Merry Christmas! (Or Christmas Eve depending on where you are)
I thought after some heavier articles, and more to come, I would keep it slightly lighter and think about different cultural practices relating to Christmas. As most of the people reading this are in the Anglo-Western world, we all have pretty similar practices. Most of us will celebrate on Christmas Day with presents in the morning, a large—usually home-cooked—lunch or dinner, and then a quiet evening, followed by a smaller meal on Boxing Day.
This is, however, not always the case with the rest of the world.
Many European and Latin American countries actually exchange presents and begin celebrations on the 24th. Take, for instance, France—where I am spending Christmas—the practice is to have a long meal called 'réveillon' that starts at midnight on Christmas Eve, lasting long into the morning (as I write this at 11pm our neighbours nights have only just begun). The meal is luxurious to say the least: oysters, foie gras, turkey with chestnuts, and a Yule log. In some regions, there is even a practice of 13 different desserts. Champagne is, of course, on the menu. This late evening feast is a common practice in a couple of other countries such as Belgium, Brazil, Lithuania, and Poland.
In Poland and Lithuania, the practice is called Wigilia and Kūčios respectively. In both countries, Christmas Eve is meant to be a day of abstinence before the meal at midnight. At which point you begin with the breaking of a Christmas wafer which are unleavened wafers baked from flour and water; this is called opłatek and kalėdaitis in each culture.
The tradition traces back to early Christianity and is a foreshadowing of the Holy Communion. It was originally part of the Polish nobility's culture but spread to Lithuania during the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th Century. Interestingly, during the period of occupation of Poland, the practice took on patriotic meaning as it was common to wish for Poland's independence during the sharing of opłatek.
In Orthodox cultures such as Ukraine and Greece, there is a practice of fasting for 40 days prior to Christmas—no meat. Then on the 6th of January, there will be a feast to celebrate the last day, with Christmas on the 7th of January. This would include 12 traditional dishes such as Kutia, which is a grain dish made with wheatberries, poppy seeds, and honey.
The reason for the different dates is due to the Julian Calendar. For those unaware, the calendar we use is called the Gregorian, created by Pope Gregory in 1582—the Julian Calendar was created by Julius Caesar (who would have guessed!) in 46 BC.
The Julian was created to transition from a lunisolar calendar, i.e., a calendar that follows both the moon and the sun, into a solar calendar—one which follows only the sun. The calendar would follow the solar year, i.e., the time it takes the Earth to complete a full cycle of seasons. The problem is the Julian Calendar was ever so slightly longer than the solar year, which meant that it would gain 3 days every 400 years. Not so much a problem for Caesar, but the calendar lasted 1600 years until changes were proposed. The result of which is the Julian is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.
Most cultures moved onto the Gregorian calendar relatively quickly, but the Orthodox countries still use the Julian for religious events. Hence, their Christmas is on the 7th of January—I will return to calendars in a future post as, surprisingly, they are quite interesting!
As I mentioned, a number of European countries celebrate on the 24th, to rapid fire through some of them quickly:
In Norway, the major day of celebration is the 24th; commonly, there will be a meal with traditional 'pinnekjøtt' (lamb steamed on birch), many families will also make a point to watch television, the most famous program of which is the 1973 Czech film 'Three Wishes for Cinderella'.
In Iceland, their celebrations begin at 6pm on the 24th, but 13 days beforehand, children will leave a shoe by their windows as, in Icelandic folklore, each house will be visited by the 13 Yule Lads, who are the sons of a troll in Icelandic legend. Think of them like mischievous elves—the Yule Lads will then leave a small present in the shoes every night.
In Germany, Switzerland, and Austria presents will be exchanged on the 24th with familes typically visting church before hand and then giving gifts. There is also a practice of children, after returning from church waiting in their rooms before a bell is rung signally the departure of the gift bringer. In the more Catholic regions this would be Christkind but it could also be Weihnachtsmann — Santa Claus.
In Denmark, they have their 'juleaften' on the 24th with caramelised potatoes and a rice pudding being an important part of the meal—the rice pudding will also include one whole almond which symbolises good luck, and whoever has the almond gets a small gift. This is a practice that exists in other cultures such as the 'Kings Cake' in France and Spain, which is a cake eaten to celebrate Epiphany on the Twelfth Night after Christmas, celebrated on either the 5th, 6th (depending on which day you start the count), or even the 17th of January (the pesky Julian calendar!). You would cut up the cake (it is a rather lovely almond cake), and whichever person finds a trinket in their slice gains good luck (this actually used to be a practice in the UK but died out after the Industrial Revolution to be replaced by the Christmas cake).
Another commonly celebrated tradition is Saint Lucy's Day, which is held on the 13th of December. It is a feast day that commemorates Lucia of Syracuse, a 4th-century martyr who aided Christians under the persecution by the Roman Empire during the Diocletianic Persecution.
Saint Lucy is a saint in Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox Christianity, but Saint Lucy's Day is only celebrated by the Scandinavians, Italians, and in Saint Lucia. Young girls dress as Saint Lucy in white, wearing a wreath, carrying saffron bread. The festival used to coincide with the Winter Solstice—the longest night of the year—as in the 14th Century, the pesky Julian calendar had the Winter Solstice on the 13th of December; Scandinavia moved over to the Gregorian by the 18th century, by which point the date had shifted. However, the reason for the 13th of December is actually due to a different calendar system attesting to the 13th of December and was unchanged by the move to the Gregorian.
In most cultures, there is a common practice of consuming a unique food on Christmas; for example, in Japan—not a culture that would typically celebrate a religious Christmas but a secular one—there is a culture of consuming KFC around Christmas. This was the result of a successful advertising campaign in the 1970s. I recently met an Italian-American who taught me of the Feast of Seven Fishes—which is entirely an Italian-American practice—in which they celebrate Christmas Eve with a feast on a variety of fish dishes such as cod, lobster, anchovies, squid, etc., and a dessert of cannoli’s.
Of course, as Christmas originates in Christianity, there are large swaths of the world that don't celebrate the holiday. This is largely most of the Middle East and chunks of Asia. Some countries go so far as to ban the holiday; until the early 2010s, Christmas was banned in Saudi Arabia, and it is still banned in Somalia, Tajikistan, and Brunei. Talk about no Christmas cheer!
I could go on and on for days as I find these cultural differences fascinating, and almost every country seems to celebrate slightly differently, but I will call it at that and wish you all a very Merry Christmas!