International Christmas traditions

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Originally published at: International Christmas traditions | Boing Boing

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It’s not just KFC in Japan. Christmas cake (usually strawberry shortcake) is also a really big deal. Both have to be ordered well in advance. They are usually eaten on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day.

Here, Christmas is more for getting together with friends or (more often) lovers. It’s kind of like what Valentine’s Day is in the US. Meanwhile, New Year’s is the time for family.

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They left out this one.

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The same procedure as last year?

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The Sun probably assumes its readers are familiar with that one.

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The same procedure as every year, James.

(Although that is a New Year’s Eve tradition round these here parts, actually.)

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My parents grew up in Caracas, so i visited family regularly and i can’t say i have ever heard of skating for xmas mass. That said i have never gone to mass in Caracas so there’s that, but i do recall as a kid in the 90’s having gone to a big skating event in Caracas once where they shut down a boulevard, had music, booths and all kinds of events going on, it was a blast. But it was the 90’s so that kind of thing wasn’t all that strange.

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I’m rather happy if relatives want to buy me socks for the Winter Holiday. (I actually have a list on Sock Dreams there, but I’m not quite crass enough to include it in that link! :laughing: )

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In Singapore there was a Santa Clause statue that got upcycled into the Prosperity God for Chinese New Year.

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I did a student exchange to Germany when I was a youngster and was utterly baffled when they trotted out that “same procedure” bit.

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Haggis for breakfast and presents up a 40ft pine tree: Christmas traditions from around the UK

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His description of mince meat pies is hilarious…

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Reading up on the history of Christmas, related lore, and traditions around the world has been an interest of mine this year. A good collection of worldwide traditions would be The Christmas Atlas: The Merriest, Tastiest, Quirkiest, Holiday Traditions from Around the World by Alex Palmer. The descriptions of each tradition are unfortunately brief, but it makes up for it in volume. And that’s where I first read about the poop log and am now just convinced that everyone wants to take the pagan Yule log as their own somehow.

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