ChristmasAround the

WorldBailey Martin

AssignmentReferencesCore standard

Where To?

Click a picture/country to learn more about it

France

Brazil

Russia

Egypt

Back

Russia

Most of Russia is a frozen tundra. There are some treeless grasslands and plains.

Russian Orthodox is the pre-dominate religion. A small percent are Muslim.

Much of the world knows Russia for Communism. From the late 1800’s til the mid 1990’s they were under a communistic rule.

Christmas?

France

France has mountains on it’s SE borders near Spain, Italy and Switzerland. Yet flat rolling plains on the northern border.

A large part of the population is Roman Catholic. Only 8% strictly practice and church and state are strictly separated.

France is also well know for their world influence in the arts. Photography and motion pictures were both firsts in France.

Christmas?

Egypt is all desert, even some of the Sahara is in Egypt. The Nile River is the lifeblood for the country. Alexander the Great brought

Greek culture to Egypt, mainly Christianity. After the Muslim invasion it became the pre-dominate religion. There have been high tensions throughout history between the two.

Egypt

Family is one of the most important things in Egyptian culture. Coming from a ‘good family’ is one of the highest compliments.

Christmas?

Brazil

Brazil is both the fifth largest country and fifth most populous. It is mostly forest and has the world’s largest rain forest.

Christmas?

Over 75% of the population is Roman Catholic. The number has decreased since Brazil became a republic and religious freedom was declared.

The national passion in Brazil is futebol or soccer. Businesses and schools will even be shut down for the world cup.

Christmas In Russia

Communism banned the celebration of Christmas for years. New Years became a popular holiday with Christmas undertones such as decorating fir trees and Grandfather Frost. Fireworks and parties were also still very popular.

Assignment!

ChristmasIn France

People in France celebrate by gathering and having a large family dinner with a Christmas cake for dessert. The children leave their shoes by the fireplace for Pere Noel while they attend midnight mass.

Assignment!

ChristmasIn Egypt

The pre-dominate religion is Muslim. The most similar holiday to Christmas is Ramadan. During this time they have special worship services, TV programs and family visits. They also give food to the poor and have a large feast.

Assignment!

ChristmasIn Brazil

Christmas Eve is celebrated with a large meal, usually including turkey or ham. Then gifts are exchanged. Some are brought by Father Noel but the most precious are from the infant Christ. These gifts are usually from family.

Assignment!

Assignment!Now that we’ve learned about several

countries unique geographical and human characteristics let’s look more closely at our

own.

The goal is to look at some of your own personal Christmas traditions and even those of surrounding friends and neighbors. Make connections with The United States political, religious, economic, etc. history and how it has affected popular/common traditions.

Students should use The Culture Grams website, SIRS Discoverer or other Pioneer Library search engines. They should present their connections using a Glogster, PowerPoint presentation or a Picasa movie. Other projects can be approved by the teacher.

Core StandardStandard 2Students will understand the human and physical characteristics of places and regions.

Objective 1Interpret place by its human and physical characteristics.Objective 3Evaluate how culture and experience influence the way people live in places and regions.

Citations and References

ProQuest. (2010). Peru. CultureGrams World Edition. Retrieved May, 19, 2010, from http://online.culturegrams.com/world/world_country.php? contid=7&wmn=South_America&cid=125&cn=Peru

Information regarding core curriculum and standards was taken from the UEN page.

All clip art, text, backgrounds, coloring and overall visual appeal is PowerPoint generated.