 By Linda Sonnett Carlson
Talk to any person who celebrates Christmas any where in the world, and ask them what makes Christmas unforgettable; they will tell you that it is a combination of things. Things like houses fragrant with mouth watering smells from the kitchen, excited children‘s voices after finding a coin in a loaf of bread, little gifts under a tree, and generations of Christmas rituals, make for joyous Christmas memories.
The universal sounds of laughter and music, along with friends, family, and good food, make every cultures Christmas, special. Here is a sampling of little known Christmas traditions‘ around the world including: Iceland, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Peru, Poland, Suriname, Thailand, Trinidad, and Iraq.
Iceland
Iceland is full of old traditions including 13 Icelandic Santa Clauses, called jólasveinar("Yuletide Lads"; singular: jólasveinn). The origin of the Icelandic jólasveinaris centuries old. Each has its own name, character, and role. Once intended to scare children into positive behavior, today they come to town bearing gifts, candy, as well as to pull pranks. The first jólasveinnarrives 13 days before Christmas and then the others follow, one each day. After Christmas, they also leave one by one.
Bulgaria
Growing up in Bulgaria, Nadia Tantcheva (a business specialist at Wells Fargo Banks Westminster location) has fond memories of her family‘s Christmas Eve dinners. Only her immediate family was in attendance along with an empty place setting for the ?stranger.? Christmas Eve dinner involved hiding a coin in the loaf of Christmas bread. The head of the household, (her father) rotated the Christmas bread 9 times before breaking it into pieces for each family member. The person who found the coin could expect good luck in the following year.
Bulgarian Christmas dinner is meatless, so they enjoy fish, baked beans, sauerkraut, walnuts and red wine. Dessert may be apples and dried fruits: plums, dates, figs. Throughout Bulgaria, the dinner table is generally not cleared until the next morning, leaving some food for the holly spirits -a custom which dates back to pre-Christian times.
Ethiopia
Christmas celebrations in African nations are generally characterized by outdoor activities because the holiday occurs in summer. To create a festive environment, decorations include sparkling cotton wool and tinsel in homes and businesses along with evergreen, palm trees and lighted candles. (Candles are also carried in processions and during caroling).Christmas activities in Ethiopia stand out among African nations because the main celebration occurs on Jan. 7, around the time of Epiphany (or Three Kings Day in North and South America). Various peoples in Ethiopia take part in a pilgrimage that converges on the capital city of Addis Ababa during Christmas Eve. They fill the summer night air with praying, and chanting, and become a swirling multicolor of peoples as they gather on Christmas morning for religious services.
Africans also exchange Christmas gifts. The humility and modesty of the Ethiopian culture (which exists among all traditional African peoples) plays a significant role at Christmas. This shows up in the exchange of modest and practical gifts such as cotton cloth, books, soaps, and sweets.
Like other African nations, Ethiopians enjoy Christmas dinner which includes meat stew. Stews, rice, and root vegetables such as yams, along with breads and soups, make up the menu on a traditional Christmas day. Friends and families enjoy dinner sitting outside in a circular pattern, under the cooling shade of a sprawling tree.
Peru
Peru‘s Christmas celebrations are a combination of traditions brought from Spain along with the traditions of their Native American traditions. Private parties abound with generous hospitality and houses are decorated with bows and wreaths.
Manger scenes in Peru are often carved from wood or soapstone by the Quechua Indians with figures wearing clothing styles from the time of the conquistadores. These carving techniques date to the sixteenth century.
Additional figures are added to the scene each year until they become large displays complete with landscapes and backgrounds. The three kings arrive with a train of llamas and you will also find local characters such as the jasmine vender, the tamale vender, the baker, the ice-cream man, the ironer of the Child's diapers...and many, many more. Some homes with elaborate nativities have an open house so that neighbors can visit.
Noche Buenais the "Good Night" when Santa comes to fill the stockings that have been placed near the manger scene. When the family returns from Midnight Mass, the figure of Baby Jesus is placed in the manger and then the children open their gifts while fireworks light up the night sky.
Christmas dinner generally features turkey as the main dish along with a variety of salads and tamales. Fruit cake is served for dessert.
Lima
Lima (where Christmas was first celebrated in 1535) celebrates Christmas with a procession of a statue of the Virgin Mary, and then a bull fight. Parties, dances, and processions throughout Peru continue until January 6 when they celebrate the Epiphany with Rosca de Reyes, (the King's Ring) which is round sweet bread decorated with candied fruit to look like the crown of a king.
Poland
"Wesolych Swiat" (Season's Greetings).
Christmas Eve supper, ?Wigilia" is a family only dinner; and Maria Rosen‘s family (who lived near Krakow), left empty place settings at the table in case a stranger should happen by.
There is no meat served during Christmas Eve dinner." Dinner began with the breaking of the "Oplatek," a semi-transparent wafer of unleavened dough, and similar to a church communion, everyone at the table broke off a piece and ate it as a symbol of their unity with Christ.
Though the traditional number of 12 dishes varies between regions, certain items are found almost everywhere. Foods such a poppy seed cake, beet soup, noodles with poppy seed, and prune dumplings are universally Polish.
The remainder of Christmas Eve was spent with stories and songs around the Christmas tree which was decorated with nuts, apples, and ornaments made from eggshells, colored paper, straw, and painted. Christmas gifts were tucked beneath the tree. At midnight many attended "Pasterka," or Shepherd's Mass. (Thanks to Maria Rodzen; who with her husband, Lester, owns the Cracovia Restaurant in Westminster, CO.)
Suriname
Until 1975, Suriname was a colony whose Christmas traditions were the same as those in the Netherlands with St. Nicholas (called Sinterklaas), as an elderly white man who arrived by ship on December 5th. He rode a white horse, and was surrounded by a group of Black servants. Children left hay and carrots in their shoes for St. Nicholas' horse.
After 1975, Goedoe Pa–a Black man -(or Dearest Daddy) evolved. He and his servants deliver gifts (with poems attached) throughout the country, leaving children‘s presents next to their shoes on the morning of December 6th.
Surinamese celebrate Christmas Day and the following day, December 26th, calledTweede Kerstdagin a festive fashion with parties, gifts, and ethnic Christmas dishes. Families attend church services on Christmas Eve. After church, they open gifts at home and friends visit on Christmas Day as well as on the 26th.
Trinidad
With music unique from the rest of the Caribbean, Parang music plays an important part of Christmas in Trinidad.Parang groups are traditionally four to six singers with their instruments. They go from house to house playing and singing music passed down from their Hispanic American ancestors. Parang was introduced into Trinidad, by Spain‘s Capuchin monks of the Order of St. Francis, somewhere between 1686 and 1689.
Initial instruments were the guitar, cuatro, mandolin, box base, and maracas. Christmas music now includes Parang Soca (introduced about 1978), a blend of soca music and parang.
Trinidad's Christmas cuisine include the usual Caribbean favorites, but also pastelles (cornmeal pasties filled with meat, olives, capers and raisins, steamed in banana leaves) as well as stewed pigeon peas. Ponche de crema (eggnog with rum) is also very popular with every one.
Thailand
While 92% of people in Thailand are Buddhists, many love to celebrate Christmas. They join in the season with Christmas trees, and lights, as well as putting up other decorations. Lights in the streets at Christmas time are left overs from the King's birthdaycelebrations, with other lights specifically added to enhance Christmas fun. Thai children call Father Christmas -Santa Claus. New Year‘s Day is the time Thai‘s celebrate with parties and gift giving.
Iraq
In Christian homes a ceremony is held in their courtyard on Christmas Eve. One of the children in the family reads the story of the Nativity (from an Arabic Bible) and once the story is read, psalms are sung as a bonfire is lit in a corner of the courtyard.
On Christmas day a bonfire is built in the church. While the fire burns, the men of the congregation sing a hymn. Then church officials walk behind the bishop who carries an image of Baby Jesus sitting on a scarlet pillow. This long Christmas service ends with the with the Christian Bishop gently touching a member of the congregation with his hand, putting his blessing upon them. That person touches the person next to them, and they touch the individual next to them, so on and so forth; until everyone in the church has received, ?the Touch of Peace."
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