Happy Christmas: What are the Christmas customs or activities in European and American countries?

Customs and Celebrations

There are many Christmas customs, including secular, religious, national, Christmas-related, and vary greatly from country to country. The Christmas symbols and activities that most people are familiar with, such as the Christmas tree, Christmas ham, Yule logs, holly, mistletoe, and the exchange of gifts, were absorbed by Christian missionaries from the early Asatru pagan winter solstice holiday Yule. The celebration of the winter solstice was widespread in Northern Europe long before Christianity arrived, and today the word Christmas in Scandinavian is still the pagan jul (or yule). The Christmas tree is believed to have first appeared in Germany.

Pope Gregory I did not try to ban popular pagan festivals, but allowed Christian clergy to reinterpret them in the Christian meaning they ascribed to them. He allowed most of the customs to continue to exist, but only slightly. Add corrections or even leave them as is2. Deals between religious and governmental authorities and celebrants keep Christmas going. In areas where Christian theocracy flourished, such as Cromwell's England and the early New England colonies, celebrations were prohibited. 3 After the Russian Revolution, Christmas celebrations were banned by the Soviet Communist regime in the Soviet Union for 75 years. Even today, some Christian denominations, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, some fundamentalists and Puritan organizations, still regard Christmas as a pagan holiday that is not recognized by the Bible and refuse to celebrate it.

[Edit this paragraph] Folk customs

Since Christmas celebration customs became popular in Northern Europe, the combination of Christmas decorations in the northern hemisphere winter and the myth of Santa Claus appeared.

Santa Claus and the gifts he brings:

Santa Claus’s gift-giving at Christmas has almost become a global custom. The concept of a mysterious figure bringing gifts to young children is derived from Saint Nicholas, a kind-hearted bishop who lived in Asia Minor in the 4th century. The Dutch imitate him in giving gifts on St. Nicholas Day (December 6). In North America, British colonists incorporated this tradition into the celebration of the Christmas holiday, and Sinterklaas accordingly became Santa Claus or Saint Nick. In the British-American tradition, Santa Claus always happily arrives on a sleigh pulled by reindeer on Christmas Eve, climbs into the house from the chimney, leaves gifts for the children, and eats the food left by the children for him. . He spent the rest of the year busy making gifts and monitoring and documenting the children's behavior.

The French name for Santa Claus is Père Noel (almost exactly the same as Santa Claus). His red and white clothes once inspired the Coca-Cola Company to create an image of Santa Claus that spread around the world in the 1930s. In some cultures, Santa is accompanied by a Knecht Ruprecht, or Black Peter. In some versions, gnomes in a toy workshop make holiday gifts, and sometimes Santa and Mrs. Claus are husband and wife. During the Christmas season, in supermarkets in North America and the United Kingdom, there are Santa Clauses who children can ask for gifts from.

In many countries, children prepare empty containers so that Santa Claus can fill them with small gifts such as toys, candy or fruit. In the United States, children hang Christmas stockings on the fireplace on Christmas Eve because Santa Claus has said that he will come down the chimney and put gifts in the socks on Christmas Eve. In other countries, children place empty shoes outdoors so that Santa Claus can deliver gifts on Christmas Eve (or Saint Nicholas Day, December 5). Gift giving is not just about Santa Claus, family members and friends also give gifts to each other.

Gift-giving time:

In many countries, Saint Nicholas Day is still a day for exchanging gifts. In many places in Germany, on the night of December 25th, children take out their shoes and put them on the windowsill. The next morning they will find that the shoes are filled with candies and small gifts. In Germany, the main gift-giving date is December 24, when Santa Claus brings gifts or places them under the Christmas tree. The same is true in Hungary, except that the person giving gifts is "Little Jehovah" instead of Santa Claus.

In many areas, including the Netherlands, the Christmas holiday retains its religious character. In Spain and other countries with similar traditions, the people who give gifts on Epiphany, January 6, are priests (Magi), fortune tellers and pagan priests.

The song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" tells one of the gift-giving customs. It describes the British tradition of celebrating by giving each other gifts every day from Christmas to Epiphany. In most parts of the world, Christmas gifts are given on Christmas Eve night or Christmas morning. Until recently, British people gave gifts to their friends on Boxing Day.

Christmas cards:

Christmas cards (Christmas cards) are very popular in the United States and Europe, and are also regarded as one of the ways to maintain relationships with distant relatives and friends. Many families bring annual family photos or family news with the greeting cards. The news usually includes the merits and specialties of family members in the past year.

Christmas socks:

The earliest ones were a pair of big red socks, of any size. Because Christmas stockings are used to hold gifts, they are children's favorite thing. They will hang their socks by their bed at night, waiting to receive gifts the next morning.

Santa hat:

It is a red hat. It is said that wearing it to sleep at night will not only make you sleep peacefully and warm, but you will also find that there is more in the hat the next day. A gift from a loved one. It is the protagonist of the carnival night. No matter where you go, you will see all kinds of red hats.

[Edit this paragraph] Christmas dinner

Just like the Chinese people eat New Year’s dinner during the Spring Festival, European and American people also pay attention to the whole family sitting under the Christmas tree during Christmas.** *Have a festive meal.

The custom of eating turkey for Christmas dinner began in 1620. This custom is prevalent in the United States. The British Christmas dinner is roast goose, not turkey. Austrians love to have a Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. The whole family gathers with relatives and friends to go to the restaurant in groups to have a Christmas dinner. Among them, turkey, bacon, roasted beef and pork legs are essential, accompanied by Famous wine and food made everyone happy.

The origin of eating turkey at Christmas

On the traditional Christmas table, roasted turkey is an indispensable dish. In some Asian countries, turkey may be eaten only on Christmas Day every year to celebrate the festival; but in Europe and the United States, especially the American continent, turkey is a very common meat, and it is eaten on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. On this big day, turkey is a traditional food.

Turkey is a specialty of the Americas. It had been domesticated by the Indians before Europeans came to the Americas. The name of turkey is "Türkiye" in English. Because Europeans think it looks like Turkish clothing: black body and red head. Europeans like to eat roast goose very much. After immigrating to the Americas, I had a request to eat geese before I could raise them, so I ate turkeys. I found that turkeys are more delicious than geese. And there are a lot of turkeys in North America. As a result, roasted turkey has become a staple dish for Americans and is a must during important holidays. This custom has a history of more than 300 years. It is said that on Christmas Day 1620, a large number of immigrants from England arrived at Plymouth Mountain on the American continent. At that time, there were few products there, only turkeys scattered all over the mountains and fields, so they caught turkeys as the main dish for the festival. Therefore, in addition to ham, sweet potatoes, vegetables, plum pudding, fruit cake, and cocktails, of course the "good friend" turkey is indispensable in the Christmas dinner!

The most traditional preparation of turkey is very simple. You only need to fully coat the inside and outside of the turkey with salt and peppercorns, and then bake it in the oven for about 3 hours. Turkey has been eaten for nearly four hundred years. The "Dinner" in "Christmas Dinner" and "Thanks giving Dinner", a thanksgiving meal that symbolizes harvest and reunion, does not originally refer to dinner. Instead, it should be eaten at noon. Because Thanksgiving is the Thursday of the fourth week of November every year. It's very close to Christmas, the big holiday of the year. And Christmas is a day to give thanks for the coming of Jesus. Therefore, the turkey dinner, a symbol of thanksgiving, extends to Christmas.

Christmas decoration

In Western countries, Christmas is also a holiday for family reunion and celebration, and Christmas trees are usually decorated. Regardless of whether you are a Christian or not, you must prepare a Christmas tree when celebrating Christmas in the West to increase the joyful atmosphere of the holiday. Christmas trees are usually made of evergreen trees such as fir and cypress, symbolizing eternal life. The tree is decorated with various lights, colorful flowers, toys, stars, and various Christmas gifts. On Christmas night, people sing and dance around the Christmas tree and enjoy themselves.

Christmas decorations include Christmas trees decorated with Christmas decorations and Christmas lights, and indoor decorations with garlands and evergreens. Special holly and mistletoe are traditional materials. In North and South America and a few European regions, outdoor decorations are traditionally decorated with lights, including illuminated sleighs, snowmen, and other Christmas figures.

The traditional Christmas flower is poinsettia (also known as poinsettia, Christmas red, flower colors include scarlet, pink, milky white, etc.). Christmas plants also include holly, red amaryllis, and Christmas cactus.

Generally, municipalities will also support Christmas decorations, hanging Christmas banners on the streets or placing Christmas trees in squares. In the United States, decorations have been prosecuted many times for including religious themes. Prosecutors believe that the government endorses a specific religious behavior and violates religious freedom.

[Edit this paragraph] Christmas Songs

There are three main Christmas songs that have been popular for a long time, one is "Silent Night"; the other is "Hark, the Angel Announces Good News"; The third one is "Jingle Bells."

Santa Claus originally referred to Nicholas, the bishop of Asia Minor in the 4th century AD. He was famous for his amiability and generosity in helping the poor. By the 6th century, the East revered him as Saint Nicholas. Since folk legends about Nicholas are associated with children and gifts, Santa Claus has since become the image of a kind old man who specializes in delivering gifts to children at Christmas. By the 18th century, through literature and painting, Santa Claus gradually became the image of an old man with a white beard and white eyebrows wearing a red coat.

This song was written by Joseph Mohr, the priest of a small country church in a small Austrian country in 1816. The composer Franz Gruber was an unknown local music teacher. It is said that the organ in the chapel broke down, so Father Mohr asked Mr. Gruber to compose a guitar accompaniment for the song he wrote. The music score was later brought out by the organ repairman, and the outside world became aware of the song. The song quickly became popular. Today she has become almost the official "festival song" of Christmas. She has been translated into many languages. The page above has 105 different versions of lyrics in 67 different languages. (Chinese translator Liu Tingfang is also a member of the "May Fourth New Culture Christians" and the "Life Society". It is said that he is a "general" with a small stature but strong ability to communicate and social activities...)

This popular song has a beautiful melody, beautiful lyrics, and is filled with a kind of heavenly peace. One can imagine the unknown Father Mohr looking at the moonlit scenery of the Austrian countryside on the hillside on the night before Christmas, thinking about the records in the Bible about the birth of the Savior, and lamenting the salvation accomplished by God through the incarnate Son. It is any heart that is grateful and inspired to write this immortal poem "Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht". Father Mohr lived a poor life, and donated all his wealth to local schools and nursing homes. He was penniless when he died of illness, truly embodying the spirit of the Christmas tradition of "charity and charity." The composer of "Christmas Eve" is also very unknown, so that later generations did not know his name for a long time. Therefore, in history, the composer was also attributed to "big names" such as Beethoven and Handel. when. God, who works alone in miracles, once again "subverted" the "famous" and the "unknown". He used an unknown priest from a small country church and an unknown amateur composer to create and leave this song for the world that will last forever. Christmas song. The origin of "Silent Night" itself can be said to be a miracle.

In this busy holiday season, let us forget about those chores for a while! Be quiet, listen to the gentle "Silent Night" song from the bottom of your heart, and think about the true meaning of the baby born in Bethlehem that night two thousand years ago to mankind, history, and your personal life.