It’s Christmas!!!!
Yes, it’s that time of year again, when everyone celebrates the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ / goes mad buying stuff they don’t really need for people that they don’t really know and watching The Great Escape for the 37th time on Christmas Day. (Don’t laugh, in Germany it has been a tradition for several decades to watch a play called “Dinner for One” on Christmas Day). Yes, Christmas is celebrated very differently in other countries. Here are a few examples.
To start with, Christmas isn’t even celebrated on the same day everywhere. The national churches of, amongst others, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Serbia still use the Julian calendar as opposed to the Gregorian one. This means that they celebrate Christmas on January the 7th. The major countries of Central Europe (such as Poland, Austria and Hungary) go in the other direction, and their main celebration is on the 24th of December.
Then there is the meal itself. Turkey is not as universally common as would be thought. In the Czech Republic, carp is a popular meal to serve with the celebrations. In Finland, the dinner is most likely to be a Christmas ham. Greek families often prefer lamb.
Then there are the presents so beloved of children worldwide. Many South American countries give presents on 6th of January. Argentinean children are especially lucky. They receive presents on both the 25th of December and the 6th of January. German children also traditionally get an additional set of presents, usually small things, similar to our Christmas stockings. This happens on the 6th of December.
However, one thing unites every country that celebrates Christmas. It is the joy of celebrating a magical event with your family nearby, for those with children it is the pleasure that they get from playing with their new toys on Christmas Day (whenever that may be in any particular country) and simply enjoying a few days of well-earned rest and relaxation at the end of the year.