Author | Michael Powell |
Do you leave out milk and cookies for Santa or put up Christmas lights on your house? While these traditions may seem normal to us, they might be pretty strange to the rest of the world and vice versa. Have you ever wondered what other countries do for Christmas? Keep reading to find out!
The first country is Japan. Although a very low percentage of the population is Christian, they still spread the cheer with these traditions:
Do you and your family eat turkey or ham for Christmas? Well, the people in Japan eat Kentucky Fried Chicken to celebrate the holiday! Ever since the 1970’s when KFC Japan promoted fried chicken as a Christmas meal, it has become a widely practiced tradition. About 3.6 million Japanese families enjoy the popular American fast food every Christmas. Because of this high demand, some KFC locations in Japan, near Christmas, receive almost ten times the amount of normal customers. Many people can understand a healthy appreciation for fried chicken, but as Americans, this might seem like an unusual holiday tradition. On to the next tradition!
While we leave out milk and cookies on Christmas, people in Japan make/decorate cakes! But these cakes are not your normal birthday cakes. They are usually a sponge cake decorated with strawberries and whipped cream. That sounds oddly familiar! During the Christmas season, the cake is so popular in Japanese culture that it is sold on almost every city block. It may just look like strawberry shortcake to us, but the cake has a meaning. The whipped cream and strawberries allude to the white background and red circle that makes up the Japanese emblem. Just a random fun fact: the dessert is so famous that you can see its representation in the cake emoji on your phone! Maybe Scholars Guild will have to take a field trip to Japan for Christmas sometime and have some Christmas cake and fried chicken!
Now that we’ve looked at Japan let's look at a country closer to home: Jamaica.
In Jamaica, Christmas Eve is often called Grand Market, and is an exciting time for children and adults! Every town has a cross between a festival and market. People go shopping for foods, sweets, toys, and other similar items. Around 6:00 pm, the evening festivities begin. Everyone comes out to buy more food from vendors along the street. This will last until the next morning. Some might attend a Midnight Church Service, but others will party all night. This will last until a service the next morning marks the end of Grand Market. Jamaican red wine and rum fruitcake is a tradition and is enjoyed by many. The fruits in the cake are soaked in red wine and white rum for MONTHS before Christmas. Talk about preparation!
Christmas in Australia has to be one of the strangest so far. Not quite because of their traditions, but because of the climate. When it is winter here, it is summer there. So when we are enjoying a snowy Christmas, they might be on the beach enjoying a new surfboard they just received!
The most popular tradition is called Carols by Candlelight. During this, people come together at night to light candles and sing Christmas Carols outside. Families decorate with ferns, palm leaves, evergreens, and colorful flowers that bloom in (their) summer (our winter). On Christmas Eve, families that observe Irish traditions watch their father set out a large candle in front of a window to welcome Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. The youngest child in the family lights the candle. The family goes to a midnight Mass and attends church on Christmas Day. Afterward, there are parties and fun family activities
We’ve looked at two of Japan’s Christmas traditions, one of Jamaica’s, and one of Australia's. We’ve also looked at what traditions might seem weird to us in America. Now, let’s look at what traditions we have in the USA that may appear weird to the rest of the world.
Well to start out, we leave milk and cookies out for a man who brings presents to us in the middle of the night. He crawls down our chimney. He sees us when we’re sleeping, and he knows if we’re awake. It sounds kind of creepy, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t that look pretty weird to other parts of the world that don’t celebrate Christmas?
The last thing that might be weird to other nations is the Christmas tree. We Americans put up small trees in our living room with lights and small trinkets on them. This is just another example of a tradition that we treat as totally normal that might seem funny to another country. Nonetheless, each country enjoys their traditions and it is what makes Christmas special to them. So, next time you eat your Christmas ham, you may think of the people in Japan eating KFC, the people in Jamaica celebrating Grand Market, or the people in Australia Caroling by Candlelight! What is your favorite Christmas family tradition?