On the sixth day of Patmas, I give to you...6 Christmas
Customs from Around the World!
Yup, that's right...its the 6th day of Patmas, and that
means its time to learn about the world around you! This is a long standing and time honored
tradition of Patmas! In the past, I've
introduced you to the Christmas customs from China, Germany, Italy, Russia, Mexico, Serbia,
Bosnia, and Montenegro, Brazil, Holland, Greece, Iraq, Czechoslovakia, the
British Isles, Hawaii, Japan, Spain, France, Egypt, and Iceland (which was an
awesome one...definitely go back to last year's post to take a look if you
haven't read it already).
I'm starting to run out of interesting places to check
out! However, I'm sure this year's post
will be as entertaining and educational as ever! This year we'll be learning about Christmas
in Canada,
Australia, India,
Greenland, Sweden, and South
Africa!
Let's take a look!
Canada
You know, South Park
already covered this one. Check it
out:
In Quebec they
display Crèches or nativity scenes in their homes as the Christmas decorations.
After attending midnight mass,
families may be served tourtiere or pork pie. Another favorite food is
Boulettes or small meatballs. A Christmas banquet is called a reveillon.
Mummering is a tradition which takes place in the provinces
of Newfoundland and Nova
Scotia, more commonly in small towns and villages
rather than large towns and city's. People dress up in costumes and knock on
someone's door and say in a disguised voice, "Are there any Mummers in the
night?" or "Any mummers 'loud in?'", meaning 'are mummers
allowed in the house?' Then they sing and dance and have Christmas cake and a
cup of something nice before moving on to the next house. In some places, if
the host does not guess who the Mummers are, the host must join the Mummers in
their merry-making. Going Mummering is a fun Christmas season activity for
adults. Mummers usually come out between December 26th and January 6th (The 12
Days of Christmas). However, some come out only before Christmas Day. In some
places Mummering is now banned because people used it as an excuse for begging.
"Sinck Tuck" is a festival started by the Inuit
that is celebrated in some provinces of Canada.
This celebration consists of dancing and gift exchanging.
Labrador City
in Newfoundland holds a Christmas
Light-up Contest each year. People dress the outside of their houses up with
lights and often have big ice sculptures in their front gardens! They have no
trouble finding enough snow or ice, because Labrador
City has about 12-14 Feet of snow
every year!
At the end of the Christmas season, January 6th, people in
the province of Quebec
have a celebration called "La Fete du Roi" They bake a cake and place
a bean in the middle. Whoever is the lucky discoverer of the bean, gets to be
the king or queen, according to tradition. This is similar to a tradition in Spain.
Australia
Australians hang wreaths on their front doors and sometimes
go out Christmas carol singing on Christmas eve. People also decorate their
houses and gardens with Christmas Trees and Christmas lights. Neighbors
sometimes have little competitions as to who has got the best light display. Australians
also decorate their houses with bunches of 'Christmas Bush', a native
Australian tree with small green leaves and cream colored flowers. In summer
the flowers turn a deep shiny red over a period of weeks (generally by the week
of Christmas in Sydney).
In each State capital city there is a large Carols by
Candlelight service. Famous Australian singers help to sing the carols. These
carol services, held in different cities, are broadcast on TV across Australia.
There are also huge Christmas pageants in each state capital city, that are
also broadcast across the country. Most towns and cities have festivals and
parades. In some places, there is a fireworks display at the local park.
When he gets to Australia,
Santa gives the reindeer a rest and uses kangaroos or 'six white boomers' (a
popular Australian Christmas song!). He also changes his clothes for less 'hot'
ones!
Most families try to be home together for Christmas and the
main meal is eaten at lunch time. Most people now have a cold Christmas dinner,
or a barbecue with seafood such as prawns and lobsters along with the
'traditional english' food. On Christmas Eve, fish-markets are often full of
people queuing to buy their fresh seafood for Christmas day.
Compared to other religious festivals, Christmas is quite a
small festival in India India India
One of the largest Indian Christian Communities is in Bombay Bombay
Many different languages are spoken in India
Instead of having traditional Christmas Trees, a banana or
mango tree is decorated (or whatever tree people can find to decorate!).
Sometimes people use mango leaves to decorate their homes. In Southern India ,
Christians often put small oil burning clay lamps on the flat roofs of their
homes to show their neighbors that Jesus is the light of the world.
In India
Greenland
In the villages of Polar Inuits, families like to visit each
other and have parties. They drink coffee and eat cakes and exchange brightly
wrapped parcels. Traditional presents are model sledges, a pairs of polished
walrus tusks, or sealskin mitts. Everyone in the village gets a gift and
children go from house to house, singing songs.
Christmas Trees have to be imported, because no trees grow
as far north as Greenland . The trees are often imported
from Denmark Iceland Denmark
Another traditional and popular decoration is to put an
illuminated star in windows. There are stars in most homes and in all public
buildings. Because Greenland is so far north, and within
the Arctic Circle , during the winter the sun never
rises! (You might get a brief glimpse over the southern mountains, but that's
it!) So the stars help to bring some light.
There are some rather unusual foods eaten at Christmas time
in Greenland . 'Mattak' is whale skin with a strip of
blubber inside. It is supposed to taste like fresh coconut, but is often too
tough to chew and is usually swallowed. Another Christmas food is 'kiviak'.
This is the raw flesh of little auks (a type of arctic bird) which have been
buried whole in sealskin for several months until they have reached an advanced
stage of decomposition! Although it sounds strange, it is a delicacy in Greenland .
It is traditional on Christmas night that the men look after
the women, serving their food and coffee and stirring the meal for them. Games
follow the Christmas meal, including one in which an object is passed from hand
to hand round a long table under the cloth. It is supposed to be repulsive:
round, clammy and rough in texture; such as a frozen egg, wrapped in strips of
wet fox fur!
As a bonus...New Year's Eve is celebrated twice in Greenland !
At 8.00pm , they celebrate that the
new year has reached Denmark midnight it's the new year in Greenland !
At both celebrations, people like to let off lots of fireworks and rockets!
Around Christmas time in Sweden St. Lucia Sweden St Lucia St Lucia Rome
December 13th was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day
of the year, in the old 'Julian' Calendar and a pagan festival of lights in Sweden St. Lucia St.
Lucia
The crown is made of Lingonberry branches which are
evergreen and symbolise new life in winter. Schools normally have their own St.
Lucia St. Lucia St
Lucia
Christmas Eve is also very important in Sweden
This is often a 'julbord' which is a buffet, eaten at
lunchtime. Cold fish is important on the julbord. There is often herring
(served in many different ways), gravlax (salmon which has been cured in sugar,
salt and dill) and smoked salmon.
Other dishes on the julbord might include cold meats
including turkey, roast beef and 'julskinka' (a Christmas ham); cheeses, liver
pate, salads, pickles and different types of bread and butter (or mayonnaise).
There will also be warm savoury foods including meatballs, 'prinskorv'
(sausages), 'koldomar' (meat stuffed cabbage rolls), jellied pigs' feet,
lutfisk (a dried cod served with a thick white sauce) and 'revbenspjäll'
(oven-roasted pork ribs). Vegetables such as potatoes and red cabbage will also
be served. Another potato dish is 'Janssons Frestelse' (matchstick potatoes
layered with cream, onion and anchovies that is baked to a golden brown. There's
also 'dopp i grytan' which is bread that is dipped in the broth and juices that
are left over after boiling the ham.
Presents are normally exchanged on Christmas Eve. People
often go to Church early on Christmas morning. Families sometimes have goats
made of straw in the house to guard the Christmas Tree! Straw is used as a
decoration in homes, to remind them that Jesus was born in a manger. Christmas
Tree decorations that are made of straw are also very popular.
In Sweden Norway
In honor of Official Friend of the Blog, Chaz, I wanted to
close looking at how Christmas is celebrated in South
Africa
Because South Africa Christmas
morning Church
Traditional 'fir' Christmas trees are popular and children
leave a stocking out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.
The Christmas meal is either turkey (or duck), roast beef,
mince pies or suckling pig with yellow rice & raisins and vegetables,
followed by Christmas Pudding or a traditional South African desert called
Malva Pudding (sometimes also called Lekker Pudding) - get the recipe. People
also like to pull Christmas Crackers! The meal is often eaten outside in the
summer sun! If it's really hot they might even have a barbecue or 'braai'.
In Afrikaans (one the languages spoken in South
Africa
Santa Claus is also known as Sinterklaas & Kersvader.
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