Christmas celebrations around the world

Christmas in my country is not like the others

When I was a little girl, I used to think that Christmas was celebrated the same way in all the world and that at midnight, kids and adults were going to be unwrapping gifts that Santa Claus had brought them and put under their Christmas tree. How wrong I was! There are a lot of different Christmas traditions

One day, laying down on the sofa, next to the Christmas decorations, I found a Christmas book and was there when all this magical discovery started.

At first, I found out a country where people used to celebrate with piñatas full of sweets, a whole fantasy for a kid like me. They did it for 9 nights in a row before Christmas Eve to represent Jesus’ birth. The country I’m talking about is Mexico. This tradition is similar to one in Colombia, where people gather together around the manger or nativity to sing Christmas carols, eat traditional food and pray the 9-day Christmas devotional with their family and friends.

Mangers? Of course, Christmas doesn’t exist without a manger, they are used almost in every Latin American countries, as well as Catholics’ Europeans; the manger means the representation of Jesus’ birth, that’s why Christmas is actually a Catholic celebration.

Among all Christmas traditions, I found one that never changes, no matter if you are at south or north, east or west, wherever you are you might sing Christmas carols, they have tons of different versions in any language. Every person in the world knows them and sings them. They have trespassed time and space boundaries, and people have created similar songs related to their culture, an example of this is “Rocking around the Christmas tree”, imagine to surprise everyone this Christmas, dancing tap with this classical song, it has been an American tradition since long time ago, and with help of one of our StepFlix classes, you could do it! Another tradition of Nordic countries is the masterpiece “The Nutcracker”, which has been performed thousands of times during the Holidays.

Do you remember when I told you that kids and adults were going to be opening gifts on the 24th? well, it turns out that not in all countries people do this; here in the US, Christmas is on December 25th, so presents are open that date. In other places, they don’t even know who Santa Claus is. Something that made my mind blow, even more, was the fact that not in all countries, gifts are opened on December 24th, in Spain and Italy people unwrap them on January 6th, and in Argentina, they open them on both dates. Then I can’t help thinking about what to do with the famous verse of the Colombian Christmas song called “Christmas tree blooms on the 24th”. At the end of the day I realized that Christmas music ends up talking about the own traditions of every culture; In Latin America, there is no Christmas without a party, it is almost the full month that people gather and dance, so if you are planning to go there, do not forget your merengue steps, you can follow this StepFlix class to make some memory.

Reproducir

Since December 1st people start preparing their Christmas trees and their nativities because for them it represents happiness. A lot of stories and myths are told around Christmas trees. In United States those trees are natural and are decorated with lights and even popcorn, in England sleeping soldiers are placed next to the trees, to remember their famous legend in which the Queen had told them to take care of the tree but they fell asleep, and then the elves arrived and decorated it with lights and garlands. Finally in Brazil, they have the largest Christmas tree: it measures almost 279 feet and has 3.3 million luminous Christmas figures. While in Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, United States, Brazil, Mexico, and other Latin American countries, December is a month to eat all the traditional food of the season, in Italy people fast 24 hours before Christmas Eve. Every country is different and they all have their own traditional food, some eat turkey and smoked ham, others eat eggnog, gingerbread cookies, and mashed potatoes, like in the US; in Latin America people eat tamales and in Europe, there are plenty of snacks to taste.

Christmas is a time where everything shines, cities, children’s eyes and smiles of all those who live with that holiday spirit. In Colombia there is a celebration where literally the whole country shines, it is called “Candles Day” and it is celebrated on December 7th. And not to mention other important celebrations such as the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico on December 12th, Innocents day on December 28th, and the famous January 6th in Spain and France, when the arrival of the Kings is celebrated, who bring gifts and leave them inside people’s shoes; it is celebrated with horseback riding and with the famous King’s bagel, which is also consumed in Mexico, only there, people hide a doll inside the bagel, which represents when Jose and María had to hide Jesus.

In conclusion, no matter where you are, Christmas is a time of union, peace, and love. It is a time of joy and goodwill. It is time to gather with family and friends and pay special attention to kids. It is a shopping time, where you can give without expecting to receive anything in return, it is a time of surprises and laughs; It’s time to eat sweets and cook delicious meals … Christmas is synonym of magic and happiness … What joy is Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all!