Just like anywhere, Christmas is a very important holiday in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I will go ahead and admit that this is largely because of the rather huge expat population though. Aside from the very small minority of Christians here - which is probably around 1% - Christmas is not an official holiday and the branding or encouragement of retailers to get people to buy a bunch of stuff for loved ones has mostly fell flat. I for one am grateful for that.
The Hash House Harriers celebrate Christmas but we do not allow it to interfere with our operations. We will still have a run the day after Christmas because it falls on a Thursday and we will have one on the 2nd of January because it too is also a Thursday. Nothing interferes with our schedule of 3 runs per week. In fact, the only time that this did happen was when Thailand basically shut down all public gatherings for the sake of Covid, whatever the hell that was meant to accompllish.
It's all in the past though and let's not dwell on that. Today we celebrate Christmas in our own "hashy" way.
This picture has been circulated among the Hash House Harrier groups for many years as it is a tremendous reflection of what our ideals are. Why put gifts under the tree when the tree itself can be the gift!?
We are drinkers with a running problem and we stand by that all around the world at our more than 5000 chapters. This holiday season the Chiang Mai Hash will not be slowing down at all. In fact, during this week we have 4 events, two of which have already passed and still have 2 more to go. We will be looking forward to all the Xmas sort of things that people have on their heads and bodies for tomorrow's event even though it will be Boxing Day then.
For a Hasher, the Hash events kind of take precidence over all things unless by giving this priority could result in you getting fired, disowned, or divorced. Other than that, the Hash is what we look forward to the most.
come and join us anytime you feel like it. A minimum of 3 events per week can be expected and full details are available at our official website
On On!
