Christmas Around The World
First Grade
America-Holiday Traditions
America-You Might See…
America-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas
America-What You Might Eat Many United States customs have been adopted
from Great Britain. Roast turkey, beef, ham or pork are the meats usually included in the meal. The side dishes include stuffing, or dressing, squash, roasted root vegetables and mashed potatoes are also included. Some common desserts include pumpkin pie, sugar cookies, carrot cake, coconut cake, pecan pie and sweet potato pie. Many of the recipes have been handed down from generation to generation, maybe even from the early American settlers on their first Christmases in the United States.
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Australia-Holiday Traditions 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.
Australia-You Might See… Australian children believe in Santa,
but there's a twist. Since temperatures can reach nearly 100 degrees in some parts of Australia, and the eight reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh are used to the cold, Nordic winds, they need a rest. The belief is that six boomers, also known as male kangaroos, take over.
Australia-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas " 'Ave a good one, mate."
Merry Christmas, mate! NEVER forget the mate...
Australia-What You Might Eat
Christmas dinner in Australia falls during the heat of the Southern Hemisphere’s summer. So they usually eat their meats such as ham, turkey, and chicken cold with some cranberry sauce. They will include side salads and roasted vegetables as well. Barbecues are also popular because of the heat. They will also serve various seafood items like prawns, lobster and crayfish. Some of the fruits of the season include cherries and mangoes.
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Brazil-Holiday Traditions Devout Catholics often attend Midnight
Mass or Missa do Galo. (A galo is a rooster.) The mass has this name because the rooster announces the coming day. The Missa do Galo finishes at 1 AM on Christmas morning! On December 25th, Catholics go to church, but the masses are mostly late afternoon, because people enjoy sleeping late after the dinner or going to the beach.
Brazil-You Might See…
Decorations include fresh flowers picked from the garden. Fireworks go off in the skies over the cites and huge Christmas "trees" of electric lights can be seen against the night skies in major cities such as Brasilia, San Paolo, and Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
Feliz Natal
Brazil-What You Might Eat In Brazil, the Christmas meal is quite a feast,
(served in the evening on 24 December) offering large quantities of food, such as a wide variety of dishes which include fresh vegetables, luscious fruits and Brazil Nuts. There are bowls of colorful rice and platters filled with ham and fresh salad (sometimes cold potato salad too) served with roast turkey. Also some parts of Brazil feature roast pork, roast Chicken and fish. Other Christmas items include a variety of desserts such as lemon tart, nuts pie, chocolate cake and also Panettone.
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Canada-Holiday Traditions In some provinces, a big winter festival, called
Sinck tuck, is celebrated by the Eskimos, with dancing and a present-giving party.
In Labrador, turnips are saved from the summer harvest and are given to children, with a lighted candle pushed into a hollowed out hole.
In Nova Scotia, a country settled by Scottish highlanders, songs and carols brought from Britain two centuries ago are sung each Christmas morning.
Canada-You Might See…
Canada-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
Canada-What You Might Eat In English Canada, Christmas dinner is similar
to that of England. Traditional Christmas dinner features turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, vegetables and raisin pudding for dessert. Eggnog, a milk-based punch is also very popular around the holiday season. Other Christmas items include butter tarts and shortbread, which are traditionally baked before the holidays and served to visiting friends, at various Christmas and New Year parties, as well as on Christmas Day.
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England-Holiday TraditionsIt 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.
England-You Might See… One of England's customs is mummering. In the
Middle Ages, people called mummers put on masks and acted out Christmas plays. These plays are still performed in towns and villages.
Christmas Crackers, invented in 1847 by Tom Smith, are a small cardboard tube covered with a brightly colored twist of paper. The cracker is pulled by two people, each holding one end of the twisted paper. When the tube is pulled apart, friction causes a narrow strip of chemically treated paper to create a small explosive POP revealing a small gift inside.
England-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas
England-What You Might Eat Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom is
usually eaten on the afternoon of December 25. It consists of roast turkey or maybe goose, chicken, duck, capons or pheasant. Roast beef or ham with stuffing and gravy might also be served. They have cranberry sauce breads and vegetables like potatoes (roasted, boiled or mashed) brussel sprouts, parsnips and carrots. Dessert is Christmas pudding (plum pudding), mince pies or trifle with butter and cream.
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France-Holiday Traditions Christmas celebrations begin on December
5, which is St. Nicholas Eve. 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.
France-You Might See… On Christmas Eve, children leave their
shoes by the fireplace to be filled with gifts from Pere Noel. In the morning they also find that sweets, fruit, nuts and small toys have been hung on the tree.
Nearly every French home at Christmastime displays a Nativity scene or crèche, which serves as the focus for the Christmas celebration.
France-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
Joyeux Noel
France-What You Might Eat In France and some other French-
speaking countries, a réveillon is a long dinner, and possibly party, held on the evenings preceding Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The name of this dinner is based on the word réveil (meaning "waking"), because participation involves staying awake until midnight.
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Germany-Holiday Traditions Families prepare for Christmas throughout
cold December. Four Sundays before Christmas, they make an Advent wreath of fir or pine branches that has four colored 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.
Germany-You Might See… The Christmas tree began in Germany and is
presented prior to the evening feast on Christmas Eve. Children are not allowed to see it until Christmas Eve. While the children are in another room with their father, the mother brings out the Christmas tree and decorates it with apples, candy, nuts, cookies, cars, trains, angels, tinsel, family treasures and candles or lights. The presents are under the tree. Their personally decorated plates are loaded with fruits, nuts, marzipan, chocolate and biscuits. A bell is the signal to enter this Christmas fantasy room. Carols are sung, sparklers are lit, the Christmas story is read and gifts are opened.
Germany-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
Fröhliche Weihnachten
Germany-What You Might Eat
In Germany, the primary Christmas dishes are roast goose and roast carp, although pig or duck may also be served. Typical side dishes include roast potatoes and various forms of cabbage, brussel sprouts and red cabbage. In some regions the Christmas dinner is traditionally served on Christmas Day rather than Christmas Eve. In this case, dinner on Christmas Eve is a simpler affair, consisting of sausages or macaroni salad.
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Holland-Holiday Traditions 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 harbor 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 letterbanket, a "letter cake" made in the shape of the first letter of the family's last name.
Holland-You Might See… A popular decoration in the Netherlands is
the so-called “advent star”, a starshaped light, to be hung in the window.
On December 5th, the children put out their wooden shoes and fill them with carrots and hay. They do this to feed Sinter Klaas's horse. Sinter Klaas and Black Pete take the carrots and hay for the horse, and then fill the shoes with presents. On the morning of December 6th, the children find the presents in their shoes.
Holland-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
Vrolijk Kerstfeest
Holland-What You Might Eat One typical Dutch tradition is that of 'gourmet,' an
evening long event where small groups of people sit together around a gourmet-set and use their own little frying pan to cook and season their own food in very small portions. The host has prepared finely chopped vegetables and different types of meats, fish, and prawns/shrimps. Everything is accompanied by different salads, fruits and sauces.
The Dutch also enjoy more traditional Christmas-dinners, especially meats and game like roast beef, duck, rabbit, and pheasant. This generally served with different types of vegetables, potatoes and salads.
A popular dish to serve at christmas is called Oliebollen.
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India-Holiday Traditions
Midnight mass is a very important service for Christians in India, especially Catholics. The whole family will walk to the mass and this will be followed by a massive feast of different delicaciea, mostly curries, and the giving and receiving of presents.
India-You Might See… Instead of having a traditional
Christmas tree, a banana or mango tree is decorated. Sometimes people use mango leaves to decorate their homes as well.
Families also hang giant star paper lanterns between the houses and small clay lamps on the roofs to illuminate everything.
India-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
Bade Din Ki Mubarak
India-What You Might Eat
In India people cook a variety of foods, including Biryani with chicken or lamb/mutton, chicken and mutton curry, followed by cake or sweets like Kheer. Some cook turkey biryani as well, but it is less common in villages.
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Italy-Holiday Traditions 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.
Italy-You Might See…
Italy-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
Buone Feste Natalizie
Italy-What You Might Eat Usually, the Christmas Eve supper is more important
than Christmas Dinner, because the Holy Mass is celebrated at midnight.The primo is a kind of soup made with filled pasta.The secondo might eat poultry, often filled, or roasted and seasoned with sauces, like mostarda. Others might eat the fried capitone eel, which is typical of Christmas Eve, because this is a fasting day. On Christmas Day they could eat roasted lamb or fish.Christmas sweets might include a cake enriched with candy fruits, raisins, pine nuts, the most famous type is panettone. Instead of cake they might serve marzipan, biscuits, zeppole, cannoli, candy fruits, or fresh fruits.
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Japan-Holiday Traditions New Year's Day is the most important day of
the whole calendar in Japan. On New Year's Eve the houses are cleaned thoroughly from top to bottom, and are decorated for the New Year. When everything has been made clean and neat the people of the house dress themselves in their finest clothes. Then the father of the household marches through the house, followed by all the family, and drives the evil spirits out. He throws dried beans into every corner bidding the evil spirits withdraw and good luck to enter.
Japan-You Might See… In Japan there is a god or priest known
as Hoteiosho, who closely resembles our Santa Claus. He is always pictured as a kind old man carrying a huge pack. He is thought to have eyes in the back of his head. It is well for the children to be good when this all-seeing gentleman is abroad.
Japan-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto
Japan-What You Might Eat Many western customs that observe
Christmas have been adopted by the Japanese. Besides exchanging gifts they eat turkey on Christmas Day, and in some places there are even community Christmas trees. They decorate their houses with evergreens and mistletoe, and in some homes Christmas carols are sung gaily.
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Liberia, Africa-Holiday Traditions
Liberia, Africa-You Might See…
Liberia, Africa-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
Rehus-Beal-Ledeats
Liberia, Africa-What You Might Eat
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Mexico-Holiday Traditions Families shop in market stalls called puestos.
They decorate with lilies and evergreens. Families cut designs in brown paper bags and add candles making lanterns, or farolitos. These are set outside to illuminate the community with the spirit of Christmas. Las Posadas (Spanish for "the inn") is a traditional Mexican festival which re-enacts Joseph's search for room at the inn. They carry a doll, representing the Christ Child, along with images of Joseph and Mary riding a burro through the community streets. They stop at a selected home and ask for lodging. All are invited in to read scriptures and sing Christmas carols.
Mexico-You Might See… The poinsettia is native to Mexico. and is
believed to have first been used in connection with Christmas in the 17th century. There is a legend connected with the flower. A little boy named Pablo was walking to the church in his village to visit the Nativity scene, when he realized he had nothing to offer the Christ Child. He saw some green branches growing along the roadside and gathered them up. Other children scoffed, but when he laid them by the manger, a brilliant red star-shaped flower appeared on each branch.
Mexico-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
Feliz Navidad
Mexico-What You Might Eat Christmas dinner is eaten on Christmas Eve
evening. Common dishes are fruits (oranges, lime, tropical fruits) and salad (composed of several ingredients including jicama, beets, bananas, and peanuts). Stews , stuffed turkey, tamales, and bacalao, or codfish, are some of the main dishes served at Christmas. For dessert, atole (a thinned hot pudding) with buñuelos (fried flour tortillas sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon), or buñuelos soaked in sugar (piloncillo) and cinnamon water, are served. There are also sweet tamales: corn with raisins or sweet beans, or strawberry flavored. Stuffed turkey or ham is also common.
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Sweden-Holiday Traditions 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.
Sweden-You Might See…
After the meal, the "Tomte" comes. He is the Christmas elf who lives under floorboards of the house or barn and looks after the family and livestock throughout the year. "Tomte" often brings presents and children graciously leave a dish of porridge for him during the night.
Sweden-How to Wish Someone a Merry Christmas
God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År
Sweden-What You Might Eat The Swedish Christmas smörgåsbord consists of
three courses. The first is fish like pickled herring and salmon eaten with boiled potatoes or on crisp bread.
The second is cold cuts of meat, with the Christmas ham being the most important. Sausages and cheeses are also common and eaten with boiled potatoes or on crisp bread.
The third course has warm dishes like meatballs, small fried sausages and Janssons frestelse.
Lutfisk is sometimes served with the third course or as a fourth course.
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References
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/christmas-traditions-around-the-world-ga.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_dinner#Mexico
http://www.santas.net/howmerrychristmasissaid.htm
http://www.the-north-pole.com/around/index.htm
