Christmas Gems

Christmas Customs around the World

We all have our own ideas and phantasies what Christmas should be like.  Here in Northern Europe and in North America we dream of a ‘white Christmas’, meaning that, ideally, there should be snow at Christmas.  The weather should be crisp and cold and there should be starry skies to light Santa on his way.  More often than not it is mild and rainy here in the UK and in Ireland, whereas the East Coast of the USA is very often covered in snow and with different kinds of weather come different customs.

How, for instance do they celebrate Christmas in Australia where Christmas Day falls in the middle of summer?  What about Afrika where there certainly won't be any snow.  On the other hand Sweden, Finland and Norway have more snow than they can handle and there will be a white Christmas every year.

What is the history of the customs that the various countries practice for the Christmas season?  What customs have remained over the years and what customs have fallen into disuse.  As Western Europe and the United States is in the grip of rampant commercialism does anyone actually still pay attention to ancient customs and rituals or are we all much more interested in how many presents we will get and how much food we can cram onto the table?