Global Festivities: How The World Celebrates Christmas and New Year

The time of Christmas and New Year is celebrated with joy and enthusiasm in every part of the world, each adding their own culture to the celebrations. Be it religious functions or parties, these holidays bring people together to uphold traditions, reflect on the past year, and welcome new beginnings. 

  In Europe, Christmas is often all about family and tradition. Germans light advent candles and exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, while Italians enjoy elaborate feasts and honor La Befana, a folklore figure who delivers gifts on January 6th. Cozy celebrations with warm drinks and visiting Santa Claus, or "Jultomten," a Santa-like figure who spreads cheer and brings gifts to children in Nordic countries. These traditions reflect the warmth and togetherness at the heart of the holiday season.

     In other parts of the world, Christmas and New Year's celebrations reflect a vibrant mix of cultural identity and shared joy. Christmas has taken on a singular character in Japan, with families indulging in KFC dinners and admiring dazzling light displays that brighten the winter nights. New Years, on the other hand, is a more significant cultural event, especially with traditions such as shrine visits and viewings of the first sunrise for the year as a metaphor of renewal and hope. In the Philippines, Christmas is a months-long season of festivities capped by Simbang Gabi or a series of early morning masses leading up to Noche Buena, a bountiful feast shared with loved ones. These holidays, in the greater world, are less about the customs themselves than the common themes of reflection, renewal, and celebration that bind people across their traditions.