Afishapa, Joyeux Noël, Fe­liz Navi­dad, Merry Christ­mas: Christ­mas Around the World

With Christ­mas right around the cor­ner, it gives us a lot of time to re­flect on some of the tra­di­tions that many dif­fer­ent fam­i­lies have dur­ing Christ­mas time. Many Amer­i­can tra­di­tions in­clude the very spe­cial Christ­mas din­ner, that may even ex­ceed the great­ness of Thanks­giv­ing (it’s con­ve­nient that both of these hol­i­days are four weeks apart). Then there’s car­ol­ing, walk­ing through the chilly nights to share the joy of Jin­gle Bells and Silent Night with any­one who will lis­ten. Spend­ing the eve of the day cel­e­brat­ing the rea­son of the sea­son, whether it be in church or at home. Fi­nally, the main one that we can’t for­get, Santa Clause. The el­derly man who’s been en­cour­ag­ing kids to be nice, rather than naughty and slid­ing down chim­neys for as long as we can re­mem­ber. With all this in mind, it raises the ques­tion, what are Maryville in­ter­na­tional stu­dents do­ing for Christ­mas, and what tra­di­tions they may have?

Kineh Sando-Kleppe, a stu­dent from Nor­way, will be cel­e­brat­ing Christ­mas at home with her fam­ily. They will be spend­ing Christ­mas up in the Nor­we­gian Moun­tains. “We usu­ally cel­e­brate Christ­mas on [De­cem­ber 24] with a Christ­mas Break­fast, then we go ski­ing and have a spe­cial rice por­ridge for lunch with cin­na­mon and but­ter on top. Af­ter we rest, we then have din­ner and open Christ­mas pre­sents”, Kleppe said. Photo cour­tesy of Kineh Sando-Kleppe.

 

Re­turn­ing back to Switzer­land this hol­i­day break, Sarah Et­ter stated that her fam­ily tra­di­tions also in­clude spend­ing time in a cabin in the moun­tains with her clos­est fam­ily and dec­o­rat­ing the Christ­mas tree. “On Christ­mas Eve, we have a big Christ­mas din­ner and then open up pre­sents,” Et­ter said. Photo cour­tesy of Sarah Et­ter.

 

Puck Vlaskamp, a stu­dent from the Nether­lands, will also be re­turn­ing home for the hol­i­days. Her fam­ily tra­di­tions in­clude a three-course meal with close friends and fam­ily on Christ­mas day. Then on De­cem­ber 26, they have a small bar­beque. “We grill dif­fer­ent kinds of meat on a small grill,” Vlaskamp stated ex­cit­edly. Photo cour­tesy of Puck Vlaskamp.

 

 

In­ter­na­tional Christ­mas Fun Facts

• Christ­mas in Rus­sia is ac­tu­ally cel­e­brated on Jan­u­ary 7.

• In Greece, Christ­mas Car­ol­ing is a way to earn money.

• In Japan, Christ­mas Eve is like a Valen­tine’s Day cel­e­bra­tion, and peo­ple of­ten eat fried chicken on Christ­mas day.

• In Trinidad and To­bago, Christ­mas din­ners start in the mid­dle of De­cem­ber and go into the new year.

• In Brazil, Santa Claus is called Pa­pai Noel.

 

Fun facts cour­tesy of Why Christ­mas.

Now that you know some tra­di­tions from around the world, tweet us your own fam­ily tra­di­tions @Mvillepaw­print!