Christmas Time

December finally knocked at our door, making us realize that the first year out of the old continent is almost gone. This season, both here and also in the countries we call home, fills the air with light decoration, good wishes and celebrations, and people smile more, want to be with the family and know how the people we care are doing.

But the celebrations in the different countries differ somehow, there are numerous traditions that we learn as kids, they have a meaning in our hearts, and we feel the need to have them as we knew them. I want to explain some of our own traditions, but also some other that were shared with us by other people. This collection of traditions show that despite having one common celebration timeframe, every culture follow their own customs.

Spain: Grapes for New Year's Eve and The Three Kings

Christmas holidays (Navidad) starts on Christmas Eve (Nochebuena or "good night"). Many families decorate their homes with the Nativity scene, which is also present in churches, schools and public places. Some of them even build the whole city of Jerusalem. A well known part of the meals during Christmas time is the seafood, and their prices reach their maximum during this time. The typical dessert is called turron (a solid dessert made with honey, eggs, almond and sugar), and the polvorones (shortbread made with almonds, flour and sugar).

One special tradition in Spain are the 12 grapes for New Year's Eve (Nochevieja, or "old night"). The last minute countdown is followed from the Puerta del Sol clock, and the tradition is to eat one grape for every 5 seconds, when we hear the 12 bell peals or campanadas. This seems to have an origin one year with a very large production of grapes, to prevent from them to go to waste. The truth is that nowadays is mandatory to eat the grapes, as it is considered a sign for bad luck to enter the new year without having followed the tradition. It is also not allowed to have grapes left after the countdown ends, nor start eating sooner than the countdown.

Instead of the traditional Santa Claus, in Spain are the Three Kings the ones who bring the presents to the majority of the families, on January 6th. The night before, on January 5th, there is a big parade in many cities and towns, where the three kings give away candies and small goodies. Nowadays the tendency is being shifted to have some or all presents brought by Papa Noel on December 24th, since the kids can play with them during the holidays.

Sweden: Advent and Jultomten

The celebrations starts on the 1st Advent Sunday. They use an advent calendar, usually with 4 candles, one for every Sunday preceding Christmas Eve, where the presents are brought by Jultomten (santa Claus). The Jultomte was originally a small invisible Christmas house gnome or dwarf from the Nordic mythology, who watched over the house and its inhabitants. An old superstition still calls for feeding the Tomte on Christmas Eve with a small bowl of porridge. If a bowl of porridge is not laid out for him somewhere in or outside the house, he will bring bad luck to everyone in the house the next year. The modern "Tomten", nowadays is a version of Santa Claus in red cloth and white beard, except that he doesn't enter the house through the chimney, but knocks on the door and asks "finns det några snälla barn här?" ("are there any nice children here?"). 

For the Christmas holidays the typical drink is glögg, it is warm wine beverage mixed with spices, almonds and raisins. Television also plays a big role, many families watch the Disney Christmas special Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul (Donald Duck and his friends wish happy new year). 

On January 13th it is knutdagen, the day where Christmas decorations are removed. 


Germany: Nikolaus and Christkindl

 Is Germany it is tradition for the children to get goodies in their shoes on Nikolaus, December 6th. But the actual gift giving takes place on December 24th. It is a tradition to put up and decorate the tree on the 24th. The houses in the main streets of the city also get decorated with lights.

In most german cities and towns they organize the Weihnachtsmarkt or Christmas Market, which opens on the first Advent Sunday. There they sell food, drinks and seasonal objects. The most common beverage for this time of the year, and especially sold in the Christmas Market is the Glühwein, it is also how wine, but spiced differently as in Sweden, it also changes within Germany. Among the different sweets there are the Plätzchen, small cookies with seasonal forms like stars, moons, Stanta Claus etc.

United States: Thanksgiving and Santa Claus

Thanksgiving starts the Holiday Season in the United States. It is a reunion day where the culinary star is the turkey, normally accompanied with mashed potatoes and other vegetables. Another important item on that day is the football match on television; the Detroit Lions have played every Thanksgiving since 1934 except from the WWII years. The Thanksgiving weekend is the longest holiday weekend of the year, going from the fourth Thursday of November through Sunday.

The day after Thanksgiving is often called Black Friday, it is a commercial calling for the beginning of the shopping season, with big sales and deals. Shops often open very early in the morning, or even at midnight, and stay open all day.

And according to the legend, the Santa Claus takes the color of his dress from Coca-Cola, as it is said that before the brand changed the color, he used to go in green. Santa Claus usually comes though the chimney and leaves presents for the next morning.

There is other hundreds of different traditions that people around the world connect to this Christmas time, but only the ones we grow with can really identify this season for us. Before We finish this entry, please clock in the link to be wished a Merry Christmas by two small and funny gnomes.

http://www.jibjab.com/view/z4GjMeBKRlaVrNPxl1xsmg

Thanks for reading,

Lita & Andres