Christmas traditions from around the world

[Twilightstarbright]

I'd love to hear about different Christmas traditions from around the world. I'm hoping I can share/do some with DS but so far all I've got is making a Yule log/buche de Noel.

Although not our traditions, we’ve got a lot of friends who live in various countries so thought it would be nice for DS to learn about some of their traditions. So this year we’re going to put shoes out for the 6th December for Sinterklaas to fill with some marzipan, chocolate letter, etc. for DS (Dutch/German tradition). And we’ve got a sweet little Tomte/Gonk, and he’s going to be left some buttered porridge on Christmas Eve (Swedish/Norwegian/Scandinavian tradition).

I’d love to hear some other traditions as well, DS loves learning about other places at the moment so would be great to tie more in. 🙂

A dessert called Pavê is one of my favorite traditions here in Brazil. Delicious stuff and very easy to make! Many brazilians will be having it after the main Christmas meal, which happens on Xmas Eve.

It's not from far afield but I've been reading lots about "Stir up Sunday" when researching Christmas pudding traditions.

If you fancy making a Christmas pudding they are the epitome of UK Christmas tradition :)

Swedish traditions:

Lights. Pretty much every household will have advent candles, to light every Sunday of advent, usually like this. You'll also find paper star lights in every window, as well as these lights. So if you go past an apartment block, every window has these two items pretty much.

Christmas day is celebrated on the 24th. Traditionally you open one present in the morning, which is usually something to wear for Christmas day, and then someone mysteriously has to go out to get a newspaper after dinner and Tomten arrives in their absence to deliver the other presents. Often presents have a little poem written on them to hint at whats inside. The most important part of the swedish Christmas day is Kalle Anka, a Donald duck show which every single person watches at 3pm. It's mainly vintage shorts, and then a few new disney clips each year. After kalle anka we eat. The julboard is mainly pork in our house because we are not crazy for fish. Ham, ribs, meatballs, little sausages called prinskorv. Hard boiled eggs, salmon, marinated herring, cheeses, spiced bread and butter also play a large roll.

In Ireland it’s traditional to put a lighted candle in the window on Christmas Eve, lit by the youngest member of the family. It’s supposed to be a light and welcome for the holy family looking for a place to stay.

My dd is stuck in Amsterdam for Christmas so the bright spot for her is Sinterklass, though he won’t be arriving by boat this year. She is with a french family, so they are going to mix up Dutch, french and English Christmas.

Thank you all! I found this one in my research and I think DS would like attempting to make a spider tree decoration.

In Germany, Poland, and Ukraine, finding a spider or a spider's web on a Christmas tree is considered good luck. Ukrainians also create small Christmas tree ornaments in the shape of a spider (known as pavuchky, literally "little spiders"), usually made of paper and wire.

I'm sure you already found it, but this: www.whychristmas.com/cultures/
is a great website.

My husband and I do an Icelandic tradition called Jolabokaflod, exchanging books and chocolate on Christmas Eve. You then sit in bed and read and snack together before sleep. It's lovely 😊

A German tradition I never much enjoyed growing up was putting the tree up on Christmas eve. I much prefer putting it up in early December and getting to enjoy it longer!

@Highfalutinlootin I'm a tree up 1st December kind of woman.

@Ijustreallywantacat I hadn't but this is brilliant!

I love the Christmas Eve book idea.

In Japan, their traditional Xmas meal is KFC! You could have a bargain bucket night?

Last year I was invited to my friend's New year party and my friend is from Russia. They call Santa "Father Frost" and children write letters to him and put them in the fridges. He said to be kinder than Santa as he doesn't bring coal to spoiled kids, he just gets them nothing. My friends' DS is 7 and he tried to be sooo good through the whole December! So Father Frost looks kinda like this and before the party my friend, her son and I were making a slideshow for him We looked for some New year pics and used a new year slideshow maker to complete the whole thing. We even found a Russian song that is popular at the New year parties-
As for the dishes, that's exactly what is shown in movies- there are homemade pickles, herring and caviar topped bread. Here is also an article about their food- www.rbth.com/russian-kitchen/326763-12-dishes-russian-new-year and my friend says it is very true to life. I can't say this food is particularly tasty looking but its actually pretty tasty.