Christmas Traditions Around The World
All over the world, Christmas celebrations reflect local culture and traditions. The festivities can be startlingly different from country to country, focusing on different aspects of the nativity story.
Christmas, celebrated by most Christians on December 25, commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
Christmas Traditions in America
Americans, like many of the world’s peoples, have developed their own Christmas traditions and observances, and these have changed greatly over time.
Today, most Americans blend religious and secular customs with their own family traditions, often incorporating food, decorations, and rituals from places they or their ancestors once called home. Roast turkey and ham are popular for Christmas dinner throughout the country, but depending on the region, so are tamales, roast goose with red cabbage, crawfish jambalaya, roast pork, or “seven fishes” seafood salad.
In the Southwest, luminarias- lanterns made from brown paper bags weighted down with sand and illuminated by a lit candle are displayed on Christmas Eve. Many Mexican Americans celebrate Las Posadas, a procession that re-enacts Mary and Joseph’s search for a place to bed down in Bethlehem. Swedish Americans hold St. Lucia festivals, and in Puerto Rico there are parrandas, where friends go from one house to the next singing traditional songs, “surprising” their friends and waking them with their music.
Even though Christmas is for many Americans a religious occasion, the federal courts have upheld its status as a legal holiday. As one court reasoned, “by giving federal employees a paid vacation day on Christmas, the government is doing no more than recognizing the cultural significance of the holiday.”
To some extent, non-Christian holidays celebrated at roughly the same time of year as Christmas most prominently the African-American Kwanzaa and the Jewish Hanukkah also blend into a broader “holiday season.”
The modern, commercialized Christmas began to emerge in the 19th century with the new custom of purchasing gifts for young children. Seasonal “Christmas shopping” began to assume economic importance.
Other Christmas traditions similarly began during the 19th century. Santa Claus derived from the Dutch Sinter Klaas and the German Saint Nicholas assumed the persona of a jolly dispenser of gifts and pilot of a reindeer-drawn sleigh through such works as the 1823 poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas.”
According to legend, the Protestant reformer Martin Luther first added lighted candles to a tree to remind his children of the wonders of God’s creation. Christmas trees became popular in Britain and the United States in the 19th century.
Today, many Americans purchase a fresh evergreen tree or a reusable aluminum and plastic model and decorate it with lights and ornaments. In some families, Christmas gifts appear under the tree on the morning of December 25, deposited there by family members or, as small children believe, delivered by Santa Claus after he lands his reindeer and sleigh on the roof and comes down the chimney.
Mass-produced Christmas cards began to appear in the last quarter of the 19th century. Today, these might depict religious scenes or convey secular, often humorous, messages. On the Internet, electronically transmitted “e-cards” are increasingly popular; nonetheless, Americans will mail some 16.6 billion Christmas cards, letters and packages over the holidays.
As for seasonal entertainment, there are countless productions of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet, school holiday pageants, and carolers everywhere. On television, adults watch old favorites like A Miracle on 34th Street (1945) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), while children (and nostalgic parents) enjoy classic animated programs such as A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965). Many radio stations adjust their formats to feature Christmas music. The holiday movie season is often called the “Oscar season” because so many hopeful contenders for the Academy Awards (or “Oscars”) are released in December.
Still, the holiday’s original religious meaning remains for many its most important element. Some congregations create manger scenes- dioramas of the stable where Jesus is believed to have been born, with figurines representing the infant Jesus and those present at his birth. Many churches hold Christmas Eve candlelight or midnight services. Some include a Mass of the Nativity or a dramatization of the birth of Jesus.
Christmas Traditions in Australia
In Australia, December 25 falls during summer vacation, so many of the country's Christmas festivities take place outdoors. The most popular event of the Christmas season is called Carols by Candlelight. People come together at night to light candles and sing Christmas carols outside. The stars shining above add to the sights and sounds of this wonderful outdoor concert.
Christmas Traditions in China
The small number of Christians in China call Christmas Sheng Dan Jieh, which means Holy Birth Festival. They decorate their homes with evergreens, posters, and bright paper chains. Families put up a Christmas tree, called a "tree of light," and decorate it with beautiful lanterns, flowers, and red paper chains that symbolize happiness. They cut out red pagodas to paste on the windows, and they light their houses with paper lanterns, too.
Christmas Traditions in England
It is cold, wet, and foggy in England at Christmastime. The day before Christmas is very busy for families in England. They wrap presents, bake cookies, and hang stockings over the fireplace. Then everyone gathers around the tree as someone tells a classic holiday story, 'A Christmas Carol'. Children write a letter to Father Christmas with their wishes and toss their letter into the fire so their wishes can go up the chimney. After the children fall asleep on Christmas Eve, Father Christmas comes to visit.
Christmas Traditions in Ethiopia
Ethiopia follows the ancient Julian calendar, so Ethiopians celebrate Christmas on January 7. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church's celebration of Christ's birth is called Ganna. It is a day when families attend church. Everyone dresses in white. Most Ethiopians don a traditional shamma- a thin, white cotton wrap with brightly colored stripes across the ends. Twelve days after Ganna, on January 19, Ethiopians begin the three-day celebration called Timkat, which commemorates the baptism of Christ.
Christmas Traditions in France
Christmas celebrations in France begin on December 5, which is St. Nicholas Eve, but Christmas Eve is the most special time in the French celebration of Christmas. Church bells ring and voices sing French carols, called noels. On Christmas Day, families go to church and then enjoy an abundant feast of wonderful dishes, ending with the traditional buche de Noel, a rich buttercream-filled cake shaped and frosted to look like a Yule log.
Christmas Traditions in Germany
German families prepare for Christmas throughout cold December. Four Sundays before Christmas, they make an Advent wreath of fir or pine branches that has four coloured candles. They light a candle on the wreath each Sunday, sing Christmas songs, and eat Christmas cookies. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, homes are filled with the delightful smells of baking loaves of sweet bread, cakes filled with candied fruits, and spicy cookies called lebkuchen.
Christmas Traditions in Holland
Dutch children in Holland, or the Netherlands, eagerly await the arrival of Sinterklaas on St. Nicholas Day on December 6. Sinterklaas is a kindly bishop. He wears red robes and a tall pointed mitre on his head. Sinterklaas travels by ship from Spain to Amsterdam's harbour every winter. He brings his white horse and a huge sack full of gifts for the children. Families celebrate St. Nicholas Eve at home with lots of good food, hot chocolate, and a letter banket, a "letter cake" made in the shape of the first letter of the family's last name.
Christmas Traditions in Italy
The Christmas season in Italy begins on the first Sunday of Advent, which is four Sundays before Christmas. Christmas fairs feature fireworks and bonfires along with holiday music. Families go to the Christmas markets to shop for gifts and new figures for the manger scene. Some families set up a Christmas tree and decorate it. Families set up their presepio, or manger scene, on the first day of the novena. They gather before the presepio each morning or evening of novena to light candles and pray.
Christmas Traditions in Mexico
The weather is warm and mild in Mexico during the Christmas season. Families shop for gifts, ornaments, and good things to eat in the market stalls, called puestos. They decorate their homes with lilies and evergreens. Family members cut intricate designs in brown paper bags to make lanterns, or farolitos. They place a candle inside and then set the farolitos along sidewalks, on windowsills, and on rooftops and outdoor walls to illuminate the community with the spirit of Christmas.
Christmas Traditions in Spain
The Christmas season begins in Spain on December 8, with a weeklong observance of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Evergreens decorate the churches and outdoor markets throughout the Christmas season. Tambourines, gourd rattles, castanets, and miniature guitars are offered for sale to enliven the singing and dancing in the streets. Children go from house to house reciting verses or singing carols for sweets, toys, or small instruments.
Christmas Traditions in Sweden
In Sweden, the Christmas festivities begin on December 13 with St. Lucia's Day, which celebrates the patron saint of light. The eldest daughter gets up before dawn and dresses as the "Queen of Light" in a long white dress. She wears a crown of leaves. Singing "Santa Lucia," the Lucia Queen goes to every bedroom to serve coffee and treats to each member of the family. The younger children in the family help, too. The whole family helps to select the Christmas tree just a day or two before Christmas.
Christmas Traditions in India
The world has witnessed that India celebrates Christmas with a lot of fervour and revers the festive spirit of love, forgiveness, and togetherness. However, every state in the country has given the magnificent celebration its own flavour making India an epitome of the famous adage ‘Unity in Diversity’.
In South India, one widespread Christmas tradition is the put a burning earthen lamp on their roofs. This practice symbolizes that Jesus is the light of the world. In north-west India, the Christians narrate the Christmas story and sing melodious carols in their own dialects. You will come across some areas in south-west India where devotees go on a fast from the 1st December until the midnight mass service on 24th December.
Goa is one of the states in India that turns the Christmas celebration into an epic spectacle because of its sizeable Roman Catholic population. Due to Portugal's influence, this state acknowledges a plethora of western traditions. The locals add sparkle to the area by adorning the churches, market areas, and houses with dolled up Christmas trees, hanging star-shaped lanterns, and going around the neighbourhood singing classical carols.
Moreover, the residents of Goa exchange local sweets with their loved ones to express their affection for each other. The most famous traditional treat, second to the sumptuous fruit cake, is ‘neurons’ that resemble small pastries stuffed with dry fruits and coconut. Another famous sweet is ‘dodol’ which is like a toffee that has a perfect blend of cashew and coconut.
On Christmas Eve families host a shindig and feast on traditional Christmas dinner with roast turkey or chicken and drink concoctions. Then they head to church for the midnight mass service where the ring of the church bell announces the arrival of Christmas Day.
Around the world, Christmas traditions vary, but what binds us all together is the joyous spirit and, in that spirit, we wish you:
Merry Christmas!
