Christmas Around the World

By: Medha Annam

Christmas,

A time when fall colors are exchanged for blank snow.

The blank space waits to be covered in ornaments, lights, and accidental gingerbread crumbs.

However, not everyone fills up that space the same way. Christmas is celebrated in various ways around the world, and many nations have their own unique traditions and stories. 

Take Austria for example, where Santa isn’t the only one traveling all over the world: Krampus accompanies him too. Krampus, the half-man and half-goat demon, would whip naughty children, and possibly even take them away. Despite that fact, Austria dedicates an entire parade in his honor, where marchers dress up as Krampus and do acrobatic tricks, or just throw their whips at spectators. 

On the other hand, Japan celebrates the holiday by enjoying a mouth-watering KFC meal on Christmas Day. The tradition started with Takeshi Okawara, who was the enterprising manager of the 1st KFC in Japan. In 1974, he made the fried chicken party bucket nationwide in Japan, advertising with the slogan “Kentucky is Christmas!” At the time, many Japanese people didn’t relate lots of traditions with Christmas, so it was easy to implement a new one.

In India, while many do not celebrate Christmas due to its primarily Hindu population, those who do celebrate normally use banana or mango trees instead of the traditional pine trees we see in the States. People may also use mango leaves to decorate their houses. Southern-Indian Christians also tend to put tiny oil burning clay lamps on top of their roofs. This symbolizes Jesus being the world’s light. Finally, in Mumbai, people put up star lanterns and set up nativity scenes.

Next is South Africa, whose people like to celebrate Christmas by picnicking and hosting barbecues due to the warm December weather (which is unheard of in the States). Now, let's go to Finland, where they have rice porridge for Christmas breakfast. But, it’s not just any porridge; in it, there is exactly one almond. Whoever finds the almond in their bowl gets good luck for a year. The U.S. also has its own unique tradition, that maybe you didn’t even know about, where people hide a pickle ornament on the Christmas tree, and the child who finds it gets an extra gift.                                                             

Traditions are an important part of who we are. No matter how you celebrate Christmas, or even if you don’t, I hope you're surrounded by family and friends during this cheerful time! Happy holidays!