For some, Christmas is a time to wake up at the crack of dawn and see what Santa left under the tree. For some, Christmas is a time of both stress and excitement as families scramble to host family and friends for the holidays. For others, it is a time to rejoice and celebrate the holiday’s Christian roots. All in all, Christmas is a holiday of tradition, whether that tradition be having none at all. Tradition looks different from family to family, generation to generation, and region to region. While it can be difficult to picture traditions different from those one is used to, it’s important to learn, and maybe pick up a thing or two.
For example, when people think of Christmas dinner they often think of a rotisserie chicken, apple cider, cranberry source, or other festive foods followed by some type of peppermint-flavored desert. While these items may be classic and nonnegotiable for many families, this home cooked, cozy reality couldn’t be further from the truth for others. If one were to get on a plane and travel 5,000 miles across the world to Japan, they would notice that 3.5 million Japanese families ordered Kentucky Fried Chicken as their holiday meal of choice. After a cozy meal, many American families would partake in activities like game nights, opening presents, or watching Christmas movies. However, those in Caracas, Venezuela instead celebrate the holiday with an all-night skating festival that runs all the way until a 5 or 6 a.m mass.
If your family is not one that likes to roller skate in frigid weather, you may spend your evening on Christmas cuddled up by the fireplace. Alternatively, families in South Africa enjoy the same weather you might if your family likes to go to Hawaii for the holidays—75 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Naturally, South Africans love to barbecue on the holiday and gather around in an outdoor picnic fashion. Once the day has ended, it is often bittersweet to realize that the season of mini Christmas trees around the house and Mariah Carey blasting in the car is now over, unless you live in Italy, when Christmas lasts another week and a half. Le Befana, a good witch in Italy, is known to cycle through Italian households on January 5th to deliver small gifts to children to close off the festive season.
These traditions are much less typical than anything we would imagine for our Christmases, but as unusual they seem to us, the more ordinary they seem to those in those regions. So, let’s hear more unusual Christmas traditions from Bellarmine students.
Source: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/fascinating-christmas-traditions-around-the-world
