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Details about european Christmas customs

Europe's facets

Belgium: ‘Sinterklaas’ and ‘Zwarte Piet’
Christmas joys commence early in Belgium with ‘Sinterklaas’day. On the night of the 5th December, ‘Sinterklaas’ rides with presents from house to house, accompanied by his helper, ‘Zwarte Piet’. The children leave their boots at the fireplace and leave hay and sugar for Sinterklaas’ horse. Sinterklaas should not be confused with Santa Claus as he is a saint whose name is often linked to Christmas and the Advent period, but he is not the ‘Father Christmas’.
In Belgium, Christmas itself is celebrated with nativity plays, processions and Christmas markets. The people in Belgium spend the Christmas holidays with their families. Festive decorations, such as a splendidly adorned Christmas tree, sparkling candlelight and a stunning brilliant red flowering poinsettia provide an atmospheric setting for the festive season.

Denmark: Wreath and calendar candle
During Advent, a large amount of self-made decorations are traditionally crafted in Denmark to adorn house and home. Most Danish families usually create the Advent wreath themselves, its four candles symbolising the Sundays of Christian Advent. Little red or cream coloured poinsettias, twigs and shiny Christmas decorations are classic wreath accessories.
The calendar candle is also important to the Danish children who excitedly wait for Christmas. The candle is divided by numbers or horizontal lines and each day the candle is lit and burned down to each respective mark.
Advent time in Denmark is accompanied by the ‘Julenisser’, little imps that play tricks on adults and children all the time until Christmas. But they never harm anyone, and in the end they just want to have a nice and peaceful Christmas, too.
Christmas Eve is celebrated with a traditional meal with the family. A whole almond is hidden inside the Danish Christmas dessert: its lucky finder is rewarded with the so-called ‘almond-gift’. Before opening the Christmas presents, the Danes hold each other’s hands, sing carols and dance a ring-a-ring-a-roses around the Christmas tree.

Germany: The pre-Christmas advent calendar
The time leading up to Christmas is of special significance in Germany. For German families Christmas cookies, Advent wreaths and Advent calendars are traditionally part of the season. The 24 individually numbered Advent calendar gifts shorten the long wait for Christmas, especially for children. Each one of the lovingly wrapped presents is opened every morning, until the festive climax is reached on Christmas Eve and the following days.
The Advent calendar often becomes a decorative item, such as in form of a luscious brilliant red bush created from an arrangement of several thick poinsettia plants, which are hung with little presents. This creative modern version of the Advent calendar is a decorative eye-catcher throughout the whole pre-Christmas season.

England: Christmas pudding and mistletoe
The English ‘Christmas’ is celebrated on the 25th December. Christmas stockings are traditionally hung from the fireplace on Christmas Eve ready for when Father Christmas flies over the rooftops at night with his reindeer sleigh and brings presents down the chimney.
It is traditional for English homes to be decked out with festive decorations before Father Christmas arrives. Typical decorations include brilliant red poinsettias, which look beautiful draped around the fire place, as well as mistletoe, hung from the ceiling. It is an English custom to kiss a loved one when standing under the mistletoe.
For the British, turkey, mince pies and Christmas pudding are an essential part of the Christmas day menu. Even today, the ‘chef’ still hides a silver coin in the Christmas pudding for good luck. The festive meal is a fun and happy occasion, raising the party mood by wearing colourful hats and pulling Christmas crackers. However, quiet descends on British homes, when they listen to HM the Queen giving her 10 minute

Finland: Hand-made Christmas decorations
In Finland the 24th December is the most important day of the Christmas season. The festivities begin at noon, when according to old mediaeval tradition Christmas peace is called out ceremoniously in the city of Turku, the former capital of Finland.
As the festive season approaches, many Finns decorate their houses with Christmas decorations. Several of these creations, often very artistically crafted, are made out of straw, according to old Finnish traditions. Furthermore, candles and seasonal decorative plants, such as the classic red miniature poinsettias provide an atmospheric backdrop for the festivities within the family circle.
An extensive Christmas meal, traditional carols and the presents are the highlights of Christmas Eve. This day is also traditionally devoted to the memory of the dead. A visit to the graveyard is a well-established part of Christmas Eve. During that night the snow covered Finnish graveyards turn into an impressively glittering sea of candles.

France: Culinary Christmas
Christmas in France is the climax of the year. In contrast with many other European countries, the pre-Christmas season is of hardly any significance here. Only the shopping streets are decorated with garlands of lights and Christmas trees. The French buy their Christmas trees at the beginning of December and it is decorated by the family. Children receive an Advent Calendar on the 1st December and find a gift every morning until the 25th December.
Christmas Eve is an ordinary working day for the French. But in the evening the family gathers together for an opulent Christmas dinner. The culinary delights are a major feature of the French Christmas celebrations. The traditional festive meal is the ‘Réveillon’, an elaborate feast of many courses. The French Santa Claus, the ‘Père Noel’, delivers his presents on Christmas eve, 24th December.
The whole family takes part in decorating rooms, houses and trees for Christmas. The French Christmas dinner decoration is also a feast for the eyes. Small sized poinsettias are particularly ideal for atmospheric table decorations. The French call their poinsettias ‘Étoiles de Noël’- ‘stars of Christmas’. They use this popular indoor plant for room decorations and give it to each other as presents all year round. In France, as in many other European countries, poinsettias only became popular as a Christmas decoration recently.

Greece: The Christmas boat
Christmas is one of the most important religious occasions in Greece. Each person wishes each other ‘Kales Giortes’, happy festive days, in the time between Christmas Eve and Epiphany, the 6th January. Around the whole country the children wander from door to door and sing the ‘Kalanda’, the ‘songs of praise bringing joy and good luck’ accompanied by drums and bells. Christmas bonfires are lit for twelve nights in protection from goblins, a custom more common in the countryside.
Miniature boats are decorated besides or instead of Christmas trees. This custom relates to the outstanding status of antique Athens as a maritime power. Around the time of Christmas in Greece, sailing ships trimmed with lights, cruise through festively decorated rooms. Windows and fireplace mantelpieces are generously decorated with classic red poinsettias, which provide an atmospheric ambience.
Greek children have to wait for their presents until the New Year: Saint Vassilius leaves them by their beds on New Year’s Eve. At New Year a cake is served in Greece with a baked-in gold coin. The finder of this coin will have a year of good luck. Epiphany in Greece celebrates the christening of Christ. In many regions the drinking water is blessed on this occasion.


Italy: The Christmas symbols: the crib and the tree
In Italy the Christmas season is quite long: it begins on the 8th December and ends with Epiphany on the 6th January, during this period, days are spent decorating homes with Poinsettias, Christmas trees, the traditional crib and other colourful items. Some Italians fast on the 23rd or 24th December and then celebrate with a traditional meal after Christmas Midnight Mass. In some regions of Italy children can open their presents on the 24th after midnight, in others this happens the next morning. On the 25th December, after the traditional Christmas lunch, children use to recite poems in front of family and relatives and are rewarded with little gifts of money.
Another important date is the 6th January, when the famous ‘Befana’ arrives, the poor but kind old witch. She arrives during the night (between the 5th and 6th January), eats nuts and biscuits left for her by the children and, before flying away, leaves them presents in stockings: coal for the naughty kids and sweeties for the children who have behaved themselves.
Like the Christmas tree, the crib is an important symbol of an Italian Christmas. It is a reminder of Francis of Assisi who was the first to represent the story of Christmas with figurines. The ‘presepio’, generally populated with hand-carved figures, is deemed the spotlight of Christmas in many Italian families.
All the characters, except the small baby, are set in the crib from the 8th December, while the newborn is placed on the 24th December after midnight.
Modern Italy combines tradition with current taste and this means adding a lifestyle flavour to the traditional decorations: filigree poinsettia branches can make an alternative Christmas tree and the poinsettia flowers can help us to decorate the crib: a pyramid decked out with red and creamy-white poinsettias, a colourful decorative poinsettia base for a traditional Christmas tree and a crib adorned with delicate creamy-white poinsettia leaves.

Netherlands: Presents from ‘Sinterklaas’
Advent time in the Netherlands starts with a tradition that, originally, has nothing to do with Christmas: The feast of Saint Nicholas is celebrated as one of the seasonal highlights. According to legend, St. Nicholas, called ‘Sinterklaas’, arrives in the Netherlands in November three weeks before his birthday. In his ship loaded with presents, he visits the ports of the country as the patron saint of sailors and is greeted by Queen Beatrice and a large crowd of people. Over the next few days, Sinterklaas rides across the entire country accompanied by the ‘zwarten Piet’. The children in the Netherlands enjoy his presents on the 5th December.
The Christmas trees are decorated everywhere after Sinterklaas has left the country. Flowering winter plants, such as the brilliantly red poinsettia are part of the traditional Christmas decorations. These popular winter-flowering plants are stylishly arranged in a classic and modern fashion, as single plants or in groups. Decorative eye-catchers are created without too much effort with poinsettias set in gleaming vessels or vases and accompanied by sparkling candles and glittering Christmas accessories.
On Christmas Eve many families go to church. On the 25th and 26th December, family and friends come together, have dinner and giving each other Christmas presents.


Norway: Christmas gnomes and ‘Julman’
The Scandinavian ‘Jul’ (Christmas) has its origins in ancient mid-winter and harvest customs. The ‘Julenissen’, as the Norwegian Santa Claus is called, accompanied by his helpers, brings presents and good luck to house and stable. Christmas day night, Norwegian children arrange bowls of gruel on the windowsills as offerings to ‘Julenissen’, who travelled all the way from Lapland with his reindeer sleigh to visit all the children in Norway.
The Christmas feast is called ‘Julbrod’, which traditionally consists of up to 60 different dishes being served to friends and relatives. An important element of this meal, even now, is the oat porridge in which an almond is concealed. Whoever finds this almond will have the prospect of a marriage in the New Year.
The Norwegians adorn their houses with typically Nordic Advent decorations, mainly made out of natural materials; e.g. a rustic wooden chest filled with floral foam is used as a base for natural arrangements out of branch cuttings, bits of bark and tone-in-tone miniature poinsettias.


Austria: ‘Silent Night, holy Night’
In Austria, as in many other countries, advent begins with the first Advent Sunday at the end of November or the beginning of December. On every Advent Sunday one additional advent wreath candle is lit until the 24th December.
The Advent wreaths are freshly made every year in colourful variations – either at home or they can be bought from florists. They vary from the traditional round shape with deep-green pine branches, interspersed with red ribbons and classic red candles – to modern versions with colourful poinsettia branches arranged vertically into flower sponges or orchid tubes. Immediately after cutting, the poinsettia stem bases are sealed off by holding them briefly over a candle in order to prolong their life.
Austrian children are given small presents by Saint Nicholas and his companion ‘Krampus’, who wander the streets on the 6th December.
Christmas Eve in Austria is celebrated on the 24th December with the whole family gathered around a festively decorated Christmas tree and with presents for all. It traditionally ends with Midnight Mass in church. The classic Christmas carol ‘Silent Night, Holy Night’, which has been translated into many languages around the world, was first sung in Austria at the start of the 19th Century.
The official end of the Christmas season is the 2nd February, but the Austrians regard the 6th January - the Feast of Epiphany - as the last celebration of the Christmas holidays. Children, dressed as the three Magi Kaspar, Melchior and Balthasar, go from door to door singing Christmas carols. They wish people a blessed and peaceful new year and collect money for charitable causes.

Poland: Christmas wafers and unexpected guests
Advent in Poland is traditionally a very important time, during which many adults and children deliberately abstain from self-indulgent pleasures (most often mainly from sweets) and strive for peace and harmony. Shopkeepers do their best to decorate not only their shops but also the streets in order to create a real Christmas atmosphere. Moreover, it’s becoming more and more popular to have Christmas trees decorated in main city squares.
Homes and rooms are lovingly decked out with Christmas decorations. Red or creamy-white poinsettias are very often used for traditional Polish Christmas decorations, often in arrangements of pine branches and straw in brushwood baskets.

Christmas Eve is deemed the most important day of Polish Christmas. After a whole day of fasting, the entire family gather at the very elegantly set table (a white table cloth is essential) and start by sharing the Christmas wafer, as a gesture of love and reconciliation, toasting one another’s good health. As soon as the first star appears in the night sky, the Christmas feast begins. There is always one additional plate set out for an unexpected guest. The presents are placed under the festively decorated Christmas tree and are given out usually by the youngest member of the family. Unlike in Anglo-Saxon tradition, the gifts are anonymous.

Sweden: St. Lucia
In Sweden, one would wish ‘God Jul’, ‘Happy Christmas!’ to each other for 20 days, from the 25th December to the 13th January, according to a decree by king Knut in the 11th century.
Christmas Eve is traditionally a day for the family. The festivities begin at dusk, early in the afternoon. Similar to other European countries, the highlights are the communal festive meal, the presents and visits of and to relatives.
The feast of St. Lucia on the 13th December commemorates the Saint and Martyr Lucia, who originates from Sicily, and is said to have saved the Swedes from a catastrophic famine in the 4th century. On the 13th December, Swedish children bring their parents breakfast in bed in memory of the holy saviour. Early in the morning, the eldest daughter appears dressed as the queen of light, Lucia, in white with a box-tree wreath and candles in her hair. Lucia brings traditional dishes, especially sweets, which are lovingly prepared and festively decorated with brilliant red miniature poinsettias. Around the whole country the Swedes commemorate St. Lucia with numerous processions, celebrations and parades.

Switzerland: ‘Samichlaus’ and table for presents
The four weeks of Advent are celebrated in Switzerland with traditional customs, such as the Advent wreath and Advent calendar. Saint Nicholas or ‘Samichlaus’, as he is called in the German part of Switzerland, brings sweets and presents to the children on the 6th December.
Christmas Eve for most Swiss people is a family celebration. The festively decorated Christmas tree, a communal meal, the singing of carols, the presents and Christmas Mass are traditional elements of the feast.
In modern households rooms and windows are also festively decorated, for these purposes the poinsettia has become part of the contemporary festive look as a seasonal Christmas symbol. Poinsettias suit every interior design and taste: for example in an arrangement with single branches of different coloured poinsettia plants, placed in a large planter in a matching colour and with a loosely draped pearl, it makes an eye-catching display and looks perfect on every table of presents.

Spain: The gifts of the holy kingsThe Christmas season begins in Spain with the big Christmas lottery on the 22nd December. For the Spanish, Christmas is the most important feast of the year followed by new year’s day called ‘Noche Vieja’ and the 6th January ‘Día de Reyes’.
Christmas Eve, the ‘Noche Buena’, is traditionally an evening for the family. The rooms are festively decked out with pine branches, creamy-white and classic red poinsettias, burning candles and crib figures – which generate an atmospheric overture to the festive occasion in contrast to every-day life.
After the Christmas meal, at which typically local culinary specialities are served, Midnight Mass is celebrated on Christmas eve, the 24th December. The famous rooster Mass ‘Misa del Gallo’ commemorates the cock, which is said to have been the first to announce the birth of Christ.
The finale to the Christmas festivities is on the 6th January, the day of Epiphany, which, according to Spanish customs is when the Three Holy Kings bring presents to the children. On 5th January some people dress like the Three Holy Kings and other historic figures. During a big parade, the ‘Cabalgata de Reyes’, throw sweets to the children. Traditionally, the parade starts with floats on water.

Czech Republic: Cherry branches on the day of St. Barbara
In the Czech Republic, the day of St. Barbara is celebrated on the 4th December in commemoration of Saint Barbara, a martyr from the times of early Christian persecutions. Across the whole nation, cherry branches are being cut on the feast of St. Barbara and set in water. If they flower during the Christmas period, they bring good luck and the prospects of marriage for the coming year.
Nowadays, this traditional Czech Christmas custom is combined with decorative elements. The not yet flowering cherry twigs, together with miniature poinsettias and Christmas accessories are arranged into little straw baskets. Herewith, a natural Christmas arrangement which attractively combines traditional and modern elements is created.


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