Christmas Celebrations Around the World

Christmas is an internationally celebrated holiday around the world and for some it is the holiest day of the year — it is a day on which Christians of all denominations rejoice in the birth of their Lord. It may or may not come as a surprise to you to discover that Christmas is celebrated in a variety of ways in different parts of the world and in different cultures. Let us, then, take a brief peek at a Christmas festivities in a few countries:

* Christmas in the Holy Land.

The Holy Land is where Jesus was born and where he spent his entire life on earth as a mortal being. Many thousands of Christians make their annual pilgrimage to the Holy Land to not only celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ but to also walk on the ground where He had walked over two thousand years ago.

Jesus is said to have been born in Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity had been erected on the alleged site of his birth. In celebration of Christmas, the Church is decorated with flags from around the world and it gets crowded with locals and visitors who come to witness the spectacular annual Christmas Eve parade that is led by riders on Arabian horses, followed by one cross-bearing rider on a black steed and behind him come churchmen and government officials. The procession enters the church and an antiquated effigy of the Holy Child is placed in the grotto that is located down steep winding stairs where a fourteen-point silver star marks the exact spot where Jesus was born.

Christmas Eve is celebrated by three distinct groups in the Holy Land’s Bethlehem whose Christians paint crosses over their doors and display homemade manger scene and where a star is posted atop a tall pole in the city’s square. The Church of the Nativity is buzzing with different languages as Protestants and Catholics hold their services while elsewhere in the church the Greek Orthodox, the Egyptian Coptic and the Syrians hold their services while in yet another part of the church the Armenians have their services. Regardless of their persuasion, they are all served lunch comprised of turkey meat spiced with pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg and stuffed with rice, pine nuts and almonds.

The Protestants walk around caroling, the Catholic priests walk from home to home to bless the water from which every member of each family takes a sip, and the Greek Orthodox dip a cross in blessing of the water that people carry home with them to sip before eating anything.

* Christmas in Argentina.

Christmas in Argentina is celebrated on December 24 and it involves entire families going to services and then returning to homes decorated with red and white garlands and Father Christmas images. They eat hardy, they dance joyously and watch firework shows with excitement.

* Christmas in China.

Christian children in China decorate trees, called Trees of Light, with colorful paper ornaments shaped into flowers, chains, lanterns and stocking which they hope Christmas Old-Man (Dun Che Lao Ren) will fill with gifts.

Children seem to be the main focus of Christmas celebrations in China as they are treated to their favorite foods, get new clothes and toys and are permitted to stay up to watch late-night fireworks.

* Christmas in Greenland.

Christmas trees in Greenland are decorated with lighted candles and bright ornaments and there is must dancing, playing games, caroling, drinking coffee and eating cakes. Gifts which are distributed are brightly wrapped and may typically consist of a pair of tusks or a sealskin mitt. Everyone is treated to Mattak (a piece of whale skin with a strip of blubber) to be swallowed because chewing it is difficult. They also serve Kiviak which is the raw flesh of an auk that has been buried in sealskin for several months until it reached an advanced stage of decomposition.

* Christmas in Iraq.

Christmas Eve is celebrated in courtyards of Christian Iraqi families. One child reads the story of the Nativity while the rest of the family holds up lighted candles. A bonfire is then lit and psalms are sung. When the bonfire is reduced to ash, it is customary for everyone to jump over it three times and make a wish.

Similar bonfires are built in church courtyards on Christmas Day and the men chant hymns. Processions led by bishops take place in Iraqi Christian communities. The bishops carry images of baby Jesus prone on scarlet cushions and the services end with the bishops touching one congregant with a blessing, this congregant touches another congregant with the same blessing and so on until everyone had been touched and blessed.