Christmas is around the corner and Christians will be celebrating it with much reverence and joy. This much looked forward to event will be celebrated in different countries in keeping with their age old traditions. Today, let’s look at how some countries celebrate this festive season.
GERMANY
In Germany, Christmas celebrations start at the end of November or beginning of December with Advent. The whole of December is festival time in Germany. In the German language Christmas day is known as Erste Feiertag (‘first celebration’) and December 26 or Boxing Day is known as Zweite Feiertag (‘second celebration’). Zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag is another name for Boxing Day .
Advent is an important part of Christmas in Germany and different types of Advent calendars are used to mark the dates up to Christmas.
In the weeks before Christmas, many German cities have Christmas Markets, and they normally go on till Christmas eve.These are normally held on the town square. The most famous German Christmas Market is in the town of Nuremburg .
In Germany, December 6 is St. Nicholas Day. St. Nicholas dressed in red and with a white beard will come and ask children if they have been good or bad. He will also leave gifts and advise the bad children to be good. The children will often recite a poem for St. Nicholas. Stockings will be hung and shoes will be kept for him to fill with gifts or they will be kept outside so even if St. Nicholas does not come inside, he can leave the gifts outside. St. Nicholas is accompanied by his helper Knecht Ruprecht dressed all in black.
Christmas eve is known as Weihnachten in Germany and the actual Christmas celebrations in Germany start on this day.(December 24). It is the main day when Germans exchange presents with their families. In certain parts of Germany Bible reading and carol singing will take place on Christmas eve. The carols include favourites, such as Silent Night and O Tannenbaum.
On Christmas Day and Boxing Day, families meet and celebrate Christmas. They will also go to church .
Christmas trees are very important in the German Christmas festivities. The Christmas Tree is brought to the house on Christmas eve and decorated. Many places have Christmas trees put up in the town or city square, and there is always a beautiful and majestic Christmas tree put up in Brandenburg Square.
Most German families put up a carousel or wooden pyramid in their living rooms .
It will have several levels and a nativity scene and angels. The heat from lighted candles will trigger the mechanism making the carousel spin. The origin of Christmas pyramids was in the German ore mountains (Erzgebirge) in Eastern Germany and goes back to the middle ages. Thus, this is a much more older tradition than using decorated Christmas trees.
GREECE
On Christmas eve in Greece children, especially boys go singing Kalanda or carols playing drums and triangles as they sing. They will also follow an ancient Christmas tradition of Greece in carrying a boat decorated with gold painted nuts. These carol singers will often be given money and food like fruits and nuts.
Another tradition is believed to help keep bad spirits (Kallikantzaroi) away. They are supposed to appear only during the 12 days of Christmas. A shallow, wooden bowl is filled with water and a wire is suspended across the rim. A cross with a sprig of basil is hung from the wire and the water in the bowl is meant to keep the basil fresh. A family member, usually the mother will dip the cross and basil in holy water and sprinkle the home. Burning shoes is considered to be a good way to frighten off the kallikantzaroi.
As in Germany, Christmas trees are very popular in Greece. The first known Christmas tree was set up in 1833 by King Otto and was placed next to a large decorated boat.
Thessaloniki is the second biggest city in Greece, and each year in December, a large Christmas and three masted sailing ships are put up in Thessloniki’s Aristotelous Square. Decorated boats are an age old tradition in Greece and Athens, the capital of Greece and other Greek cities also display decorated boats at Christmas time.
Christmas trees are popular in Greece. The first known Christmas tree in Greece was in 1833 and was set-up by King Otto next to a large decorated boat. Over time, especially in the late 20th century, decorated Christmas trees became more popular than decorating a boat. But now having a boat as well as a tree is becoming more popular!
Attending a midnight mass is a very important tradition in Greece. After this, the people break the Advent fast.
A Grecian Christmas meal will have pork or lamb which will be roasted in an oven or open spit and this will be often served with spinach and cheese pie accompanied by salads and vegetables.
Pastries are popular at Christmas time. Among them are the famed Baklava, a sweet filo pastry stuffed with chopped nuts, sweet syrup or honey. Melomakarono is an egg or oblong shaped biscuit cake of flour, olive oil and honey rolled in chopped walnuts and is a popular Christmas dessert.
Christopsomo is also known as Christs’s Bread or Christmas Bread and it is a round, sweet bread. It is given flavour with cinnamon, orange and cloves and a cross is used to decorate the top. This is also used as a table decoration. The bread is made on Christmas eve and eaten on Christmas day.
The Greek ‘Kala Christougenna' means Happy Christmas. Often in Greece, St. Basil (Aghios Vassilis) brings presents for children on January 1 or New Year’s Day.