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
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