Christmas is coming in 2018. In addition to the traditional customs we are familiar with, such as Santa Claus, Christmas tree, gifts to each other, dinner and so on, what are the distinctive Christmas customs in various countries? Today's Xiaobian will take you to check the Christmas customs.
British Christmas cracker, bagel
Christmas firecracker is an indispensable part of British Christmas celebration. It is said that in 1850 a candy vendor in London made the first Christmas cannon.
The popular Christmas cracker is a tube made of hard paper, shaped like a very large fruit candy. Two people one person pulls a head, when the paper tube breaks, sends out the small explosion sound. People with big heads get small gifts, usually including a crown shaped paper hat, a small toy, a piece of paper with a joke, a riddle or a short story. After the Christmas party and the Christmas dinner, the guests usually pull the Christmas cannon. British people often make fun of it, saying the jokes are not funny at all, small gifts are ugly and useless, etc.
Bagel pie is an indispensable dessert for Christmas in England. In the beginning, the filling of Baiguo pie was meat, not today's dried fruits. At first, all the pies were oval. Now, most of the pies are round, which can be eaten hot or cold.
It has been said since the middle ages that if you eat a bagel every day for 12 days (until January 6) after Christmas, your life will be full of happiness in the next 12 months. On Christmas Eve, children in England will leave Santa Claus a bagel and brandy outside their home, and some carrots for his reindeer.
Good news on Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve, there is an interesting traditional activity in the United States, 'good news'. When it was late at night, the church choir would go from door to door and sing Christmas carols in unison, so the family would go out and warmly welcome them and sing together. After that, the host invited everyone into the room and served them with tea. After a bit of banter, the choir went to other people's houses to sing. At this time, the master's family often goes with them. The group of "good news" is getting larger and larger. They sing on their own, and the atmosphere of joy is increasing, often till dawn.
Hide brooms in Norway on Christmas Eve
Every Christmas Eve, Norwegians go to great pains to hide all the brooms. Many men take out hunting guns and shoot them into the air as a warning. There are also allusions: in local legends, witches and other kinds of demons will appear on Christmas Eve, and brooms are necessary for witches to travel in the Jianghu.
Austria, Germany and Hungary frighten children by playing monsters
According to a 500 year old folklore in the Alps, during Christmas, the monster known as the Cambrian punishes the unruly children. Campos originated from German fairy tales. Nowadays, young people dress up as monsters of Campos and travel in the streets of Germany, Austria, Romania and other countries just to scare children.
Spanish Christmas wooden people also eat
In Catalonia, every year, on December 8, every family has a little wooden Christmas man in a red hat. Every owner leaves something for the little wooden man when he eats, and wraps a blanket on the wooden man to keep him from starving and freezing. Then, when the children are not paying attention, the adults hide the Christmas gifts under the blankets, and the children will think that the gifts are really wooden people's' poop '.
Mexican carrot night
Every December 23, the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico holds the annual "vegetable carving competition". Carrots are seasonal vegetables, and works carved from carrots will be displayed until Christmas day. These miniature sculptures are lifelike and represent many Mexican folk stories. The origin of micro carvings of red radish is the sudden imagination of the local shopkeepers, who use micro carvings of red radish to attract customers. Over time, this custom has evolved into a three-day festival.
What's Christmas Day 2018?
Christmas date: December 25, 2015
Friday
Christmas (Christmas or Cristo Messia), translated as' mass of Christ '. Mass is a church service. Every year, December 25 is a day for Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. At Christmas, most catholic churches first hold midnight mass on the Christmas Eve of December 24, that is, in the early morning of December 25, while some Christian churches hold good news, and then celebrate Christmas on December 25. The other branch of Christianity, Orthodox Church, celebrates Christmas on December 1 7 June. It is also called Christmas because it is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus.
On this day, all Christian churches around the world hold special services. Christmas is also a public holiday in the western world and many other regions, such as Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia and Singapore in Asia.
Christmas is the abbreviation of Christ mass. Mass is a church service. Christmas is a religious festival. We celebrate it as the birthday of Jesus, so it is also called Christmas. On this day, all Christian churches around the world hold special services. But there are many Christmas celebrations that have nothing to do with religion. Exchanging gifts and sending Christmas cards make Christmas a day of universal celebration.
The origin of Christmas
Christmas is the biggest festival in the Christian world. At the beginning of the 20th century, the day of the month was a double festival in the eastern part of the Roman Empire to commemorate the birth and baptism of Jesus. It was also called epiphany, which means that God showed himself to the world through Jesus. At that time, there was only the Church of lulalem, which only commemorated the birth of Jesus but not the baptism of Jesus. Later, historians found in the calendar used by Roman Christians that the date of the birth of Christ was recorded in Bethlehem, Judas.
After research, it is generally believed that the date of the month with Christmas may begin in the Roman Church of AD) it was spread to Antioch of Asia Minor in AD, to Alexandria of Egypt in AD, and the Church of Nazarene received it the latest, while the Church of Armenia still insists that the epiphany of the month is the birthday of Jesus.
Moon day was originally the birthday of Mithra, the Persian Sun God (God of light). It was a pagan festival. At the same time, Sun God was one of the Roman gods. This day is also the winter solstice in the Roman calendar. The pagans who worship the sun god regard this day as the hope of spring and the beginning of the recovery of all things. Perhaps for this reason, the Roman church chose this day as Christmas. This is one of the measures that the Church tried to Christianize the customs of the infidels in the early days.
Later, although most churches accepted the date of the month as Christmas, they insisted that the calendars used by the churches in different places were different, and the specific dates could not be unified. Therefore, the period from the month day to the month day of the second year was defined as Christmas festival. The churches in different places could celebrate Christmas in this period according to the local conditions. Since the day of the month was recognized as Christmas by most churches, the original Epiphany on the day of the month only commemorates the baptism of Jesus. However, the Catholic Church also designated the day of the three kings as the pilgrimage day to commemorate the story of the three kings of the East (namely the three doctors) who came to worship when Jesus was born. With the wide spread of Christianity, Christmas has become an important festival for Christians and even non Christians.