Christmases All Over the World

It’s Christmas eve all over the world tonight, so first and foremost, I would like to greet you a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I have asked some bloggers who did a Christmas card exchange with me to share how they celebrate Christmas in their countries, but before I share their answers, let me give mine.

Christmas is the most celebrated holiday in the Philippines because it is a predominantly Christian country. Christmas songs start blasting over the airwaves as early as the earliest ‘ber month (September) and last until the first week of January.

Houses, offices and buildings are covered in decorations like Christmas lights, tinsel, and Christmas trees, but not real pine ones because those are not abundant in tropical Philippines. Native decors include the parol or the star-shaped Christmas lantern, and the belen, or the nativity scene.

It doesn’t snow in the Philippines, so we don’t get white Christmases, but the wind grows colder in December, hence the Christmas song “Malamig ang simoy ng hangin” which translates to “the breeze is cold.” (It’s weird because this doesn’t happen in Singapore. It’s always very rainy during December, but the temperature remains the same.)

Catholics attend misa de gallo (dawn masses) starting from December 16 until Christmas eve, a total of 9 masses. It is the belief that if you attend all 9 masses, your wish or prayer will be granted, so lots of people drag themselves out of bed to make this sacrifice. Mass goers then buy native delicacies like bibingka and puto bumbong (rice cakes) sold by vendors outside the Church and eat them for breakfast.

On Christmas eve, families gather together for noche buena or a midnight feast of Christmas food like hamon (Christmas ham), queso de bola (ball of cheese sealed with red wax), pasta, fruit salad, etc. Oh I miss hamon! They don’t have them here, so we’ll have to make do without for our noche buena tonight!

Now on to these ladies and how they celebrate in their countries!

Christmas in South Africa is pretty much the same world wide… When it comes to my family – we follow Polish traditions where we have a big dinner on Christmas eve (usually turkey and roasted leg of pork) and then afterwards, all presents are opened…. Christmas day is pretty much normal – except NO stores are open.

Christmas in my house always kicked off on Christmas eve. My mom and dad had different family traditions. Her family opened gifts on Christmas eve and then Christmas day was just for Santa Claus presents, whereas my dad’s family opened everything on Christmas morning. So growing up we’d always open things from my mom’s side on Christmas eve and everything else would be saved for the next day. Then we’d eat something really simple like sandwiches to save room (and dishes) for the next day before going to midnight Mass. As kids, my brother and I would wake up at the crack of dawn to open presents, watch a movie as a family and then sit down for the big meal of the day around 2 pm.

In Germany: My host family all go to church on 24th December at midnight & the kids are told that Kris Kringle comes with gifts.

In England: Christmas presents in the morning with kid’s believing Santa came whilst they slept. Then… FOOD.

We celebrate Christmas like any other Filipino family does. All our relatives and family gather at one house (we take turns with relatives every year who hosts). We always have a feast with lots delicious and diverse spread of food. After dinner, we enjoy a few drinks, sit and talk or play games (something new we’ve started a few years ago). Then we countdown to midnight, we get to open one present each before we tear open the rest, then we have a white elephant exchange, which always ensues in crazy laughter. We celebrate well into the night, and then on the next day, everyone gathers again in the same house and we all eat breakfast together and talk some more and just enjoy each other’s company.

I am actually from Hungary but I am studying in the UK. In Hungary we celebrate Christmas Eve (24th) rather than Christmas Day (25th). So we go to church together with my family on the 24th and then we have a huge, and I mean HUGE meal in the evening. We stay up late drinking mulled wine, chatting, listening to some Christmas tunes, playing board games while exchanging gifts. Then on Christmas Day we usually take a long walk or a hike together as a family, chill and play some more.