Different Christmas Customs in Different Parts of the World

Christmas is not just turkey dinner and Santa Claus climbing the chimney, when the U.S. version Christmas swept the whole China, so let's take a look at other countries and how they doing in Christmas...

When we think of Christmas, we think of eating turkey, exchanging gifts, red-and-white-clad fat men climbing down chimneys, and 25 December. But that's not the case everywhere. Here are a few arbitrarily selected examples.

AUSTRALIA: Christmas Flavors on Summer Beach

Celebrated: 25 December

Father Christmas? Yes, but more prone to wearing sunglasses and fur-trimmed red shorts

Food: A vast roast turkey is not so appealing in 40°C heat, but some still go for it. Others serve it cold. Prawns are also popular.

Notes: A summer Yuletide feels a bit back-to-front for us Northern Hemisphere chauvinists, but Christmas Day on Bondi Beach is something to behold. Otherwise, it is much like a British or American Christmas – gifts, food, family, telly, booze and arguments all make their appearances.

ETHIOPIA:Very unique Christmas Food with its Own National Characteristics

Celebrated: 7 January

Gifts? No

Father Christmas? No

Food: Injera, a local sourdough pancake bread, with rich stews and meats. No turkeys.

Notes: The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is closely related to the Coptic Church, and still uses the Julian calendar, rather than the Gregorian as followed in the West. Hence their Christmas – or “Ganna” - falling 13 days later. 12 days after Ganna, they celebrate Christ's birth in a three-day festival called Timkat.

AMERICA: Standard Christmas?

Celebrated: 25 December

Gifts? Yes

Father Christmas? Santa Claus, technically; while the British Father Christmas is related to Pere Noel（French Santa Claus）, Santa Claus comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas（Dutch Santa Claus）. They've become interchangeable over time, though.

Food: Lots of it, predictably. Ham or beef is more common than turkey, as the bird (native to the United States) is the traditional centrepiece at Thanksgiving, a month earlier, but there is a wide variety.

Notes: Turkeys, the red-and-white Santa Claus, and many of the modern “traditions” of British Christmas are directly taken from our cross-Atlantic cousins. Perhaps ironically, the pilgrims who colonised America tried to ban the celebration altogether in 17th-century Massachusetts.

BRITAIN: Christmas + Work + New Year = Holiday Sandwich

Celebrated: 25 December, obviously

Gifts? Yes

Father Christmas? Yes, although (see above) we have moved away from the green-cloaked “spirit of bonhomie” that Dickens would understand, to the red-and-white gift-bringer Santa Claus.

Food: Turkey! Lots of turkey. Although before the big American bird became commonplace over here, a goose was traditional (hence the carol saying “Christmas is coming, and the goose is getting fat”). Trimmings vary from household to household, although roast potatoes and Brussels sprouts are regular features, and the author of this piece would like to make it clear that Christmas dinner without bread sauce is just a warmed-up dead bird.

Notes: Christmas trees, carol singing, the Salvation Army, eating leftovers for a week, Boxing Day football, cold damp weather, the Queen's Speech, that infuriating bit between Christmas and New Year where you have to go back to work for three pointless days; it's British Christmas.

GERMANY: Gluttonous Feast

Celebrated: 25 December (although they also celebrate St Nicholas's Day on 6 December)

Gifts: Yes – in a shoe, candy for good children, twigs for bad, on St Nicholas's Day

Father Christmas? No, St Nicholas; although as with so many places, the British/American tradition has taken hold strongly through films and adverts, so the red-and-white image is common.

Food: Hearty fare, as you might expect. Christmas Eve in Germany is called “Dickbauch”, or “fat stomach”, as tradition has it that those who go to bed hungry that night are tormented by demons as they sleep, so the big meal is late that evening.

Notes: Christmas trees first arose in Germany, and go up on 23 December – not a day before. They are decorated with sweets. German Christmas markets, which go up from the end of November, are a famous tradition, selling various oddments, meats and treats.

FRANCE: Delicous Food on the Christmas Eve

Celebrated: 25 December

Gifts? Yes, although adults exchange them on New Years' Day

Father Christmas? Oui, mais en France il s'appel “Père Noël”. He visits on 6 December, bringing small gifts, and again on Christmas Eve.

Food: Reveillon, the big Christmas meal, is held late on Christmas Eve and carries on past midnight (hence the name, which roughly means“waking meal”). Goose or turkey is common, but the French being the French they also get some lobster and foie gras in there.

Notes: The Nativity is a big deal in France (although not as big as in Catalonia; see below) and every home will display a small scene somewhere.

RUSSIA: Santa Claus? Christmas Girl?

Celebrated: 7 January (the Russian Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar)

Gifts? Yes

Father Christmas? Not exactly; the rather more stern-sounding Grandfather Frost (“Ded Moroz”) and his helper, Snegurochka, split the duties. The exact relationship between Snegurochka and Grandfather Frost is ill defined. Some say she is his granddaughter. Some say....well, never mind. St Nicholas is a famous figure too.

Food: Goose, fish and pork are all served, together with various bean and cabbage stews

Notes: During the Soviet period, Christmas was not a holiday in Russia. When we think of Christmas, we think of eating turkey, exchanging gifts, red-and-white-clad fat men climbing down chimneys, and 25 December. But that's not the case everywhere. Here are a few arbitrarily selected examples.

* Original address of this China gift post: China Gift and Fine Arts & Crafts in China

The Best Christmas Gift for Men: Do not Let Him Accompany you During Shopping

Did you know that Christmas shopping is even worse for our health than we previously thought?

Perhaps it's the added stress this year - and the thought ofour credit cards being refused at the tills --- but, according to aninternet retail survey, the incidence of hypertension during thefestive shopping season is on the up.

Christmas shopping increased blood pressure to dangerous levels in 50 percent of shoppers. This can lead to hypertension, which can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and kidney problems. Even low levels of hypertension are linked with migraines, panic attacks and osteoporosis. Heart rates increased by an average of 10 percent during Christmas shopping.

In the study of 16 men and 16 women, men had the worst spikes in heart rate during a 90-minute spree.

Samuel Thompson, 30 years old:" I had to buy five items and had an hour and a half to buy them. No fun no sweet--or so I thought."

"Normally, I know exactly what I want to get and do it as quick as possible. But in this test you were demand to make on-the-spot decisions, which makes it more stressful."

"Lack of time and the crowds were the biggest pressure points. I got frustrated by other people slowing me down by stopping to chat in the street. And I could feel myself sweating in queues. Everything took longer than planned."

Dr Turner's verdict:" Sam's heart rate was good at the start but it had almost doubled by the end. Combined with his hiked systolic blood pressure--up by nearly 15 per cent--it could put him in line for stroke. Systolic blood pressure relates to the pumping out of blood by the heart."

Men suffer twice as much as women, apparently, and are,therefore, in greater danger of dying on the High Street in the coming weeks.

Remember, a husband is for life and not just for Christmas.

* Original address of this China gift post: China Gift and Fine Arts & Crafts in China

Unique Tips on Avoiding Thanksgiving Dinner Disasters

When prepare the sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner for your guests, haste makes waste is often inevitable, do not be panic! Here are some unique tips on avoid mistakes for you. Only just for your unsuspecting guests it is a bit ... ... In short, Happy Thanksgiving!

Don't panic and there's practically no Turkey day fiasco that can't be fixed. Really! You'll need: Aluminum foil, a sieve, flour or cornstarch, chicken broth, a casserole dish, cheese grater. Butter, cheese and cans of whipped cream or heavy cream for whipping. Optional: salt, soy sauce, fortified wine, port, or bourbon and chicken stock.

Tip 1.

Got to thaw your Turkey. Put it still wrapped in the sink tub and covered with cold water. Replace the water every half hour. It will take about thirty minutes per pound to thaw completely.

Advice: You did thaw the bird but forgot to put it in the oven in time for dinner? Simply cut it into pieces, rub them with oil, pan-fry until the skin is crisp and then bake them in 350 degrees for about an hour.

Tip 2.

Speed up a slow cooking bird by turning up the oven to 450 degrees but no higher. Cover with foil to avoid burning the skin. Uncover the bird ten minutes before taking it out of the oven.

Advice: Don't worry if you forgot to take giblet packet out of the turkey. Today's packaging as he proved: it won't harm the bird.

Tip 3.

Smooth the lumpy gravy by putting it into a sieve. They can too thin gravy by dissolving a teaspoon of cornstarch flour and to a few tablespoons of cold water, then slowly adding it into simmering gravy. Then thick gravy with some water or chicken broth.

Advice: Spice up bland gravy with salt, soy sauce, pepper, chicken stock and/or a dash of fortified wine port, or bourbon.

Are you be more easy to some extent? haha...Happy Thanksgiving!

* Original address of this China gift post: China Gift and Fine Arts & Crafts in China

Happy ThanksGiving Day!

Happy ThanksGiving Day !

Today is the annual Thanksgiving Day, and conceives a thanksgiving heart oftentimes will make everyone in the world become more happy and more lucky (is that true? Yes!), so let thanksgiving for all we have owned today! and Krista here wish all of you Happy Thanksgiving Day and good sorts alaways well!

* Original address of this China gift post: China Gift and Fine Arts & Crafts in China

Women's Hair Ornaments and Their Social Connotations in Old China (up)

Hair ornaments such as hair pins, hair clasps and crowns were everyday embellishments of women in old China. During the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911), women's hair ornaments expressed traditional Chinese thought and culture in exquisite, sophisticated techniques.


The patterns, craftsmanship, materials and number of hair ornaments a woman wore signified her social rank. Feudal etiquette defined the style of hair ornaments women wore on formal occasions, such as weddings or court ceremonies.

The generic term for hairpins and hair clasps is chignon(in Chinese pronunciation ji). A one bar chignon keeps coiled hair in place, and a two bar chignon is a feature of the hairstyle itself. Before the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) both Chinese men and women wore their hair in a coiled bun with a chignon to keep it in place.

The fashionable designs and diverse patterns of these ornaments made them a favorite ornament with women of all social strata.

Fashioned in materials that included jade, gold, silver, ivory, bronze and carved wood, the style, materials and craftsmanship of these hair ornaments reflected both social status and Chinese ethnic culture.

(not finished to be continue...)

* Original address of this China gift post: China Gift and Fine Arts & Crafts in China

Time-Honored Chinese Paper Cutting Art (II)

Chinese paper-cut work: Fu

Paper-cut is a type of cutting art, as well as the most popular folk art in China, paper-cut can give people visual space through feelings and artistic enjoyment, whose carrier can be paper, gold foil, bark, leaves, cloth, skin, leather and other sheet-like materials.

Chinese paper-cut work: Have a surplus every year

* History of Chinese pape-cut: The folk paper-cut handicraft in China has its own process of formation and development, the great invention of paper in China was finished in the Western Han Dynasty in the BC era (6th century BC), before this time there is no base for the production of paper-cut art, but at that time people applied with flake materials, and through carving techniques to make handicrafts, but these art forms has been popular before the invention of paper, namely at that time with techniques of carving, engraving, picking and cutting people were able to applied to cut patterns on gold foils, leather, silk fabric and even in leaves…

Chinese paper-cut work: Cattle

The earliest China's artwork of paper-cut are two anthocephalus flower paper-cuts, which were discovered by Chinese archaeologists in tombs of ancient north Astana near Gaochang ruins in China Xinjiang Turpan Basin in 1967, these two paper-cuts are both made of linen paper, and all are folded fete paper-cuts, and the discovery has provided practical evidence for the formation of Chinese paper-cut.

(not finished to be continue...)