This year we have been busy doing little fun craft things with the kids. Like cutting out a tree and ornaments made out of felt, tape it to the wall and let the kids go crazy. Since my wife and I have been married our Christmas tradition is to watch a bunch of Christmas movies. Yes, besides the normal Santa Claus, snowmen, and zany comedies that take place during this holiday season we include others such as "Die Hard" 1 and 2 and "Gremlins". We are open to try other movies which take place during the Christmas Holiday if there are any suggestions. I would like to hear from others if you wish to mention your family traditions.

Argentina lamp lighting

It's interesting if you care to take time to look at http://www.whychristmas.com/ , the website is dedicated to the various Christmas traditions of other countries and cultures. For instance, in Australia Santa Claus uses kangaroos instead of reindeer and this time of the season it's actually summer so Santa is geared up in more of a summer attire. In Haiti children put their cleaned shoes filled with straw on the porch where their tree sits in hopes Santa will take the straw and replace it with presents. In Argentina on Christmas Eve they light paper objects resembling Chinese paper lanterns and decorate the sky with them. Kind of like in the Disney movie "Tangled".


G'day Mate!

If we were to travel to one of these countries we would be amazed by the diversity in our ways of living. My wife traveled to Ireland for a summer to study and she mentioned to me the contrast in the sizes of our refrigerators. Ireland's are much smaller and do not include a freezer as all of their foods are eaten fresh. Also, the pubs in Ireland are much more of a place for discussion and social interaction versus American bars which tend to be a place to "hook up" or wallow silently. When reading "Memoirs of a Geisha" I was thrust into a way of living I wasn't familiar with. The information in this somewhat fictional memoir was foreign to me so my brain immediately tried to latch onto something that would help me understand what I was reading. Our use of preconceived notions and memories can distort our attitudes to new ways of living and thinking. God calls us to be somewhat empathetic. It's ok to have opinions but if we were placed in other people's shoes how different of a person would we be?

"Memoirs of a Geisha" is a story about a young girl named Chiyo who's father gave her away along with her sister to a geisha house to become one of the most well known geisha's of all time. Possessing dazzling eyes her "Mother" saw great potential in her future. Facts about geisha's. They are employees of the house where they live and they make money by being hired to entertain men at bars, sporting events, parties, etc. Money is also made when a man becomes a Don, which means a man makes a substantial purchase of a specific geisha for her to become his very own mistress. He will lavish her with gifts, money and a better way of life. Her house, the place she lives and is trained, have invested money and time into training someone like Chiyo will get a portion of this money earned. Geisha's wear large robes to cover up a great portion of their body so that only their Don will get to see what's hidden. Whatever makes you more appealing and sell at a higher price, right? If everyone has seen the goods then your stock goes down. How different that is to living in the United States. Also, the face is painted to hide the skin- how important the eyes become.

With this said there is so much more going on in the memoir. Arthur Golden describes more about the culture they lived in during the 1940s-50s and the role of women and men in this society. He includes an entertaining story about how Chiyo initially wanted to escape back home, to embracing the benefits of being a geisha as a better way of life than the other options, and enduring the hateful manipulative "Sister" geisha named Hatsumomo and Hatsumomo's plot to prevent Chiyo from becoming a geisha. If you didn't make the connection the story takes place around the time of Japan's involvement in WWII. Not only is the content enthralling, it was difficult to put my headphones down, but Golden is well articulated in his storytelling and at the same time easy to follow.
If you enjoy reading a good story with a little history and details of a life you may not be familiar with I think this one will be worth it.

Everyone have a Merry Christmas!!(American), Feliz Navidad!!(Spanish), 'Juullimi Ukiortaassamilu Pilluarit'!(Greenlandic), 'Nollaig Shona Dhuit'(Irish)! Well you get the point.