Other Celebrating Around the World

[Yhmera]

As Christmas grows closer I can't help but to ask, how does everyone celebrate the yuletide season? Do you even celebrate any of the holidays around this time of year? I would love to hear what everyone's traditions are!

As for me and mine, we have a hodgepodge of yearly traditions. I am in the United States but most of my traditions hale for other parts of the world.

First is cooking and storytelling. Every year we make a special candy wreath that goes in the center of the table. In the center of the wreath we place a Yule candle. And every night for the 24 days leading up to Christmas we light the candle and tell stories about family and older traditions that the older generations use to do. To keep the memory and understanding of why we celebrate. And where our current traditions originated from.

Next, although we decorate a Christmas tree. We also place a bundle of wheat, wrapped with a ribbon, in a corner of the dining room. I don't fully understand this one. It was something my great-grandma did and her stories have been lost. She would also kept a candle that looked like a shoe on the front porch.

Finally, we don't open all our gifts on Christmas. Starting 7 days before the Yule, This year it's Dec 20th, we start opening one gift a night. And each time has a theme. One night its clothing. another night it has to be handmade. And so on. They are usually small things until Yule, then we get one big gift. You don't get a gift from everyone. Just a single gift from one person each night. So we normally draw names for all 7 nights and Yule day and make a chart. It's lots of fun.



So, now your turn. What and how do you celebrate the season?​

 

[Savitar]

We don't do anything particularly special at my house. We decorate the tree. Hang a couple of stockings. There's always lights on the outside. Christmas Day we usually have a big family dinner. And everyone wakes up early to rip into presents.

 

[Acheron]

We mostly cook. I mean yeah, we put up a tree and lights and stuff. But at my place, it's not Christmas unless we cooked something like 100 batches of cookies. Chocolate covered toffee, walnut brittle.

 

[AnnJam]

On St. Nicholas Day (Dec 6th) you leave a slipper or shoe outside your door for St. Nicholas and in the morning if you find coal in it that gives you till Christmas eve to smarten up and behave so you don't get coal for Christmas. If you get a chocolate and other treats you're okay!

Second advent is when we put up the Christmas tree and we always buy real ones.

Christmas Eve is basically Christmas Day for my family (and is spent with my mom's side of the family), we go to church (only time I do I'm no longer religious but my mother and other family are, so out of respect I go), then everyone gathers at the hosts home and we have a huge Christmas dinner.

After dinner the kids get to open one gift of their choice under the tree.

Every child gets a Bunte Teller, a German tradition where you fill a plate with colourful treats (cookies, chocolates, marzipan and so on). Edit: and every child has a special plate just for them, like I have a plate that is 32 years old I've had since I was born!

Christmas Day the immediate family gathers we have sweet crapes (with strawberries, blueberries and whip cream) for breakfast. Then we sit together to open our gifts after breakfast. We all help to clean up after gifts are opened. Then we'd travel to all our family members homes to exchange gifts and greetings and spend time together.

Boxing day is with my father's side of the family, which is a large family, and we all gather at the hosts home. Everyone brings something potluck style (the host usually does the bigger staple items) and we have a huge lunch/dinner together and hangout, play game, go sledding or skating, or get whipped around on a sled by the quad! XD And its like a big years end party gathering.

New Years eve is usually a small affair with a few friends, we smoke some weed, drink and play board games into the night! XD

Oh and usually sometime before Christmas I host FRIENDMAS! With my friends we do a gift exchange, smoke weed, get drunk, play board games, and just hang and party together.

 

[Yhmera]

Sounds amazing! thank you for sharing AnnJam !

 

[AnnJam]

Yhmera Thanks it usually is a lot of fun . . . not so much this year . . . but normally! Christmas is THE BIG DEAL HOLIDAY for my family, we don't really have many traditions for any other. So it's ALL OUT for December! XD

 

[Dr Laudanum]

Interesting thread! It's great to learn more about different cultures and traditions.

The Christmas' season starts around the end of October/beginning of November, when people start getting ready for the holidays. People settle in the Christmas tree and the other decorations around that time, but here at home we used to do it on 8th December, because it is a national holiday (a religious holiday that is not connected with Christmas). We don't do it anymore because cats, Christmas trees and decorations are not a good combination (^-^')

On the 24th December, Christmas' Eve, families usually gather around and have a big dinner. Our family is small and we don't meet distant family members as regularly as we did when I was younger anymore, so I often spend Christmas with my parents only.
In my country, gastronomy is a big thing, and it's the high point of many holidays. On Christmas' Eve we always eat codfish with boiled potatoes and vegetables. Depending on different parts of the country, I have seen the codfish being cooked differently, but the main dish always includes codfish (we usually joke that the biggest catastrophe here is a Christmas without codfish XD). In my region, before the codfish, we eat boiled octopus with rice and/or potatoes and the way we cook it is kind of ritualistic, following religious traditions. There are other traditional foods that we cook around that time, such as rabanadas (something similar to French toast), aletria (a sweet based on pasta, milk and cinnamon), bolo rei ("king's cake", literally translated, a cake make of caramelised fruits), pão de ló ("ló's bread", similar to the Japanese Castella), mexidos ("scrambled", not eggs, but rather a mixture of bread, Port wine, honey and raisins and variated nuts - it has such a disgusting appearance, but it tastes so good and it is particularly from my region), dry nuts, sweet rice (similar to aletria, but with rice), sonhos ("dreams", fluffy fried balls of flour, butter, eggs, sugar and lemon zest - they are similar to a Turkish dish called "lokma"), etc. Wine is a big tradition here as well, and therefore we often drink Port wine after the Christmas' Eve dinner.
After the dinner, we go to church in order to attend a mass that starts at midnight. We call it "The Rooster Mass", literally translating. When I was younger my mother and I were part of the church's choir and we used to arrive a bit earlier, in order to rehearsal one last time before that mass in specific.
Then we come back home, open the presents and the rest of the night is often spent playing a card game that it's called "Swedish Lady" or Monopoly. My mum used to say that Spanish people celebrate Christmas in a better way, because, in some regions, they open the gifts on 6th January, on the Twelfth Night (that we call "Dia de Reis" - Day of the Kings), because of that was when the Three Wise Men gave Jesus their presents.
We don't tidy things up after dinner: we leave them on top of the table, for religious reasons as well.

Christmas' Day is very normal looking, and, in my opinion, less magical. We often wake up late. Lunch consists of roasted turkey, but other parts of the country cook other things. With the leftovers of the codfish and vegetables we cook a dish called roupa velha ("old clothes"), that's basically the codfish and the vegetables sauteed with vinegar. The sweets and usual wine are the same. The rest of the day is spent at home with family, often either watching films, playing that card game I mentioned and/or Monopoly or doing other family related activities.

In New Year's Eve and in New Year's day we eat the same as we eat during Christmas' Eve and Christmas Day, respectively. However, as the bells ring 12 times before the New Year, at each ringing, we eat a raisin, symbolising the 12 months of the year. After that, we go to the balconies and make a lot of noise, often with the pot's lids, in order to kick out of home the previous year. Some people also wear blue underwear during that time in order to bring good luck for the new year (o.O) Some people drink champagne, but it's more usual to see people drinking Port wine as well. Many spend the night outside partying, but my family likes to stay at home together. There are fireworks and lots of music and entertainment outside.

But that's not the end of the holiday season. In fact, it only ends on 6th January, on the Twelfth Night. Between the New Year and that day, people gather together and go around town, knocking on people's doors and singing the "Janeiras". They are often paid them afterwards. Taking out Christmas decorations after that day is often considered bad luck here.

Christmas here is really a big thing, often surrounded by tradition, and each region has a slightly different way of celebrating it, which reflects their traditions as well. It is rooted in religion a lot and, despite not being that much a religious person, I enjoy the whole rustic and traditional atmosphere it gives to our holidays.

 

[Yhmera]

I do midnight mass as well. ^^