Christmas is an exciting holiday for many people around the world, however it may be known as something different or celebrated in different kinds of ways across the world. Across the world Christmas is called different names depending on religion and the culture of the area. Christmas also varies across the world depending on the types of weather that area is receiving at that time. Some people may experience a white snowy Christmas, where others may be receiving a warm summery Christmas.
Christmas is the celebration of Jesus Christ, however others may refer to it as Hannuakauh, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Bodhi Day etc. Some of these celebrations may last several days. For example Hanukkah every year lasts eight days and eight nights, starting on December 7th through December 15th. These dates are based on the Hebrew month of Kislev, which usually coincides with November and December in the Gregorian calendar; the dates of Hanukkah do vary.
Hanukkah is a Jewish celebration, celebrated by Jews gathering with family and friends to light one additional candle in a candle holder called a menorah on each of the eight nights. The menorah holds nine candles one for each of the nights and one candle called the shamash which is used to light the other candles.
Another example of a similar celebration to Christmas is Kwanzaa. It is celebrated from December 26th to January 1st in African-American culture. Kwanzaa celebrates history, family, values the community and their culture. It is celebrated with candle lighting ceremonies, feasts, and reflections of past struggles and hopes for the future. Kwanzaa is celebrated because to honor your ancestors and to celebrate African and African-American culture. Most people do however celebrate both Christmas and Kwanzaa.
Christmas well still being called Christmas can still be very different across the world, or even just in the U.S. In Australia Christmas is celebrated during the summer season because it is located in the Southern hemisphere, giving people a warm weathered Christmas. Even in the U.S some people get warm weathered Christmas’s such as Hawaii. They celebrate a very tropical Christmas. A song that people in Hawaii sing to represent this tropical holiday is “Mele Kalikimaka.” Lots of Christmas decorations have attire to match the weather. Such as snowmen in sunglasses, or Santa in sunglasses. Where in the snowy cold winter Christmas’s people decorate with the opposite like snowmen with scarves.
As Christmas differs across the world peoples Christmas traditions in your own school varry as well. Two sophomores, Hannah Laforti and Ava Kohmari, here at Pitman shared some of their special Christmas traditions. Hannah shared that every year on Christmas her and her immediate family visit Great Oak Casinos and go bowling. To add to this her and her family also decorate gingerbread houses together. Similar to Hannah, Ava also bakes with her family however they bake cookies! She shared a very special Christmas tradition that she does with her family, every year they take a pickle ornament and hide it, until the next person finds it.
The way Christmas differs to people across the world or even in just your own school is what makes it so special and personal to that family. There are many different ways that people choose to celebrate such an important holiday. After reading this article hopefully you have learned some different Christmas traditions because Christmas is a very exciting holiday to many people across the world, no matter the name or traditional celebration.