The Global Christmas A-Z

With a week to go until families around Great Britain tuck into their turkeys and feign happiness at being given yet another book they know they won’t ever have time to read, it seems appropriate that I do a Christmas themed blog post and what better way to do it than to explore Christmas traditions around the world. It seems amazing that there are so many different ways, varying from country to country, to celebrate an event in a global religion.

Every culture and country has their own twist on the Christmas traditions from what they eat and drink to what presents they give their children and even what date they celebrate. To us in Britain, with our stiff traditions of crackers, children’s films and Christmas Pudding, some country’s variations seem frankly absurd. Take Japan for example where it is traditional for families to eat KFC and Taiwan where 25th December is actually celebrated as Constitution Day.

Whether it is celebrated weirdly or wonderfully, Christmas certainly has different connotations for people across the world. To us, celebrating Christmas differently would seem crazy, unnatural but across the world there are probably quite a few people wondering what mulled wine is, asking what all the business with putting a tree inside a house is all about and why on earth, why, why, why do we think an aging, overweight, bearded fellow goes round all our houses during the night to deliver presents when we’re asleep. Try explaining that one!

A – Antipodean

Those folks down under in Australia share many of the same traditions as the British when it comes to Christmas, however in a totally different climate! Aussies are famous for their Christmas dinners down on the beach. Special foods include Pavlova which the New Zealanders claim ownership of.

B – Bethlehem

The city in West Bank in Israel where Jesus Christ was born. Every one knows the story of course, about Mary and Joseph on a donkey traveling the long journey from Nazareth. Bethlehem today has a population of around 25,000, 30% of which are Christian.

C – Crackers

A tradition of the UK and Commonwealth countries supposedly invented by Thomas Smith in the 1840s. Famous for their perennially awful jokes, crackers as their name suggests give a small bang or snapping sound when pulled produced by the effect of friction on a chemically impregnated card strip.

D – Day Off

Christmas is usually accompanied by a day off from work in most countries however there are exceptions most notably China and Taiwan.

E – El Nino Dios

‘The God Child’, as it is translated, is the Latin American name for Father Christmas.

F – Father Christmas

… is not the same as Santa Claus! Although the names are used interchangeably in the US and UK nowadays, Father Christmas was never associated with gift-bringing or children and his origin is in English Folklore.

G – Gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar! 

‘Merry Christmas’ in Faeronese. Quite a mouthful I’d imagine when stuffing your mouth with turkey!

H – Herod

Famously the king that attempted to hunt down the baby Jesus by having all new-borns in the surrounding area killed. Always played by an evil-looking kid in the school nativity play.

I – Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah

How to say ‘Merry Christmas’ in Iraqi Arabic.

J – Jokes

Eliciting groans and moans from all generations, terrible jokes have become a big part of the family Christmas Day dinner. My best one? What did the fish say when it swam into a wall? Dam. Hilarious, right!? Oh dear…

K- Koine Greek

The original language of Matthew’s Gospel which details the whole nativity.

L – Las Posadas

A Spanish 9 day celebration now more commonly seen in Central America. Basically, families reenact the ‘No room in the Inn’ scene from the Nativity over nine nights with their neighbours.

M – Mrs Claus

The better-half of Santa has no precedent in folklore unlike her husband and was created in 1849 by writer James Rees. Since then, Mrs Claus has appeared in American TV, books and other media.

N – NORAD

North American Aerospace Defense Command. What do they have to do with Christmas? Well, every year on Christmas Eve ever since 1955 they have been tracking Santa across the world as he delivers his presents to children. Just to make sure he doesn’t miss anyone out y’know…

O – Oranges

Ever find an orange in your stocking on Christmas morning? Supposedly it is to represent the lump of gold that St Nicholas left for the girls, but others believe that it just means that you have been good that year.

P – Panettone

A symbol of the city of Milan, Panettone is a sweet bread eaten in celebration of Christmas in countries ranging from Brazil to Switzerland. In South America it is actually a Christmas dinner staple.

Q – Queen Christmas Message

Tradition in the Commonwealth that began in 1932 with King George V and is now broadcast on TV and on the internet. Other monarchies have copied the format for their own nations around the world.

R – Reindeer

The animals that transport Santa Claus across the world so he can deliver his presents. The reindeer are based on Clement C. Moore’s 1823 poem ‘A Visit from St Nicholas’ which is better known as the ‘The Night Before Christmas’.

S – St. Nicholas

The obvious choice would have been Santa Claus but of course St Nick and Mr Claus are really the same thing. St Nicholas of Myra (now in Turkey) is the primary inspiration of the US Santa Claus (which comes from the Dutch ‘Sinterklass’) and the UK Father Christmas. He lived from 270-343 AD.

T – Tamales

Whilst the UK and many other countries have turkey at the centre of their Christmas food binge, some Mexicans have tamales to celebrate the Christmas season. Not to be confused with the city in Ghana of course…

U – Urban Myths

Coca-Cola changed the colour of Santa’s clothes to red. Heard that one before? Well, sorry to disappoint but it’s an urban myth. The red colours are thought to derive from the original St Nicholas who was a bishop and thus had red and white as the traditional colours of his robes. However Coca Cola are credited with cementing the red image of Santa as they have continuously used him in advertising campaigns since 1930.

V – Vertep

A portable puppet theatre that is common in the culture of East Slavs that tells the story of the nativity. The meaning of the word is ‘secret place’ in reference to the site of the birth of Christ.

W – Wham!

The third best selling Christmas song of all time is Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’. Wikipedia claims that it was originally written for Easter but changed to Christmas to boost sales. Bit of an obvious marketing decision that one…

X – Xmas

A common abbreviation of the word ‘Christmas’. It is a misconception that the use of ‘Xmas’ is an attempt to secularise Christmas and actually the ‘X’ comes from the Greek letter ‘Chi’ which is the first letter of the Greek word for ‘Christ’.

Y – Yule

A winter festival that was originally celebrated by German people as a pagan festival but has later been absorbed into Christmas.

Z – Zwarte Piet

A companion of St Nicholas in the legends of Belgium and the Netherlands. It is a controversial tradition as it involves revelers blackening their faces and this year four protesters were arrested for wearing ‘Zwarte Piet is racist’ T-shirts.

So that’s my rather alternative A-Z of Christmas across the world. Wherever you celebrate, whatever you do, Merry Christmas to you!