Multicultural Christmas

Christmas is my most favorite time of the year. There is something extremely appealing about sitting by the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate inside a colourfully lit interior while the outdoors are covered in white. It is also the one time of the year when everyone tries to be as nice as possible, as to not destroy the festive mood. This is rather nice. It’s peaceful. It’s beautiful.

Most of my readership is from North America – particularly Canada and the United States. Although both countries are very multicultural and therefore Christmas can be celebrated many different ways and at different times, most people are not aware of cultural differences when it comes to Christmas. Therefore, I thought it was a neat idea to look at a few different countries and point out some things that they do different.

United States/Canada
The United States and Canada are very multi-cultural, therefore, you will find many different customs and celebrations. Typically however, Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December, however those who are Orthodox celebrate at a later date. Usually families hang stockings on their fireplace (or, as my parents didn’t have a fireplace while I grew up, we hung ours on the wall), decorate a fake or real Christmas tree, decorate their house or balcony with pretty lights and cook up a storm. Kids believe in Santa Clause (or at least they used to, I don’t know if they still do these days) and they leave cookies out for him to eat (and carrots for the reindeers) during the night when he pops through the chimney to leave all the nice presents. Santa comes on a sleight with 9 reindeers, Rudolph being in the lead. On Christmas morning, presents are opened and staples such as coffee cake or cinnamon rolls are served for breakfast, along with a nice hot cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows.

In Canada there is also a thing called Boxing Day which is “celebrated” on December 26th. I say “celebrated” because although Boxing Day is suppose to be a day where people give boxes of presents (hence boxing) to the poor and people in service jobs, but in Canada it has become a day when stores have huge sales and people wait in line to buy things for themselves.

Belgium (and I believe the Netherlands as well)
Sinterklass (Saint-Nicholas) is celebrated on the 6th of December and children believe that Saint-Nicholas comes on a horse, therefore, traditionally they leave hay, carrots and water outside the house the morning before. Sinterklass is however different than Christmas. The Belgian Santa Claus, de Kerstman or le Pere Noel comes around on Christmas day and brings children presents which are found under the tree or in stockings which are hung on the fireplace. For breakfast, Belgian families traditionally eat a sweet bread called cougnou or cougnolle which is supposed to be in the shape of baby Jesus. So, they eat baby Jesus on Christmas day. How sweet. I’ve always had a bit of a problem with eating things that resemble live humans or animals.

Finland
So this is where Santa is believed to live, in the northern part of Finland called Korvatunturi, which is located north of the Arctic Circle. This is usually where kids send their letters to Santa. On Christmas Eve people tend to eat rice porridge and a sweet soup which is made from dried fruits, and later on they decorate a spruce tree (unlike Canada, where people decorate a tree once Halloween is over). The Finnish also have something called a “Christmas peace declaration” which is broadcasted on radio and on TV. This peace declaration is a speech by the Mayor of Turku, a Finnish city. Traditionally, people would go to Church early in the morning on Christmas day, but a new tradition makes it okay to go to church on Christmas Eve in the afternoon or late afternoon. They also have a tradition of going to the graveyards to bring a candle to the graves of loved ones. Gifts are usually brought by a family member dressed up as Santa Claus if there are little children, and if not then they are usually collected in a sack and distributed that way.

Germany
Germans apparently love to decorate their houses at Christmas. Often they will also have an “Adventskranz” which is basically a wreath of leaves with four candles. This is the celebration of Advent, the coming of Christmas which is usually the 4 weeks before Christmas. On each Sunday of Advent another candle is lit. Der Weihnachtsmann (Santa Claus) brings presents in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve after the traditional church going. The presents are normally found under the tree, and typically one family member will ring a bell and call everyone to come to the room.

Romania
Svintul Nicolae (Saint NIcholas) comes on December 6th. Children put their cleaned shoes out by a window or by the door the night before, and Saint Nicholas usually leaves some sweets in them. I remember as a child, I would always clean my shoes for hours to make sure that there were absolutely no dirt spots on them. I would then put them on the window sill in my room, and out of excitement I wouldn’t fall asleep until very late. This of course meant that my parents had to wake up in the middle of the night to put some candies in my shoes. And if you were bad, instead of sweets you get some love coal (usually wrapped in something so to not destroy the shoes). Thankfully, I never found coal in my shoes – must mean that I was a super wonderful child!

On Christmas Eve the tree goes up, usually without the children knowing. Usually I just played outside, and by the time I came in for dinner, the tree was glowing. This was always such a happy moment for me, seeing that Christmas tree. At school we would make Christmas tree decorations out of paper and my mom proudly hung those up year after year. Romanians also have a tradition of hanging edible chocolates wrapped in colourful paper on the Christmas tree. Christmas presents are put under the Christmas tree and opened on Christmas Eve. Christmas day is usually spent with the entire family, rotating whose house to destroy every year. More presents are usually given on Christmas day when extended family comes together and bring the presents which Santa left for everyone at their house. Lots of food is always served, not only at Christmas but year round.

Russia
In the days of the Soviet Union, Christmas was not celebrated much. New Year however, was very important, which is when Father Frost brought presents to the children. With the fall of Communism however, Christmas began to be once again a widely celebrated holiday. Christmas is either celebrated on December 25th or January 7th, depending on your religion. The Russian Orthodox church uses the old Julian calendar for religious celebrations, therefore some, if not most people celebrate Christmas a year after the Catholics. I’m sure tons of food is also involved.

Latvia
Latvians believe that Santa Claus brings presents each of the 12 days of Christmas – like the song. The 12 days of Christmas begins on Christmas Eve and usually the presents are put under the tree. Also, apparently the first Christmas tree was decorated in Riga, Latvia in the year 1510.

England
England opens presents on the 24th. I wonder why Canada opens theirs on the 25th – it is part of the commonwealth after all. Nothing unusual in their celebrations, much like the average Canadian one, however, one thing that I read is that England still keeps a traditional Boxing Day celebrations, wrapping small treats into boxes and giving them to however comes calling that day. I wonder if this is actually true, or if England goes shopping, just like Canada. Anyone know?

Italy
The main exchange of gifts doesn’t happen until January 6th, because this is the day that the Wise Men were believed to have reached the baby Jesus. Italy also has a character named La Befana, who brings gifts to the good and punishment to the bad. I guess this is the same as Saint-Nicholas, who brings sweets for the good and coal for the bad?

Ghana/South Africa
Christmas in Ghana is a big thing, which is usually spent visiting family and friends. Houses are decorated with paper ornaments specifically made for Christmas. Usually a tree in a courtyard or backyard is also decorated – this tree may be a mango tree, or a guava tree or even a cashew tree. The children and the younger family members usually decorate the tree outside. Christmas Eve services are widely held at churches and most people attend these on Christmas Eve. After the service there is usually a few local bands that play in the streets – I suppose it might resemble some sort of carnival, without the costumes.

On Christmas day people return to church in their finest clothes. After the service, young ones receive a gift from the church, such as imported chocolate, and are told that the gifts come from Santa (Father Christmas) – perhaps a tradition left over from the colonial days?

So, whatever your nationality, whatever date you celebrate on and whatever you do for Christmas, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas day. I hope you all spend it with your family and friends, because after all, if you’re not religious and even if you are, that’s what Christmas should be about. Material presents are nice, but family and friends are better.