While most people are decorating their Christmas trees and giving gifts, those in other countries are celebrating the holiday season in very different ways. From France to China, people all around the world have customs and holidays that they call their own.
In France, Christmas is widely celebrated as it is here and in very similar ways.
“We still have a Christmas tree,” said French teacher Herve LeGuillox, “but on Christmas Eve the French families prepare a huge dinner. There is food galore.” Oysters, liver pâté, and what he describes as a “humongous turkey” filled with chestnuts and stuffing are mainstays. Once the dinner is finished, the family enjoys a Yule log for dessert and then journey to Midnight Mass.
Similar to the American Santa Claus is Father Noel. Father Noel is responsible for bringing the children gifts on Christmas morning.
Even though their Christmas traditions are similar to ours, the French people celebrate the holiday of Epiphany.
“The French moms make pancakes for the offspring,” said LeGuillox “It is a nice evening of eating pancakes.”
One aspect of holidays that seems to know no borders is the idea of all types of people coming together.
Math teacher George Venketsamy grew up in a suburb of a South African city in a 23 apartment building.
“Downtown was segregated by race,” said Venketsamy. “White people were on one side, and the Africans were on the other.” This segregation did not keep Venketsamy and his family from celebrating all sorts of holidays.
“We had all religions represented,” he said. “We had Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam.” Venketsamy and his family celebrated all the religious holidays of those in his apartment.
“If it was Christmas, we tended to hang out at our Christian friends’ homes,” said Venketsamy. “We also got gifts [from our Christian friends]. If we visited a friend’s house, they had very inexpensive gifts [for us], but we appreciated the fact that we all got gifts.”
Venketsamy, as well as other Hindus, celebrates Diwali, the festival of lights.
“We lit little ceramic lamps and placed them all over the window sills, and we placed them outside in the corridors of the five story building,” he said.
In some countries, however, Christmas is not widely celebrated. In China, Chinese New Year and the Winter Solstice are the two main winter holidays.
“For Chinese New Year,” said Junior Kailun Wang “we all wear red and pass out little paper bags with money in them to the children.”
It is also a tradition to eat a dumpling filled with sweet soup.
The Winter Solstice, the day when the Sun is at the lowest point on the horizon, usually occurs towards the end of December.
“We try to eat really hot food on the night of the solstice,” said Wang.
Although we normally associate December with Christmas, the winter season is filled with a variety of holidays.
