Christmas Around the World
By Keenan Watt
Christmas Ornaments and World by gulfix from Getty Images Signature
Created in Canva
Christmas has been celebrated since 336 AD. For most, it’s a holiday that brings people and families together, it allows people to serve and give to each other, and it gives us an opportunity to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Elements and different celebrations of Christmas and Jesus’ birth can be seen across the world during the holidays, but how do different countries and cultures celebrate Christmas?
When you think of Christmas you probably think of a perfect scene filled with snow, decorated trees, and sweaters. But for NorthStar Academy students who are scattered over the globe, Christmas sometimes looks very different.
Elisabeth G. says that in Ukraine, “we haven’t really been celebrating Christmas until about two or three years ago. We always celebrated New Year’s. Under the USSR, the government didn’t want any religious holidays so they always celebrated New Year’s instead of Christmas and the tradition has kept up.” Elisabeth says that although they can’t celebrate Christmas explicitly, Ukrainians “would put up their ‘New Year’s trees’ and put ‘New Year’s gifts’ under the tree.” For Elisabeth, the Christmas season lasts from Black Friday until around January 13.
In Indonesia, Julia P. says that there isn’t much gift-giving except among ex-pats but “On Christmas Day, we always go out to visit our Indonesian friends or they come to visit us. There is always lots of rice, Kue, and Soto to eat and sometimes food from that family’s home village.” During their Christmas day visits, Julia visits above 15 houses, so they never stay anywhere for very long.
In China, Eden M. says that Christmas is also not celebrated as much because of the government. Nonetheless, “people in China sometimes think that Christmas is like Chinese New Year. During Chinese New Year people keep their decorations up the whole year, ergo they leave up Christmas decorations all year. The decorations consist of small trees with lights and occasionally paper snowflakes. Sometimes the cafes will play Christmas music. It also snows 6 months out of the year in our city because [we] are close to Siberia, so that definitely makes it feel like Christmas.” Similar to Julia P., Eden M. also says that “overall celebrating Christmas is mainly done between ex-pats.”
Other NSA students echo similar experiences, stating that in Caucasus, Christmas isn’t a big deal and that New Year’s is celebrated instead.
In South Africa, though, Christmas looks different too. Ciara W. says that “since South Africa is in the southern hemisphere, Christmas time is during the summer. Yet, South Africans still wholeheartedly celebrate Christmas by putting up artificial Christmas trees, giving gifts, spending time with family and friends, and having a huge feast on Christmas Eve. Gifts are opened on the Eve of Christmas, and on Christmas Day, most families go to the beach and eat seafood or cold meats because of the summer heat. South Africans usually keep their Christmas decorations up until after New Year’s.”
By getting a glimpse of different twists that are put on Christmas around the world, it is glaringly obvious that the world is made up of all kinds of colorful cultures, countries, and people. Yet, through every culture, there is a theme of spending the holiday season with loved ones. No matter where you are in the world and how you celebrate Christmas, it’s really just all about giving love and spending time with family, and most importantly, it’s all about celebrating the birth and life of Jesus. For without his birth, we wouldn’t be able to know what real love is.
Merry Christmas!
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Keenan W. is in 11th Grade and has been with NSA since 2019. She lives in South Africa with her family and their dogs on a grape farm. Keenan plays both the piano and the mandolin. She is also an avid reader, loves music, and enjoys watching 2000s movies. Some of her interests include psychology, criminal justice, international affairs, forensics, and politics. She hopes to one day pursue a career in forensic psychology.