The Everything Family Christmas Book (54 page)

Christmas in Africa

In most African countries, Christians make up a relatively small part of the population, so Christmas is generally a lower-key affair than it is in many western countries. The emphasis is typically on charitable acts and simple presents, rather than the purchase of expensive gifts. Church services and often, caroling, are considered important. In Algiers, for example, there are a number of Catholic churches that celebrate midnight Mass, and streets are colorfully decorated for the holiday.

The Christian church in Ethiopia is the Coptic church. Believers there still abide by an older calendar, which places Christmas on January 7, when people break their traditional pre-Christmas fast from milk or meat products with a meal of rice and meat.

In Ghana, Christmas evergreen or palm trees are seen, and there is a Father Christmas who comes out of the jungle. Children have school pageants and there is more gift giving. Early Christmas morning, a group enacts the story of the shepherds and angels heralding Christ’s birth, traveling the streets and singing songs. This band is often rewarded with gifts.

In Liberia, oil palm trees are often decorated with bells for Christmas, with a church service attended in the morning and Christmas dinner shared in the afternoon. It’s similar in Nigeria, where Christmas is a time to visit family.

In South Africa, Christmas falls in the midst of summer vacation, so the activities are adapted to the warmer weather. Shops are decorated, streets are lit, and Father Christmas puts gifts in the children’s stockings. After a church service on Christmas Day, however, the Christmas feast is eaten outside. Depending on their cultural heritage, South Africans may also celebrate Christmas with feasts, carnivals, and parades.

Christmas in the Middle East

Although much of the Middle East is devoted to Islam—or, in Israel, to Judaism—every year thousands of Christians from around the world make pilgrimages to the Holy Land, especially Bethlehem. They come to visit the place where, according to the Gospels, it all began. Not surprisingly, this is the time of the year when Bethlehem is most popular, although the scope of the celebrations often depends on the political climate at the time.

The festivities in the “little town” center on the Church of the Nativity and the Shepherds’ Fields. The Church of the Nativity is believed to stand on the place where Christ was born; under the church, within a small cave, a star on the floor marks the place where Mary gave birth to Jesus. The Shepherds’ Fields is said to represent the fields where the angels announced the arrival of Christ.

There are three Christian groups in Bethlehem. The Roman Catholics celebrate Christmas on December 25, the Greek Orthodox on January 6, and the Armenian Christians on January 18. Representatives protecting the interests of these three groups sit on a board that governs the Church of the Nativity, so that no group will be favored or slighted. No services are held within the church itself, but rather in an adjoining building. Services on Christmas Eve are by invitation only, but are televised to the crowds outside. Afterward, most venture to the Shepherds’ Fields, which are also divided into three sections.

Christmas is also celebrated quite widely in Lebanon, with lights, carols, and midnight church services. Papa Noél brings presents to children, and the meal often includes a cake that’s designed to resemble a Yule log.

Some of the more predominantly Muslim countries do have Christian sections, and in those sections Christmas is observed, although the observance is usually more strictly religious, as in Africa. Some countries, however, have Christian populations that have been celebrating Christmas for centuries.

In Armenia, it is believed that Christmas should be celebrated on the day of Christ’s baptism, which is January 6 in most church calendars. However, the Armenian Church follows the old Julian calendar, which marks this date as January 18. One week before Christmas there is a fast, during which no meat, eggs, cheese, or milk may be eaten. Religious services are held on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Afterward, children go onto the roofs with handkerchiefs and sing carols; often the handkerchiefs are later filled with fruit, grain, or money.

In Iraq, where the Magi are believed to have traveled from, Christmas is known as the Little Feast (Easter being the Great Feast). Christians here fast from December 1 until Christmas Eve, consuming no meat, eggs, milk, or cheese. After the evening church service a great feast begins, but there is no gift exchange.

Syria celebrates Christmas longer than most Middle Eastern countries, beginning on December 4 (St. Barbara’s Day) and lasting through Epiphany (January 6). Children receive gifts on New Year’s Day from the Camel of Jesus. One tradition, left over from the days of religious persecution, is to lock the outside gate of the house on Christmas Eve. This is to remind all that they once had to practice their religion behind closed doors. The father lights a great fire in the courtyard, the youngest son reads from the Gospel, and hymns are sung. After the fire has been reduced to embers, family members make a wish and jump over them. Epiphany Eve is known in Syria as Lilat-al-Kadr (Night of Destiny). A magic mule brings presents to children on this night. The mule’s magic powers come from when he was caught up as the trees bowed at midnight the night of Christ’s birth.

In Pakistan, many aspects of the Christmas celebration are similar to those in America—there’s even a Santa Claus. December 25 is a public holiday, although it honors not Jesus but Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Still, for Christians, the day is known as Bara Din, and is marked by church services, family visits, and delicious food.

In neighboring India, the Christmas trees for the churches are made out of straw. The straw is twisted into shape and coated with mud; later, greens are applied, and then candles. In some instances, banana trees are also decorated.

Christmas in the Far East

In the Far East, Christianity exists alongside such other faiths or ideologies as Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shintoism. While Christians celebrate the holiday for its traditional meanings, many of the other aspects, such as decorating and gift giving, have been adopted more widely.

China

China was only opened to the West 400 years ago, so—relatively speaking—Christians and Christmas have not been around for long. A very small portion of the Christian population celebrates a Christmas that’s referred to as Sheng Dan Jieh, or the Holy Birth Festival. Christmas trees are called “trees of light,” and paper lanterns are intermingled with holly for decoration. Stockings are hung, and there are versions of Santa known as Lam Khoong-Khoong (nice old father) and Dun Che Lao Ren (Christmas old man). Gift giving has some formal rules: Jewelry and other more-valuable gifts are only given to the immediate family; other gifts are given to relatives and friends.

More important to the majority of Chinese is the New Year, referred to as the Spring Festival, which is celebrated in late January. New toys and clothes are given and feasts are held. The spiritual aspects concern ancestor worship, and portraits of ancestors are displayed on New Year’s Eve. This is not, strictly speaking, a Christmas celebration, but it is a festive and popular seasonal undertaking.

Japan

Christmas in Japan is celebrated by a large number of people—including a good many who follow other religions. For the Japanese, Christmas is a strictly secular celebration, considered a time for fun and gifts. There are Japanese versions of American Christmas carols; department stores have Christmas trees and special Christmas sales; holly, bells, and other decorations are everywhere. A Buddhist monk named Hotei-osho is a Santa-like figure who brings presents to children, but Santa is there as well, along with his red-nosed reindeer.

For those who celebrate the religious aspects of the Japanese Christmas, the holiday season is a time for services, hymns, children’s pageants (with Japanese dress), visits to hospitals, and other services to the needy. Often, Japanese cakes are given out to those attending church.

Korea

Typical for this part of the world, Korea has a small pocket of Christians who celebrate Christmas with traditional religious services. Schoolchildren put on pageants, and there is a great effort put into helping the needy. For the actual Christmas service, a group of adults and children stay awake in the church on Christmas Eve. After midnight, they go out into the neighborhood singing, and they are often invited into homes for a treat. Religious services are held in the morning, and there is much caroling as people make their way there.

For the country as a whole, Christmas is a nonworking holiday, although the majority of the population is Buddhist. Some families have trees and children are given small gifts.

Christmas in Other Parts of the World

Christmas in Canada and Australia shares many customs handed down from European and North American celebrations of Christmas. The holidays are also, however, informed by both climate and geography.

Canada

Christmas is celebrated in many different ways in Canada, a result of the way that cultural and religious groups from many parts of the world have found a home there. Many Canadians of Ukrainian descent, for example, follow the Orthodox church’s calendar, and celebrate Christmas on January 6. In French-speaking areas such as the province of Québec, the Roman Catholic traditions of displaying crèches, or Nativity scenes, as decorations remain very strong, as does attending midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, followed by a hearty meal that includes
tourtière
(a meat pie) and present opening.

The annual Santa Claus Parade in downtown Toronto began in 1905 as a way to celebrate the arrival of Santa at the Eaton’s department store. The first parade featured Santa arriving at the train station and walking to the store. Today, the parade—with bands, clowns, and intricately decorated floats—features almost 2,000 participants and stretches for more than three miles.

Along with the widespread North American traditions of decorating the home inside and out with lights, visiting Santa at local stores and malls to offer him a wish list, and decorating Christmas trees with ornaments and lights, many Canadian Christmas traditions depend on geography.

In the north, for example, the winter season was often celebrated before the arrival of Christmas with feasts, games, dogsled races, and gift exchanges. Known as
Quviasuvvik,
or the Happy Time, many of these traditions have now been wrapped into the church services and charitable causes that are part of Canadian customs throughout the country.

In Vancouver, on Canada’s west coast, the Carol Ships are an annual tradition, as boats decorated with sparkling lights take to the harbor in a nightly parade throughout December.

Australia

As in South Africa, Christmas falls during summer vacation down under. Because of the climate, flowers are the most important Christmas decoration, particularly the Christmas Bush and the Christmas Bell. Father Christmas and Santa exist side by side—like siblings, which they certainly are. Gifts are exchanged on Christmas morning before attending church. Typically, the afternoon is spent at the beach or engaging in sports.

Australia is also the home of “Carols by Candlelight,” a tradition started by radio announcer Norman Banks in 1937. After Banks saw a woman listening to carols alone by candlelight, he decided to do something to relieve the loneliness and isolation some feel during the holidays. He announced a community carol sing for anyone who wanted to join in. The concept has grown in popularity over the years, and the recorded program is now broadcast the world over.