Santa Claus is called Father Christmas and children put their shoes out before going to bed in the hopes that Father Christmas puts their gifts in the shoes, instead of under the tree. In tropical countries that don’t experience winter, there are not real Christmas trees. Rather, people who celebrate Christmas need to purchase an artificial Christmas tree to put their gifts underneath. Many cultures celebrate Christmas exactly the same way as the United States, but with certain variations.
For one thing, Christmas dinner varies. In the United States, a turkey is the usual main dish each Christmas. In Japan, however, their main fare is usually made up of fish. European countries make certain dishes such as Shepherd’s pie, minced meat pie or a variation for the holiday season. Christmas carols are sung in their own respective languages. One example is the way Silent Night is sung in France is:
Douce nuit, sainte nuit !
Dans les cieux !
L’astre luit. Le mystère annoncé s’accomplit.
Cet enfant sur la paille endormit,
C’est l’amour infini,
C’est l’amour infini!
Some African towns teach their children to cut out snowflakes and hang on the windows each Christmas, even if most children from Africa have never seen snow.
One common factor during Christmas involves writing letters and expecting letters from Santa Claus to arrive back in the mail. Christian children around the world write letters to Santa Claus telling Santa that they’ve been good all year and the list of gifts they would like to receive. They then expect letters from Santa Claus to be in the mail the morning after. Many times, letters from Santa Claus do not arrive and instead, they get all the gifts they have listed on their wish list.
The way Christmas is celebrated around the world has one universal theme. It all involves making children happy as well as celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. During midnight mass around the world, the scene of Jesus being born in a manger is a frequent occurrence. Singing Christmas carols as well as eating a Christmas dinner is also an international tradition for Christian countries. On the other hand, non-Christian countries do not celebrate Christmas at all. Instead, they celebrate their own pagan holidays with just as much festivities usually involving fireworks, street dancing and dragon dances. Christmas celebrations around the world usually involve a Christmas tree, Christmas stockings, hymns, recipes and a gathering of families around a well-prepared dinner. Midnight Mass is also practiced where children get to hear Christmas carols sung by the church choir as well as Christmas plays performed.
Knowing how other cultures celebrate Christmas will enable you to enhance your own experience of this holiday season. You can borrow other cultural practices and recipes that you find in other websites and incorporate it into your own Christmas dinner for the whole family to enjoy. This allows you a way to create your own unique family traditions.
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