Wednesday, Dec 1, 2010Christmas Traditions Around The World
We have all grown accustomed to the Christmas traditions that we grew up with, but what about Christmas traditions around the world? How is Christmas in Sweden different from Christmas in France? It’s very similar to how different countries use the same cooking ingredients so wonderfully different!
Christmas traditions around the world may vary, but a common thread is woven throughout them all: magic and wonder in the eyes of the children. And you know, it’s in your eyes too as you remember that wonder!
Christmas in Australia is warm and sunny and is celebrated during summer vacation! Aussies most popular event is the singing of carols with lighted candles at a concert under the stars. And appropriately, it’s called Carols by Candlelight. Always a hit, the holiday midday dinner reflects the heritage of the original settlers in Australia. Either a traditional British Christmas dinner of roast turkey or ham and rich plum pudding doused in brandy and set aflame before it is brought to the table or here’s a hoot: Father Christmas has even shown up in shorts to celebrate Christmas at the beach! December 26th is Boxing Day, so the Australians with Irish or British backgrounds leave the grocer, postman, newspaper carrier, and others tips to thank them for their help in the past year.
Christmas in Holland occurs on the feast of St. Nicholas on December 6th. Shopping is done in preparation with gifts and small poems written and wrapped inside the gifts. Sinterklaas is a kindly bishop with red robes and a red mitre on his head. He arrives from Spain yearly on his white horse and a grand celebration welcomes him at the harbor in Amsterdam. Even the Queen welcomes Sinterklaas. The gifts are wrapped with great creativity (maybe inside of a potato!) and although everyone knows that family and friends have purchased the gifts, each gift is signed from Sinterklaas. Late in December, a Christmas tree and home decorations including lots of candles are put up, but there are no more gifts for the children. Family dinners on Christmas day include of roast hare, venison, goose, or turkey, eggnog or a mulled drink. After dinner, the family gathers before the fireplace to tell stories and sing carols.
Christmas in France is all about a visit from Pere Noel. French children leave their shoes by the fireplace so that Pere Noel can fill them with gifts. Many French families celebrate family reunions during this season and they set aside gifts for the poor while they wait for le Réveillon. Each region in France has slightly different traditions. While waiting for Pere (or Papa) Noel, cand, fruit, nuts and small toys get hung on Christmas trees on Christmas eve. Le Réveillon is a symbolic awakening to the meaning of Christ’s birth and is the high point of this season. Some restaurants stay open all night! A traditional Christmas menu might include turkey, capon, goose, chicken, and boudin blanc (similar to white pudding). Crèches in the form of plays and puppet shows about the Nativity are performed to teach the important ideas of Christianity behind the Christmas celebration.
Christmas in Sweden is about bringing joyful light to their dark, cold, snowy winter. St. Lucia is the Patron of Light, and her feast day on December 13 begins the holiday season. The eldest daughter dresses as The Queen of Light in a white gown with a leafy crown with lighted candles. She serves coffee and treats in each bedroom! Christmas gifts are often sealed with wax and they contain a special verse. A Christmas tree is chosen a few days before Christmas by the whole family who then decorate it with papier-mache apples, heart-shaped paper baskets filled with candies, gilded pinecones, small straw goats and pigs, little Swedish flags, glass ornaments, and small figures of gnomes wearing red hats to decorate the tree. To remember leaner times, they begin feasting by dipping bread into a thin broth, but that is then followed by a sumptuous feast: lutefisk, Christmas ham, boiled potatoes, pork sausage, herring salad, spiced breads, and many different kinds of sweets.
As you can tell from these Christmas traditions around the world, Christmas is a time filled with joy, love, celebration, and happiness. Whether you are celebrating Christmas in Sweden, France, Holland or in the U.S.,Merry Christmas!
The parent who gets down on the floor to play with a child on Christmas Day is usually doing a most remarkable thing — something seldom repeated during the rest of the year. These are, after all, busy parents committed to their work or their success in the larger society, and they do not have much left-over time in which to play with their children. ~ Brian Sutton-Smith
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