 Merry Christmas! 

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by Choccy, Dec 23, 2016.



  1. Hello, dear KaWmunity! :)

    It's now the 23rd of December, or Lille Julaften as we say here in Norway (could be translated to "Little Christmas Eve" in English). And I thought it could be fun and interesting to look at all the different Christmas traditions there are around the world!

    In both Russia and Ukraine, Christmas is celebrated on the 7th January instead of 25th of December like in most countries. That is because the church uses the old "Julian" calendar for religious celebration days.

    In Ireland, it is a tradition to leave mince pies and a bottle of Guinness out as a snack for Santa Claus.

    In the Czech Republic, it is a tradition that single women, with their backs to the house door, throw one of their shoes over their shoulder. If the shoe lands with the heel towards the door, she will not get married the next year. While if the front of the shoe points towards the door, she will move out of her parents' house and start making wedding preparations.

    In Norway children wait for the Julenisse, the Norwegian Santa Claus, to bring presents to them on Christmas Eve (24th of December). And according to a Norwegian ancient belief, witches and evil spirits would emerge on Christmas Eve in order to steal brooms to ride the skies. Thus, on Christmas Eve, all brooms and similar cleaning implements are hidden.

    Gifts in many countries in Africa are much more simple and not much of a focus, going to Church is the main focus. On an African Christmas table you will ususally find lamb, pork and seafood. And instead of using pine or fir tree, many African people use mango and palm trees and decorate them with bells and fake snowflakes.

    In Germany they hide a pickle in the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, and the first child to discover it in the morning receives a small gift.

    In Slovakia, at the beginning of the Christmas Eve dinner the oldest man takes a spoon of loksa pudding and throws it at the ceiling. The more that remains on the ceiling, the richer the crops will be the following year.

    A tradition in Great Britain dictates that each member of the family must stir the christmas pudding mix in a clockwise direction before it's cooked, making a wish as they do.

    For many people in Japan, the traditional Christmas dinner is Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). It's so popular and well marketed that you would have to make a reservation in order to eat at a KFC on Christmas in the country.

    In the USA, they've a tradition called "The Running of the Santas". Each event sees scores of people - dressed as Santas - taking part in a large bar crawl.

    In the countries Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, and the Czech Republik, they've a Krampus Run of sorts, where people are being chased by other people dressed as Krampus (a creature, half-goat, half-demon, that scares children into being nice).



    Here's also a few Christmas fun facts:

    1. Norwegian scientists have hypothesized that Rudolph’s red nose is probably the result of a parasitic infection of his respiratory system.
    2. According to data analyzed from Facebook posts, two weeks before Christmas is one of the two most popular times for couples to break up. However, Christmas Day is the least favorite day for breakups.
    3. Oklahoma was the last U.S. state to declare Christmas a legal holiday, in 1907.
    4. Santa Claus is based on a real person, St. Nikolas of Myra, who lived during the fourth century. He is the world’s most popular non-Biblical saint, and artists have portrayed him more often than any other saint except Mary.
    5. Telling scary ghost stories is an old Christmas Eve tradition that has died out in the past century.
    6. A large part of Sweden's population watches Donald Duck cartoons every Christmas Eve since 1960.
    7. During the Christmas of 1914 (World War 1), a truce was held between Germany and the UK. They decorated their shelters, exchanged gifts across no man’s land and played a game of football between themselves.
    8. The people of Oslo, Norway donate the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree every year in gratitude to the people of London for their assistance during WWII.


    This year, instead of making a gingerbread house, I actually made a chocolate house, consisting of milk chocolate, Non-Stop (similar to Smarties) and powdered sugar. I used melted chocolate to glue the chocolate bars together. Here's a picture of it! :)



    What do you think about the different traditions above? Do know about any traditions or fun facts not stated above? What Christmas traditions do you have? Use this thread to discuss, and remember to follow the Terms of Use, located here! :)

    And the end of the thread, I just want to wish all KaW players a


    Sincerly,
    CH0C0LAT3
     
  2. Bruh! You left out KRAMPUS? Sorry...no support
     
  3. I like your house.
     
  4. Amazing thread chocolate
     
  5. Great thread! Great house!

    Do I get dibs on the "door" of that house? It's so creative
     
  6. I actually read about it when doing research for this thread, but forgot to add it. It has been added now! :D

    And thank you guys, for your nice comments! :)
     
  7. In the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA it is a tradition to drink until you forget that you hate spending time with your extended family.
     
  8. You misspelled have in the part about Japan, FYI.
     
  9. Merry ❄ Christmas☃️ Chocolat3
    we appreciate all you do 
     
  10. That chocolate house is very very cool. I never would have thought to let melted chocolate cool to bind the walls.

    Merry Christmas and a wonderful thread
     
  11. Damn! Sign me up for the milk chocolate house. TBH I don't even like gingerbread.
     
  12. Very nice thread CH0C0LAT3!
    Any specific countries in Africa? It's a bit inconsistent to name all these other countries and be vague about African countries. In (The Republic of) Congo people just use artificial Christmas trees and indeed the focus of the holiday going to church.
     
  13. Thank you very much everyone! :D Spent a lot of time on that, the most difficult was to carve out the windows and the door. The rest wasn't as difficult, waiting on the different parts and the melted chocolate to cool down was what took the most time.

    The source where I got that information from didn't state any specific country, it just said that that was the tradition in many African countries. I can try to find out more about it, but I think it's a bit unnecessary to list a lot of different countries! :)
     
  14. Thank - you chocolat3!! And Merry Christmas to all!! ;D
     
  15. To add to Hungary. Our version of Santa Claus... Szent Miklós (saint Nicholas) comes on December 6th. Children leave out their boots to be filled with treats if they were good. If they happened to be bad they would find sticks in their boots to be given to their parents for a good ol yuel tide beating.......
     
  16. Sweet thread Chocolate. Merry Christmas.

     
  17. Great thread and very interesting and educating.
     
  18. Do we know why japan eats kfc on christmas? Just a marketing campaign? Real question ive wondered but never tried looking it up lol


    Anyways merry christmas
     
  19. Merry Christmas Chocolate and everyone!!!!
     
  20. Fantastic thread chocolate.
    A truly enjoyable read and I learnt something new.
    Best wishes for Christmas and the new year to yourself and all of the kaw community.