Since Father Christmas visits so many Countries on Christmas Eve, he has mastered how to say "Merry Christmas" in so many different languages, and in some cases, he even learned how to wish children a Happy New Year! Below is a sampling from a few of the countries he has visited:
Chinese: (Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun
Chinese: (Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
Choctaw: Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito
Cornish: Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth
Czech: Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok
Danish: Glædelig Jul
Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! or Zalig Kerstfeast
Finnish: Hyvaa joulua
Flemish: Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar
French: Joyeux Noel
Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr!
German: Froehliche Weihnachten
Greek: Kala Christouyenna!
Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka
Hebrew: Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
Hawaian: Mele Kalikimaka ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou!
Hungarian: Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket
Icelandic: Gledileg Jol
Irish: Nollaig Shona Dhuit, or Nodlaig mhaith chugnat
Iroquois: Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut
Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie
Japanese: Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto
Korean: Sung Tan Chuk Ha
Latin: Natale hilare et Annum Faustum!
Lithuanian: Linksmu Kaledu
Navajo: Merry Keshmish
Norwegian: God Jul, or Gledelig Jul
Pennsylvania German: En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr!
Polish: Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie
Portuguese:Feliz Natal
Russian: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom
Spanish: Feliz Navidad
Swedish: God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År
Turkish: Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian: Srozhdestvom Kristovym
Yugoslavian: Cestitamo Bozic
Having visited many of the European countries, I've always been very interested in customs and traditions of our host countries. Below are some of the Christmas traditions from some of the countries that we have either lived, visited, or in the case of Ireland and Australia, will someday get to!
Christmas in Austria Christmas in Australia Christmas in Canada Christmas in Denmark Christmas in England Christmas in Finland Christmas in France Christmas in Germany Christmas in Greece Christmas in Holland Christmas in Ireland Christmas in Italy Christmas in Norway Christmas in Poland Christmas in Russia Christmas in Spain Christmas in Switzerland
The feast of St Nicholas marks the beginning of Christmas in Austria. The saint accompanied by the devil, asks children for a list of their good and bad deeds. Good children are given sweets, toys and nuts. Gifts which are placed under the tree are opened after dinner on Christmas Eve. Brass instruments play chorale music from church steeples, and carol singers, carrying blazing torches and a manger from house to house, gather on the church steps.
Christmas in Australia is often very hot. Whereas the northen hemisphere is in the middle of Winter, Australians are baking in Summer heat. It is not unusual to have Christmas Day well into the mid 30 degrees celcius, or near 100 degrees farenheit.
A traditional meal includes a turkey dinner, with ham, and pork. A flaming Christmas plum pudding is added for dessert. In the Australian gold rushes, Christmas puddings often contained a gold nugget. Today a small favor is baked inside. Whoever finds this knows s/he will enjoy good luck. Another treat is Mince Pies.
Some Australians and particularly tourists often have their Christmas dinner (midday) on a local beach, Bondi Beach in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs attracts thousands of people on Christmas Day. Other families enjoy their day on a picnic. If they are at home, the day is punctuated by swimming pool, playing Cricket out the backyard, and other outdoor activities.
The warm weather allows Australians to enjoy a tradition which commenced in 1937. Carols by Candlelight is held every year on Christmas Eve, where tens of thousands of people gather in the city of Melbourne to sing their favorite Christmas songs. The evening is lit by as many candles singing under a clean cut night sky. The sky with its Southern Cross stars is like a mirror. Sydney and the other capital cities also enjoy Carols in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
Australians surround themselves with Christmas Bush, a native plant which has little red flowered leaves.
Christmas celebrations are quite similar in the variety to America. In some provinces, a big winter festival, called Sinck tuck, is celebrated by the Eskimos, with dancing and a present-giving party. In Labrador, turnips are saved from the summer harvest and are given to children, with a lighted candle pushed into a hollowed out hole. In Nova Scotia, a country settled by Scottish highlanders, songs and carols brought from Britain two centuries ago are sung each Christmas morning.
Each Sunday in Advent, guests are invited to join in the lighting of the candles on the Advent crown. Adults drink a warming mixture of red wine, spices and raisins, and children drink a sweet fruit juice, like strawberry. Everybody eats small cakes of batter which have been cooked over the fire in a special pan, and dusted with icing sugar.
The English enjoy beautiful Christmas music. They love to decorate Christmas Trees and hang up evergreen branches.
One of England's customs is mumming. In the Middle Ages, people called mummers put on masks and acted out Christmas plays. These plays are still performed in towns and villages. The English gift giver is called Father Christmas. He wears a long red or green robe, and leaves presents in stockings on Christmas Eve. However, the gifts are not usually opened until the following afternoon.
Christmas in England began in AD 596, when St. Augustine landed on her shores with monks who wanted to bring Christianity to the Anglo Saxons.
Everybody's house is given a very good clean in readiness for Christmas. Hours are spent in the kitchen cooking and baking special treats for the festive season. Fir trees are felled, tied onto sleds, and taken home to be decorated. A sheaf of grain is often ties to a pole, together with nuts and seeds and placed in the garden for the birds. Many of the peasants will not eat their Christmas dinner until the birds have had their dinner.
On Christmas Eve, children leave their shoes by the fireplace to be filled with gifts from Pere Noel. In the morning they also find that sweets, fruit, nuts and small toys have been hung on the tree. In cathedral squares, the story of Christ's birth is re-enacted by both players and puppets. In Southern France, a log is burned in people's homes from Christmas Eve until New Years Day. A long time ago, part of the log was used to make the wedge for the plough as good luck for the coming harvest.
Christmas preparations often begin on the eve of December 6th, this is known as St. Nicholas Eve. Also, children leave their boots by the back door to be filled with goodies if they've been good all year or with switches if they've been naughty.
People often set aside special evenings for baking spiced cakes and cookies, and making gifts and decorations. Little dolls of fruit are traditional Christmas toys.
Children leave letters on their window sills for Christkind, a winged figure dressed in white robes and a golden crown who distributes gifts. Sometimes the letters are decorated with glue and sprinkled with sugar to make them sparkle.
Germans make beautiful gingerbread houses and cookies. The German Christmas tree pastry, Christbaumgeback, is a white dough that can be moulded into shapes and baked for tree decorations. In parts of Germany, people believe that the Christ Child sends a messenger on Christmas Eve. He appears as an angel in a white robe and crown, bearing gifts. The angel is called the Christkind. There is also a Christmas Eve figure called Weihnachtsmann or Christmas Man. He looks like Santa Claus and also brings gifts.
Some homes in Germany have several Christmas trees, and in all towns across Germany, they can be seen glittering and glowing.
On Christmas Eve carols are usually sung by small boys to the beating of drums and the tinkling of triangles. They go from house to house and are given dried figs, almonds, walnuts and lots of sweets or sometimes small gifts. There is a tradition kallikantzeri, where the mischievious goblins appear from the earth during the 12 days of Christmas. At Christmas very few presents are given to each other. Instead, small gifts are given to hospitals and orphanages. Priests sometimes go from house to house sprinkling holy water around to get rid of the bad spirits who may be hiding in people's houses. In most Greek homes an evergreen tree is decorated with tinsel and a star placed on top. Gifts are exchanged on January 1st, St Basil's Day. On Christmas Eve, groups of people gather around the holiday table. Figs, dried on rooftops are served with the spicy golden Chrisopsomo bread. As people arrive they greet one another by saying Hronia polla or many happy years. The table filled with food may include such dishes as kourambiethes, a Greek nut cookie.
St. Nicholas arrives early in Holland with his gifts, in November. He is dressed in Bishop's robes and journeys in a boat with his helper who is called Black Peter and who wears Spanish clothes. It is said that the pair live most of the year preparing lists of presents and writing every child's behaviour in a very large book. Many people go to Amsterdam docks to greet him. He mounts a snow horse and rides through the streets in a great parade, amid many festivities.
December 5th is Sinterklass Eve, and presents are given and received.
Farmers in Holland blow long horns at sunset each evening during the Christmas period. The horns are blown over water wells which makes the sound extremely loud. This is done to announce the coming of Christmas.
All Dutch children know that Sinterklaas lived in Spain, where he spends his time recording the behaviour of all the children in his little red book, while Piet stocks up on the presents.
Ireland's Christmas is more religious than a time of fun.
Lighted candles are placed in windows on Chrismas Eve, as a guide that Joseph and Mary might be looking for shelter. The candles are usually red in color, and decorated with sprigs of holly. Irish women bake a seed cake for each person in the house. They also make three puddings, one for Christmas, New Year's Day and the Twelfth Night. After the Christmas evening meal, bread and milk are left out and the door unlatched as a symbol of hospitality.
A strict feast is observed for 24 hours before Christmas Eve, and is followed by a celebration meal, in which a light Milanese cake called panettone features.
Presents and empty boxes, are drawn from the Urn of Fate - lucky dip, which always contains one gift per person. By twilight, candles are lighted around the family crib (Presipi), prayers are said, and children recite poems. At noon on Christmas Day the pope gives his blessing to crowds gathered in the huge Vatican square.
Norwegian children always remember a little gnome Nisse at Christmastime. Hr guards all the farm animals, and he plays tricks on the children if they forget to place a bowl of special porridge for him. A favorite holiday cookie is called a sand kager; is made by mixing 2 cups of butter and sugar, 4 cups of flour, and 1 cup of chopped almonds. This pressed into a tin, baked until golden brown, and cut into squares.
In the dark afternoons, in the Viking tradition, children go from house to house asking for goodies.
Traditionally, Advent is an important season in the Polish year, with special church services, known as Rororaty, being held every morning at 6am. The four Sundays of Advent are said to represent the 4,000 years of waiting for Christ.
During Advent and, in some homes, on Christmas Eve, bees wax is poured on water, and fortunes are told from the shapes which emerge. (This was also a German tradition my children really enjoyed but it was done on New Year's Eve in Germany.)
Special tasks carried out during Advent are the baking of the Christmas piernik (honey cake) and the making of Christmas decorations. Pierniki are made in a great variety of shapes, including hearts, animals and St Nicholas figures. Traditional decorations include the pajaki (spiders), which are handmade mobiles, stars and decorated egg shells.
Beautifully lit Christmas trees are placed in all public arenas, outside churches and in homes. Traditionally the trees are decorated with shiny apples, gift walnuts, beautifully wrapped chocolate shapes and many home-made decorations and candles. On the top of the tree is a star or a glittering top piece. In many homes, sparklers are hung on the branches of the trees giving it a magical air. Sometimes the trees are left standing until February 2nd, the feast day of St. Mary of the Candle of Lightning.
During Advent, the Gwiadorze (star carrriers) used to begin wandering through the towns and villages and this would continue until Epiphany. Some of the Gwiadorze sang carols, others recited verses or put on Szopi (puppet show) or herody (nativity scenes). The last two customs are developments from traditional manger scenes or Jaselka (crib).
Christmas Eve, Wagilia, is an important part of the Polish Christmas, in fact, the most important rituals are celebrated on this day.
On Christmas Day, hymns and carols are sung. People gather in churches and are decorated with the usual Christmas trees (Yelka), flowers and coloured lights.
Christmas dinner includes a variety of different meats - goose and suckling pig are favourites. Baboushka is a traditional Christmas figure who distributes presents to children.
Hay is spread on floors and tables to encourage horse feed to grow.
The role of Father Christmas was played by Dedushka Moroz (Grandfather Christmas).
Most homes have a manger, like cathedrals and churches. These are complete with carved figures. During the weeks before Christmas, families gather around their manger to sing, while children play tambourines and dance.
Shoes are placed on balconies on the night of the 6th January in the hope that the Wise Men will fill them with gifts.
A tinkling of a silver bell heralds the arrival of Christkindli - a white clad angel, with a face veil held in place by a jewelled crown. The tree candles are lit as she enters each house and hands out presents from the basket held by her child helpers. The week before Christmas, children dress up and visit homes with small gifts. Bell ringing has become a tradition, and each village competes with the next when calling people to midnight mass. After the service, families gather to share huge homemade doughnuts called ringli and hot chocolate.
Here are a few good links to Christmas pages for a few European countries:
URL: http://geocities.datacellar.net/bettyannet/cmasworld.html
Date Modified: 05-17-01