Christmas is
a holiday that is celebrated by many people throughout the world. Though the
majority of those who celebrate Christmas are Christian, it has become a worldwide
tradition. The idea of giving gifts, spending time with family, and having time
off, has just grown to be celebrated by everyone, no matter what their
religion. It has become commercialized, though its religious value still
remains. This has created for some quite interesting traditions.
Christmas
dinner, to us here in America, is like a small feast. Many baked goods are made
and a nice main dish centered around a meat, like chicken, turkey, and ham are
eaten. However, that is not the case for those in Japan. The Japanese enjoy a
nice Christmas dinner with KFC fried chicken. Sometimes, the people in Japan
have to order super early to actually make sure they can get some fried chicken
from KFC. Sweden eats a rice pudding, but there is a special secret. If a
person finds an almond in the rice pudding, they will get married within a
year. In Greenland, they eat fermented birds, specifically auks, including the
feathers, beaks, all in a seal skin with grease. That seems quite unappealing,
but do what you have to, it doesn’t matter. Also, in Greenland, on Christmas
night, the men take care of the women, by serving them and doing what they
want. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Spain has
this unusual tradition during Christmas time. This specifically occurs in
Catalonia, where statues are famous people pooping are quite common. It is said
to symbolize fertilization, prosperity, and hope, for the future. Ukraine does
a different sort of decorating, as well. They put spider webs on their
Christmas trees. Spider webs tend to be associated with Halloween, but Ukrainians
decorate their trees with these fake spider webs in hopes of good luck for the
coming year.
Santa, is a
jolly old man with white hair, and a beard, that loves cookies, food, and is
extremely fat. He rides a sleigh guided by reindeer and takes presents to the
children on Christmas Eve. The Italians, have La Befana, a witch flying on her
broom and delivering candies to all the children on the eve of Epiphany Day,
typically January 6th.
Church and
religion is a big part of the holiday. In Caracas, Venezuela, they do not go to
mass in the typical way of riding a bus. Instead the Venezuelans roller skate
to mass. How cool is that?
Estonians
enjoy a nice sauna bath on Christmas Eve. This country in particular shows the
growth of Christmas in countries. The country’s pagan traditions were mixed
with Christmas traditions, to create this sauna bath tradition.
These are
some cool and unusual traditions that occur during Christmas time. For more
information, click here.
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