Student Explores How Christmas Differs In Other Countries

Christmas is unique in that it is a Christian holiday with Biblical ties and connections to Jesus Christ. The way people celebrate it or a similar holiday in a different religion is celebrated around the world.

The Philippines has a Giant Lantern Festival each year. It is held on the Saturday before Christmas Eve in the city of San Fernando. People from across the country and the globe are drawn into this light show of a festival. People compete to build the best looking lantern with a variety of materials and the lanterns are always 6 meters in size. Instead of simple paper and a candle like the original lanterns, the present day lanterns use a variety of materials and light bulbs.

In Sweden, a 13 meter tall Yule goat is built for Advent in the center of Gävle’s Castle Square. This has been a yearly tradition since 1966. This tradition gave rise to another tradition that was not so positive. The other tradition is the destruction of the goat. Since 1966 the goat has been burned down 29 times and the latest being in 2016.

In Austria, they celebrate Krampus as well as St. Nick. Krampus is a demon-like counterpart of Santa Claus that does more than give naughty kids a small bag of coal. It is said that while Santa rewards the good kids, the evil kids are shoved into a sack by Krampus, who whisks them away. During the first week of December (and especially on the eve of St. Nicholas Day) young men will dress up as Krampus and scare children in the street.

In Norway, they hide their brooms on Christmas Eve. This tradition is centuries old and is believed to have been used to stop witches and spirits from stealing brooms to ride on. To this day people still hide their brooms to keep up the tradition.

Venezuela might run over people with this tradition. In Venezuela, they start off Christmas Eve in an exciting way. They rollerskate to church early in the morning. The tradition is so popular some roads are closed off so the residents can skate safely to church. After church people come back home and eat tamales for dinner.

Christmas traditions change around the world but they all involve family and community togetherness. That is what is more important than the traditions themselves. Being together.