TRADITION, TRADITION
It’s not always sunshine and pavlovas; festive customs are different around the world.
Somewhere, the Christmas tree is a banana palm, somewhere else roast turkey rules the table and in another land, Christmas dinner is vegetarian. Yuletide traditions are not only passed down from generation to generation, but from country to country, often in places that don’t have a Christian tradition.
Traditionally, the Christmas tree is brought into the house and decorated on Christmas Eve, which means that Christmas kicks in about 4pm, when the tree is lit for the first time and people gather to sing carols. The most famous carol, Silent Night, was sung for the first time in Austria in 1818. The Christkind (Christ Child) — a golden-haired winged baby symbolising the newborn Christ — is the one who brings presents and the Christmas tree for the children. Christmas Eve is the important day in Bulgaria — the main Christmas meal is eaten that evening. It’s generally vegetarian and dishes consist of beans, nuts, dried fruit, pastries and banitsa, or savoury bread. Straw is often put under the tablecloth, to encourage good crops for the next year. It’s traditional for the food to be left on the table until Christmas morning, as some believe their ancestors might like a snack during the night. Homes are decorated with tropical flowers and have a nativity scene as the centre of the display. These feature traditional figures as well as houses or an assortment of other animals. In some cases, the “miniatures” of Christ’s birthplace in a stable are so big they can fill the room. Other decorations include wreaths of cypress branches decorated with red coffee berries and ribbons. It’s a busy time of year; on Boxing Day there’s an important horseback parade called Tope, and the day after many towns and cities have Carnaval. It’s a time for visiting families, drinking coffee, eating cakes and singing carols, before sharing traditional foods such as muktuk (whale skin with a strip of blubber) and kiviak (auk meat, a seabird preserved in a hollowed-out seal body). This is the one night where the women are waited on by the men. Religious statues are paraded through the town or plaza, accompanied by loud drum beats and firecrackers. At the tail end of the procession is the white-bearded image representing God, who bears a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. At midnight on Christmas Eve festivities end with the Misa de Gallo, or Mass of the Rooster. On Christmas Eve children place their freshly cleaned shoes filled with straw under the tree, hoping that Santa will remove the straw and put gifts in and around the shoes. Many houses are open until the early hours of the morning with all the lights on, and children are generally allowed to go visiting their neighbours unaccompanied by their parents. Instead of a traditional Christmas tree, Christians in India decorate banana or mango trees, and Santa delivers presents to children from a horse and cart. They also light small oil-burning lamps as seasonal decorations, and decorate the churches with poinsettia flowers and candles for Midnight Mass. To Iranian Christians, Christmas is known as the Little Feast. For the first 25 days of December a great fast is observed when no meat, eggs, milk or cheese are eaten. Almost before dawn on Christmas Day, Iranians attend mass to receive communion, which breaks the fast and the feast begins with Christmas dinner — including plenty of meat. Although there’s no Santa or gift-giving, children do receive new clothes. In Italian folklore it’s an old woman, or witch, called La Befana, who brings gifts to good children on Epiphany Eve (January 5). If they haven’t been so good they’ll get a lump of coal instead. The child’s family typically leaves a small glass of wine and snack out for La Befana. Instead of a sleigh she rides a broomstick, wears a black shawl and is covered in soot because, like Santa, she shimmies down the chimney to deliver gifts. In Italy, St Nicholas, or Santa, visits children on his official birthday, December 6. Although most Japanese don’t believe in Christ, they still decorate their homes and stores with evergreens during the festive season. They also celebrate with gift-giving, and a Buddhist monk called Hoteiosho acts like Santa, leaving presents at each home for children. Christian children however, still prefer Santa and his reindeer. In Sunday schools they host a programme on Christmas Eve or Christmas night of singing, recitals and dramas about the day Jesus was born. Christmas Day is not for family, but rather spent doing nice things for others. Bell ringing has become a tradition in Switzerland, and each village competes with the next when calling people to midnight mass. After the service, families get together to share hot chocolate and ringli, which are large homemade doughnuts.