Wacky Anne's Christmas Family Room: Christmas Customs from Europe, Part I

Belgian Noël/Kerstmisse Traditions

Customs: Children tie a hen and roosters legs together, then chase them. The boy who catches the rooster becomes "King", the girl who caught the hen is "Queen" (Feast of St. Thomas Dec.21)

Santa: St. Nicholas visits twice; on December 4 he comes to check into the behavior of each child, to find out if they have been naughty or nice. Then on December 6 he returns with just rewards for all, either presents or switches, which he leaves in the shoes or small baskets that have been placed inside near the doorway, where he will easily find them. Just to get on his good side there are snacks of hay, water and carrots left for his horse or donkey.

Activities: Christmasday religious celebrations and Nativity plays sponsored by the churches. They are often performed in 16th century costumes. In small villages, there are often three virtuous men chosen to portray the three Wise Men and go throughout the town, caroling at each doors and receiving small gifts of food.

Czech Vánoce Traditions

Some Christmas words in Czech: Christmas (vánoce)

Danish Jul Traditions

Julemanden arrives by reindeer-drawn sleigh, complete with a sack on his back, and elf-assistants called Juul Nisse or Juenisse . They live in attics and barns, and children leave out saucers of milk or rice pudding for them.

Festive foods includes roast goose stuffed with prunes and apples, and served with red cabbage; apple cake topped with freshly whipped cream and Risengrod, a special rice pudding in which a whole almond is hidden. The person whose finds that almond gets a special gift; The Almond Gift .

Horses and cattle are given extra food on Christmas Eve, and grain is placed outside for the birds.

English Christmas Traditions

For English children, Father Christmas is the one who brings the gifts. He wears long robes with sprigs of holly in his long white hair. Letters to him aren't mailed; they are thrown into the fireplace. If they go up the chimney, the wish will be granted Stockings are hung by the chimney or at the foot of the child's bed to receive small presents, which are opened Christmas morning.

Many familiar North American traditions came from England. Some that never really crossed the Atlantic include wassailing, yule logs, masses in old cathedrals, and Boxing Day.

Festive Foods include roast turkey or beef and desserts are mincemeat pies and plum puddings

Decorations: The Christmas tree central, however, it has never completely replaced the combination of greenery and mistletoe called the kissing bough. Bringing in the Yule log and the boar's head are not commonplace today.

The traditional Boxing Day - not the one of returning, or even exchanging gifts - began centuries ago. December 26 was set aside for the village priest to distribute the alms deposited in the poor box. More recently it has been celebrated by giving gifts to mailmen, newsboys and other public servants.

Superstitions: In Devonshire, a girl raps at the hen house door on Christmas Eve. If a rooster crows, she will marry within the year. In Hertfordshire, a plum cake is stuck on a cow's horn on Christmas Eve. Cider is then thrown into her face. If the cakes falls forward, it will be a good harvest.

Finnish Joulua Traditions

In Finland, it is Old Man Christmas or Joukupukki the Christmas Goat, who delivers the gifts. He comes from Lapland dressed in a long fur coat and hood with a white beard, riding in a reindeer sleigh and assisted by elves. The oldest Finnish tradition did not necessarily involve a giver of the presents at all: an unseen person threw the gifts in from the door and quickly disappeared.

Festive foods include boiled codfish served with allspice, boiled potatoes, rye bread and suckling pig.

Decorations: fir tree lit with candles, decorated with fruits, candies and tinsel; saunas decorated with paper stars.

Miscellaneous: December 26, St. Stephen's Day, people take rides through the country, racing their best horses.

Some Christmas words in Finnish: Christmas (joulu)

French Noël Traditions

Santa: Le Père Noël or Papa Noël; gives toys to children as does the Christ Child.; Papa Noël is sometimes accompanied by Le Père Fouettard (Father Spanker). Gifts are given on Le Jour de l'an (New Year's).

Festive foods include the Bûche de Noël, a log-shaped cake covered with chocolate to look like bark. after midnight mass, families return home to eat a late supper called Reveillon, usually consisting of oysters, wine and sausage.

Decorations: Nearly every French home at Christmastime displays a Nativity scene or creche, which serves as the focus for the Christmas celebration. The creche is often peopled with little clay figures called santons or "little saints." An extensive tradition has evolved around these little figures which are made by craftsmen in the south of France throughout the year. In addition to the usual Holy Family, shepherds, and Magi, the craftsmen also produce figures in the form of local dignitaries and characters. The Christmas tree has never been particularly popular in France, and though the use of the Yule log has faded,

German das Weihnachten Traditions

Season begins Dec.6, St. Nicholas' Day

Christkind (the Christ Child) is the present-bringer here. He is often accompanied by one of its many devilish companions, Knecht Rupprecht, Pelznickle, Ru-Klas, or one of the other monstrous playmates created by this nation, which is known for its fairy tales.

Baking provides the festive foods which include dozens of different cookies shaped or stamped with Christmas designs. Gingerbread, for eating and making houses and men, is especially familiar. Preparations are made weeks ahead of time.

Decorations: Tree: the center of attention, custom began here, every home must have one, decorated with lit candles to represent the stars; usually the mother who decorates the tree and no one is allowed in until it is finished. Other decorations include Advent wreaths, candles and calendars, as well as the creche.

Miscellaneous: toymaking by woodcarvers and other craftsmen

Superstitions: a blindfolded goose will touch first the girl in the circle who will wed first.

Greek Christuyena Traditions

Santa: Karkantzari; mysterious half-human, half-monster beings who wander around on the 12 days of Christmas to make mischief.

Festive foods include flat loaves are baked decorated with a cross on top, called christopsomo (Christ('s) Loaves/Bread).

Decorations:

Superstitions: A child born on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve in Greece he is feared to be a Kallikantzaroi. You burn your old shoes during the Christmas season to prevent misfortunes in the coming year.

Miscellaneous: Christmas Eve village children travel from house to house offering good wishes and singing carols called Kalanda.

Dutch Kerstmisse Traditions

Sinter Klaas (St. Nick) brings the gifts for Dutch children. They, in turn, stuff wooden shoes with hay and carrots, and place them on window sills along with a dish of water for his horse. His Saint's Day, December 6,

Festive foods include

Legends:

Miscellaneous: skating on frozen canals is a popular sport

Some Christmas words in Dutch: Christmas-tree (kerstboom) Christmas (Kerstfeest, Kerstmis), Christmas feast (Kerstfeest), Christmas tree (kerstboom), Father Christmas (Kerstman)

Irish ? Traditions

time for religious celebration rather than revelry

Legends: it is believed that the gates of heaven open at midnight on Christmas Eve. Those who die at that time go straight to heaven without having to wait in purgatory.

Santa:

Food: After the evening meal, the table is also set with bread and milk and the door left unlocked as a symbol of hospitality that the family is offering to Mary and Joseph and the little one to come. The only festive note that is struck is in the pudding that caps the meal. Three puddings are made early in December, one each for Christmas, New Year's, and Twelfth Night.

Decorations: The manger scene is in most houses and there are a few Christmas trees. The best-known Christmas custom is that of putting a candle in the window, often decorated with some greenery, on Christmas Eve. The idea is to help light the way of the Holy Family or any other poor traveller out on such a night.

Activities: The day after Christmas, St. Stephen's Day, witnesses the rowdy old custom of hunting the wren, when boys go from door to door with a wren on a stick (today the wren is not a real one), singing the traditional song and begging for treats.

Legends:

Miscellaneous:

Italian El Natal Traditions

La Befana, brings gifts for the good children, and punishment for the bad, on the feast of the Epiphany (January 6). According to legend, the three wise men stopped during their journey and asked an old woman for food and shelter. She refused them and they continued on their way. Within a few hours the woman had a change of heart but the Magi were long gone. La Befana, which means Epiphany, still wonders the earth searching for the Christ Child, leaving presents for the children she does encounter. She is depicted in various ways: as a fairy queen, a crone, or a witch.

A meat-less dinner is served on Christmas Eve, the pranzo delta vigilia, featuring capitone, roasted, baked or fried female eel. This meal is followed by a 24-hour fast ending in an elaborate Christmas feast, which might consist of tortellini, a capon and a variety of cakes.

Decorations: Christmas log, the Appo, is burned; each family builds a mini manger scene called a Precepio, the custom of which originated in Italy.

Some Christmas words in Italian: Christmas (Natale)

Miscellaneous: In Rome, cannons are fired from Castel St. Angelo of Christmas Eve to announce the beginning of the holiday season.