Christmas Around the World

In Australia, December 25th is during their summer, so Christmas Day is a time to hit the beach. There you might see surfers dressed up like Santa and Christmas trees set up on the sand.

Christmas dinner is often made on the barbecue. And it’s said that when visiting Australia, Santa gives his reindeer a rest and has kangaroos to pull his sleigh!

The Day of the Little Candles, or Día de Velitas, is celebrated on December 7th. It marks the start of Christmas in Colombia. In the evening, family and friends get together to light colourful candles and lanterns all over the city. A wish is made for each candle that is lit. Sometimes they place them in their windows. Or even in the street to create pretty designs as they burn out. 

Christmas in Ethiopia is celebrated on January 7th instead of December 25th. People fast the day before, which means they don't eat all day. The following day they get up and go to church in the morning. Everyone wears a traditional white robe called the shamma (say "SHAM-uh").

After church it’s time to eat — people visit friends and family, and enjoy food at each stop. Traditionally, young men will play ganna (say "GONE-nah") in the afternoon. It’s like field hockey and played with a wooden ball and sticks.

You're probably wondering why a pickle? But the Christmas pickle isn’t actually a pickle. It’s a pickle ornament; usually made of blown glass. In Germany, the Christmas pickle ornament is hidden in a hard-to-spot place in the tree. The first child to find it gets a special present and good luck for the coming year.

What do you do when you have no fir or pine trees to decorate for the holidays? You use fruit trees instead! In India, families decorate banana and mango trees for Christmas.

Christmas isn’t an official holiday in Japan, but many people and businesses put up lights and trees. Young children get presents and the family will sit down for a meal of fried chicken instead of turkey.

Christmas Eve though is considered a very romantic time — like Valentine’s Day in Canada. Couples will exchange gifts and go out for fancy dinners. Restaurants are usually booked months in advance on Christmas Eve.

In Norway, there's a tradition of hiding an almond in a bowl of porridge on Christmas morning. Whoever finds the almond wins a marzipan pig! Marzipan is a type of candy. It's made from a paste of ground up almonds, sugar and either water or milk (and sometimes egg whites). Yum! 

During Christmas in the Philippines — which lasts four months! — they light up the dark with beautiful lanterns called parol (say "pah-ROL"). These star lanterns can either be made of wood and paper, or metal and a shell called capiz (say "CAH-peez"). They are a staple in Filipino holidays. 

Here’s a messy one for you. In Slovakia, the oldest man in the house throws a spoonful of loksa pudding onto the ceiling. Loksa is a pudding made from poppy seeds, honey, milk and bread. The more pudding that sticks to the ceiling, the better your luck for the coming year. 

Having a Yule log, or a nice fire in the fireplace is a common tradition in lots of places, but in the part of Spain known as Catalonia, there’s a different twist on that — the Christmas Log.

This piece of wood is decorated with a face and a hat and wrapped in a blanket. Children pretend to feed it for most of December.

Then on Christmas Eve, kids whack the log with a stick while singing a song. They remove the blanket to discover hidden candy and presents that the log is supposed to have "pooped" out! That’s why the log is called Caga Tió (say "KA-ga tee-OH") — in Spanish that means Poo Log!