[DW] More Iraqi Moslems are celebrating Christmas than ever. Yet Iraq's Christians are an endangered minority and some Moslem holy mans are vehemently against it. So why are there so many Christmas trees in Baghdad?Iraqi woman Kholoud Khardoum suspects she was the one who introduced Christmas to her village in southern Iraq. It all started six years ago with a small plastic Christmas tree and some gifts for her nieces and nephews during a visit home, the Iraqi journalist, who resides in Baghdad, recounted.
"At first, it was a bit weird. People kept asking what the tree was. It was something they had only seen on TV," she told DW; her hometown is just outside the city of Karbala, a comparatively conservative place with a Shiite Moslem majority that is also a major destination for Moslem pilgrims. "But with the lights and the decorations and gifts, the children really loved it. Then the neighbors came over and they liked what we were doing too."