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Global Christmas Traditions 
Santa is known as Julemanden and he arrives in a sleigh pulled by reindeer with a sack full of gifts. Danish children know the elves as Juul Nisse, and believe that they live in the attics of their homes. Instead of cookies and glasses of milk, they leave rice pudding and saucers of milk out for them.
From England we have acquired several customs. The first is the use of Christmas trees. This was made popular during the rein of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Prince Albert came from the country of Germany and missed his native practice of bringing in trees to place on the tables in the house, therefore one Christmas the royal couple brought a tree inside the Palace and decorated it with apples and other pretty items.
The second custom is what is known as Boxing Day. It is celebrated the first weekday after Christmas. What this means is that small wrapped boxes with food and sweets, or small gifts, or coins are given to anyone who comes calling that day.
Santa is known as Father Christmas, wearing long red robes and had sprigs of holly in his hair. Instead of mailing out their christmas list, children throw it into the fireplace and Father Christmas reads the smoke. England is also where the tradition of hanging stockings by the chimney began, due to the fact that Father Christmas once accidentally dropped some gold coins on his way down the chimney which got caught in a drying stocking. Another interesting thing is that instead of opening up their gifts as soon as they wake up, English children wait until the afternoon.
Santa is known as Pere Noel. He is accompanied by Pre Fouettard who keep track of who has been good or bad for Pere Noel. In some parts of France, Pere Noel brings small gifts in the beginning of December (Dec 6) and comes back to deliver more on Christmas. In France the children get to open their gifts on Christmas, but the parents and other adults have to wait until New Years. In France the children place there shoes by the fire place in hopes that le Pere Noel/Father Christmas of le Petit Jesus/Little Jesus will place gifts for them. They also have dinner at midnight on December 24 this is called Le Reveillon. They have a cake called La Buche de Noel that is served after the dinner.
It Italy, the main exchange of gift doesn't occur until January 6th, the day traditionally believed that the Wise Men reached the baby Jesus. Italy has La Befana who brings gifts to for the good and punishment for the bad. She is the same character as Russia's Babouschka who refused to give the Wise Men food and shelter.
Santa is known as Sinterklaas, and he came to Sweden originally by boat, setting out on December 6th from Spain. He makes his gift deliveries by horseback. The children leave their shoes out, filled with hay and sugar for Sinterklaas' horse. In the morning they find their shoes filled with candy and nuts. When Sinterklaas appears to the children, he takes the form of their father or a favorite male relative.
The children of Spain leave their shoes on the windowsills filled with straw, carrots, and barley for the horses of the Wise Men, who they believe reenact their journey to Bethlehem every year. One of the wise men is called Balthazar, who leaves the children gifts. They call Christmas Eve Nochebuena, and families gather together to rejoice and share a meal around the Nativity scene.
The Swedish people call Santa tomte, and see him as a gnome who comes out from under the floor of the house or barn carrying his sack of gifts for them.
Just before Christmas, Swedish homes are decked out with all manner of ornaments - candlesticks, runners and wall hangings, Father Christmas figures, angels - and, after the gingersnaps are done, perhaps a gingerbread house as well. Winter greenery such as lingonberry and pine sprigs are all part of the scene. Christmas flowers are mostly red - poinsetta, tulips, begonias - but also pink, white and pale blue, as in the case of that pungently fragrant Swedish favorite, the hyacinth.
Children use advent calendars to count down the days to Christmas Eve because Christmas is celebrated on the 24th, not the 25th as in other countries.
Indeed, in the Nordic countries, christmas dinner and gift giving usually takes place in the afternoon and includes the entire family.
Most people buy Christmas trees well before Christmas Eve, but itīs not uncommon to take it inside and decorate it until just a few days before. In some families, the Christmas tree (and the house) is decorated at this time as well. Decorations for Advent are an exception.
Candles (traditional and electric) and Advent stars are popular Advent decorations. Special "advent candle holders" with four candles in it, one for every Sunday in Advent are also seen. One candle is lit on each of the four Sundays before Christmas.
Evergreen trees are decorated with stars, sunbursts, and snowflakes made from straw. Other decorations include colorful wooden animals and straw centerpieces.
Holiday foods range from rice pudding to ginger cookies. Girls dress up like St. Lucia and wear candle wreaths in her hair serving cake. Wheat Trees are made and placed out in the snow for the birds.
Resource: www.christmas.com
Russia has someone named Babouschka, who would bring gifts for the children. The tradition says that she failed to give food and shelter to the three wise men and so she now searches the countryside searching for the baby Jesus, visiting all children giving gifts as she goes. Santa was known as Saint Nicholas but today is called Grandfather Frost, wearing a blue outfit instead of red.
Australia
There is summer-like weather during December in Australia, and Christmas dinner may be a picnic in the woods or on the beach. Australians also sing carols by candlelight and decorate their homes with flowers and other plants.
Generally, Christmas is celebrated along traditional lines and families often travel great distances to be together. Church is attended in great mass on Christmas Day. Services are often held very early in the morning.
Many carols sung are Australian, celebrating Christ's birth with an imagery drawn from the Australian Christmas Bush, which flowers at Christmas.
Other songs sung and listened to are about Snow and Snowmen.
Bing Crosby's Christmas albums (with White Christmas included) would have to be the most commonly owned Christmas albums in Australia.
Due to the multiculturalism in Australia food can vary. But meals mainly center around the traditional Hams, Turkeys and Plum Pudding. Often these dishes are cooked earlier and served cold. Salads and other summer foods are present as well as food from from other cultures.
Public celebrations include Carols by Candlelight Concert, on Christmas Eve, held at the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne and Carols in the Domain, Australia's largest annual community Christmas celebration. The event, which is free to attend is held in Sydney's Domain Gardens, a short walk from the Sydney Opera House and is always held on the last Saturday before Christmas. These events are broadcast on television and radio throughout the country and seen through Southeast Asia and New Zealand. The attendance usually ranges from 70,000 - 100,000 with nearly two million television viewers.
Resource: www.christmas.com
China
Some who celebrate Christmas in China do so after having spent time in Japan where the holiday is becoming a booming business. The small percentage of Chinese who do so, erect artificial trees in their upscale apartments decorated with spangles form southern China's export zone. Christmas trees are called "trees of light"
and are also decorated with paper chains, paper flowers, and paper lanterns. Children hang up muslin stockings in hopes that Dun Che Lao Ren (China's Santa) will fill them with presents.
Stores have men dressed as Santa Claus handing out candy and waitresses with Santa hats. The booming commercialism which has spread outward from Beijing has been called a Chinese phenomenon. It started out as a friendly gesture or business ploy aimed at Christian visitors.
A festival of peace and renewal known as Ta Chiu is celebrated in Hong Kong. Taoists summon their gods and ghosts. People make offerings to their patron saints. Festivities close with the reading of the names of every person who lives in the area. The names are then listed, attached to a paper horse, and burned in hopes that they will rise to heaven.
Although Christianity is unsanctioned in China, there are an estimated 10 million baptized Christians (about 1 percent of the population) who celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas time. The popularity of midnight mass has grown so swiftly over the past few years that most Catholic churches can not hold the numbers who come out Christmas Eve. Although a lot of those parishioners are just curious, the ministers believe it's a positive step toward the spread of Christianity throughout China. Naturally, they take the opportunity to tell the story of the baby Jesus born in a manger in Bethlehem.
Resource: www.christmas.com
New Zealand
Christmas comes in summertime in New Zealand, just as it does in Australia.
Families often celebrate by having a picnic at the beach.
The shops are decorated with scenes familiar to countries like England - Father Christmas with his red cloak and white beard, snow scenes; all this means Christmas to many whose parents or grandparents came out of Europe.
Resource: www.christmas.com
United States of America
America is such a large country that there are a variety of different customs and traditions within it. Decorations and celebrations are strongly British oriented, and other communities have settled in America and kept their own festivals as well.
Father Christmas became Santa Claus in America and he now has two homes there.
There is Torrington, Connecticut, a Christmas village where Santa and his elves give out presents. In Wilmington, New York, on the side of Whiteface Mountain, a man called Arto Monaco designed a permanent home for Santa Claus. It has a blacksmith (for the reindeer), a chapel, and a post office.
100,000 people visit the village every year.
There is also a town called Santa Claus, in America. All the letters which are posted in America addressed to Santa go there to be dealt with, an average of three million a year. A twenty-three foot colored statue stands in Santa's honor.
In 1924, the first national living Christmas tree was planted in Washington, D. C. Every year since, the President of the United States ceremonially turns on the lights.
In the South, the custom has been to celebrate noisily with fireworks and the shooting of firearms.
Early settlers had sent greetings to their distant neighbors in this way. It was thought to also frighten off evil spirits and spread to Hawaii and the Philippines.
In Alaska ‘going round with star' is a feature of the season. Boys and girls with lanterns on poles carry a large figure of a star, covered with bright colored paper, from door to door. They sing carols and are welcomed in for refreshments. On the next night another party of boys and girls, dressed as Herod's men, try to destroy the infant Jesus.
In New Mexico, semi-nomadic Navajo have a ‘big feed' at ‘Kismus' given by friends of the native American people. Meat, beans, potatoes and onions are boiled in huge iron pots over campfires. Coffee with donuts, bread and buns complete the menu. In other parts of New Mexico, luminaires are placed along the streets and on flat roof tops. These candles in paper bags filled with sand, ‘light the way for the Christ Child'.
Polish Americans keep up their homeland customs. They spread hay on the floor and under the tablecloth to remind them of an inn or the stable and manger.
No meat is eaten on Christmas Eve during the day, but in the evening when the first star appears the fast of Wigiliais over. Beetroot soup, various fish, cabbage, mushrooms and sweetmeats made from honey and poppy seeds are features of the meal. An oblong wafer called an oplatek is given out by the head of the house. It has the Nativity scene imprinted on it. As the family and guests recall the birth of Jesus and wish each other a happiness in the coming year, they break off a piece of the oplatek. An extra place is set at the table in case Mary and the Christ child should come by seeking shelter.
Hungarian Americans place greater emphasis on church services and carol-singing on Christmas Eve and Day than many fellow Americans. They gather around their tree on Christmas Eve and presents are handed out at the appearance of the first star of the evening. After the presents, seasonal foods are baked, rolls of walnut and poppy seed, dumplings with honey and poppy seed, and biscuits with caraway, sesame, or aniseed.
Kwanzaa, an African-American holiday was created in the United States in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Kareng. Americans of African ancestry remember their heritage, look back on their good fortune during the past year, and express their hopes for the year to come during this seven-day celebration. It begins on December 26th and ends on January 1st.
Kwanzaa, taken from the Swahili words meaning "first fruits of the harvest," centers on seven principles or ideas of African American culture and is filled with many fine family traditions. It is a holiday especially for children. Like many holidays, Kwanzaa is celebrated with lights and candles. The kinara, a candleholder containing Mishumaa saba - seven candles - is lighted on each of the nights of Kwanzaa. A black candle placed in the center of the kinara with three red candles on the left and three green candles on the right. The kinara is symbolic of Africa and ancestry, while the candles represent the seven principles of Kwanzaa. During Kwanzaa, families gather each evening and a child lights one of the candles.
Beginning with the black candle and alternating from left to right, the family talks about one of the seven principles.
Resource: www.christmas.com
we thank all the WWW "Tradition" sites for the information compiled here
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