What do you picture when you see the word Christmas? For many in the US, the images of decorating a Christmas tree, building a gingerbread house, exchanging gifts, going ice-skating, and Santa Claus, the mythical jolly man himself. American Christmas culture contains a wide variety of customs that don’t always fit together. Diverse groups of people that live in the US each bring a unique set of traditions to the table from all over the world. Taking a look at where many unique traditions come can give a greater understanding of how they derived and the importance of them to different cultures.
In Catholic-dominant Western European countries, a common tradition is to go to midnight mass services to celebrate and prepare nativity scenes, yet each country has slightly different customs during Christmas Eve and Christmas day. For example, a Spanish Christmas Eve dinner called Nochebuena is eaten with family and friends, and on Christmas day, Spaniards eat specific holiday foods like turrón and roasts. Gifts are not given in Spain on the day of Christmas, but rather given on Three King’s Day, which is celebrated on January 6. In many Eastern European countries that are majority Orthodox Christian, Christmas is almost solely seen as a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Little gift giving occurs as religious individuals attend church to celebrate.
One difference from attending church in Western Europe is that Eastern European countries usually hold church services on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning instead of a midnight mass.
Additionally, Santa is much different from the version most Americans know. For example, in Greece, the gift bringer’s name is Saint Basil, who delivers gifts on the first day of the New Year—the feast day of Saint Basil. Other Christmas traditions in Greece include singing carols (kalanda) and decorating boats instead of trees.
We will now take a look at Asian Christmas traditions, differing significantly from Europe as Christianity is a minority religion in most Asian countries. It is often seen as a secular holiday in many countries. Christmas is mostly celebrated religiously in the Southeast Asian island nations including the Philippines and Indonesia. These nations celebrate with a series of small feasts, shared with family and friends, and finally one large feast on Christmas day. They also regularly attend church and decorate much like the US.
In Australia, weather remains warm during the Christmas season and allows for some different traditions to take place. Common traditions include hosting barbecues, Secret Santa, and spending time at beaches. An iconic Australian tradition is Boxing Day, on December 26, where many people go shopping and do outdoor gathering activities. Boxing Day is also a major sports match day with small, rival, and big market teams all participating. Religious celebrations here are not as prominent as Europe, and similar to Southeast Asia.
In African countries, community is the most important part of Christmas. People will gather from all over neighborhoods and villages to have a large feast after attending church services. Common foods include roasted meats, jollof rice, and nyama choma (a type of barbeque meat). In terms of gift-giving, many like to donate materials instead of exchanging gifts, which helps bind communities together even more. There are also unique customs such as decorating fruit trees, believing Santa rides a camel, and creating decorated lanterns for the holiday.
Our last stop will be Latin America, which is another place where Christmas carries a deep religious importance and which has great food to celebrate with. Traditions begin early in December, with many nations celebrating Noche de la Velitas (Night of the Little Candles) that honors the Virgin Mary. On Christmas Eve, families have a dinner with foods including tamales, conquito, and ponche. Midnight mass is a very common practice, similar to the Western European countries and many nativities are set up to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Through all these festivities, it’s not always just Christians who celebrate Christmas day with interesting traditions. A common thing for Jewish people to do in the US is have a Chinese dinner on Christmas. This is a habit that became popular during the late 1800’s in New York City and many of the Jewish faith have accepted it as a tradition every year. Also, in South Korea, people celebrate it in a more romantic manner, similar to Valentine’s Day, and Japan has a strange tradition of eating KFC on Christmas.
Global Christmas traditions all share a common theme of spending time together and celebrating the importance of the birth of Jesus Christ. Through it all, it is important to understand the similarities and differences that we all share when celebrating this holiday. Every family has something special that they do every year, so if you celebrate, enjoy what makes Christmas unique for you!
