Christmas Traditions Worldwide

Christmas is a holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, and it is one of the most beloved holidays across the globe. There are many different ways people celebrate this holiday. Almost every culture has a different tradition.

America's way of celebrating Christmas is by decorating in and outside of our homes with lights, Christmas trees, statues of Santa Claus, stockings, and in Christian homes they have nativity sets of the birth of Jesus Christ. A big tradition in America is to leave a glass of milk, and a few cookies, and even sometimes carrots for Santa Claus and his reindeers on Christmas Eve. Towns and cities also decorate just like most Americans do with their homes.

The United Kingdom is similar, sharing the tradition of decorating homes and towns and cities with lights and Christmas trees, but they also have many differences. For Christmas dinner, most families will pop Christmas crackers before eating dinner. 12 days after Christmas, people in the United Kingdom take down their decorations, because if done anytime before or after, they believe you will have bad luck for the next year.

China's small population of Christians call Christmas Sheng Dan Jieh, or Holy Birth Festival. They decorate their homes with evergreen plants, posters, bright paper chains, and a Christmas tree, which they call a Tree of Light, adorned with paper lanterns, flowers, and red paper chains that symbolize happiness.

Germany is a lot different than all the other countries. On December 5th, it's St. Nicholas day. On this day children in Germany go to meet Santa Claus, but in Germany, Santa wears a big tall red hat with a cross on it and a red silky sweater over white undergarments. The night of St. Nicholas is Krampus Nacht (Night), where a man dressed up as Krampus, who is the opposite of Santa, walks the streets.

The traditional Christmas food in South America is very different than what we're used to in North America. They have a bunch of different foods, ranging from pan dulce (a vanilla with nuts, almonds, raisins, chocolate chips, and dried fruits) to sweet guava (a very sweet fruit). In South America, St. Nicholas wears sandals. On the night of Christmas, South Americans shoot fireworks to celebrate even more.

Every country has its own traditions and they are all very unique and different from each other. Christmas is personal my favorite holiday, and I love learning how people around the globe celebrate it differently.