| Christmas in Finland By: Christine Hammar November has barely begun and the radio is showering me with Christmas songs: "Joulupukki, Joulupukki, valkoparta, vanha ukki!" and "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" Except that is doesn't look like Christmas: it's raining, not snowing. It's dark, cold and wet. Not a very Christmassy sight. Luckily they have snow up North, in Lapland, where Santa lives. Rain or snow, Christmas shopping has to be done, the house must be cleaned from roof to basement and food prepared for the Holidays. Why, oh why didn't I buy the Christmas presents earlier? Now I have to find my way in a terrible rush amongst thousands of people! It's going to be hot and annoying. You lay as you make your bed, my Mom used to say, so people rushing about and sweating I will have to suffer. I have it! I'll start shopping tomorrow and have it done with before the big panic a few days before Christmas. The Little Christmas party. Whom shall we invite in the beginning of December to have a taste of Christmas before it's Christmas Eve? How many Little Christmas parties will we attend? Not many at this age, I believe. I long for Christmas Eve and all the traditional dishes: Swede Casserole and Sweet Potato Casserole, ham, salted Salmon and assorted herring. Almost everything can be found at the shops, so one does not have to try to juggle working, cooking and freezing the casseroles. All it takes is to season them a bit and to shove them in the oven. Baking the ham is a thing everybody does themselves. The morning of Christmas Eve wouldn't be the same without the delicious aroma of baked ham! Oh the joy of sitting down after the humongous Christmas dinner to enjoy candle light and the decorated Christmas tree! To open the presents in peace and quiet listening to old Christmas songs! After early morning church on Christmas Day, we'll have oven baked Rice Porridge, with a thickened soup of Prunes and Raisins. I've hidden one almond in the porridge and the one who finds it on her plate, will enjoy a prosperous year. It's a day of relaxation, peace and quiet. My children and my grandson as well as DH:s children and his grandchildren will visit us on St. Stephen's Day (Boxing Day). That's when we'll have dinner together. After the traditional long walk to settle our stomachs, we'll have a glass of warm Gloegg and some Fruit Cake. Finnish Gloegg 1 bottle of red wine 2-3 tablespoons Madeira (optional) 1/2 cup raw sugar, or to taste 1/3 cup raisins 1-2 sticks cinnamon 5-6 whole cloves peelings of orange 1/4 cup blanched, slivered almonds 1/4 cup vodka to spike it up (optional) In a large kettle, combine all the ingredients except the vodka. Heat slowly, until the drink is steaming hot. Stir every now and then, and taste with a spoon whenever you feel like it. Do not let the drink get even close to boiling. Just keep it warm. Before serving, add vodka if you wish. Read more: About Santa: http://www.santapark.com/ About Christmas in Finland: http://virtual.finland.fi/xmas/today/today.htm Traditional Festivities in Finland: http://virtual.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=26049 51 questions about Santa: http://virtual.finland.fi/xmas/santa/santa_a.htm Finnish Christmas Recipes: http://virtual.finland.fi/xmas/food/food.htm Christmas in India By: Neeldhara Misra India. Here roads are defined as sufficiently large collections of slushy potholes. Here every third building on either side is under construction. Here, nearly half the country's population struggles to live on less than US$1 a day. But dominating this rustic landscape are people, unaffected by the apparently underdeveloped state of affairs, singing, dancing and generally making merry, and doing so with special gusto if the season is winter and the month December. When it comes to festivities, the country has been tried and tested many times over, and every time the conclusion is the same - there is nothing that can dampen the Indian spirit of celebration. The lamps adorn the households as much on the inside as on the outside every year. Even when the meteorological department is announcing record-breaking rainfall, the flames remain as bright as ever. India boasts of a cultural heritage that is old, rich and unique. It has always absorbed traditions, customs and ideas from both invaders and immigrants. Religious practices are often public activities, imbued with pomp and vitality accompanying their underlying spiritual qualities. The country happens to be home to a Christian population of more than 26 million people. When it comes to Christmas, it is easy to see that the nature of celebrations here have been influenced considerably by the culture of various countries. The rituals are set on patterns that are generally accepted worldwide. Caroling processions on streets in the urban areas are commonplace. The bazaar is crowded with special bargains and discounts at this time. Markets, homes and churches take on festive air. Everyone gets high on the spirit of the festival. It is perfectly normal to find the non-Christian population celebrating Christmas with at least as much enthusiasm as their Christian friends, if not more. The festive spirit is truly contagious, and given the population of the country, it is nearly impossible to remain unaffected. Specific regional influences are observed in South India, and northwest India. Down south, particularly in the state of Kerela, small clay oil-burning lamps are used as Christmas decorations and are placed on roof-tops and outside houses. This has a curious resemblance to the customs of the traditional Hindu festival of lights, Diwali, which happens just a couple of months before Christmas. In northwest India, the tribal Christians of the Bhil folk, an aboriginal people, go out night after night for a week at Christmas to sing their equivalent of carols the whole night through. When one speaks of Christmas celebrations, it will be remiss to not mention Goa. At the end of every year, Catholic Goa comes to life. The Carnival, preceding lent, is the most important event at Goa. Similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, it is an extravagantly colorful occasion. Like any tourist guide will tell you, the idea is to dress your best and participate in the Missa de Galo. Party till you drop - literally. Beaches and roads are at their crowded best. Dance and music are an integral part of the celebrations. India, the fourth largest economy in the world, is home to a wide variety of problems, perhaps most noticeably the poor and declining standard of living of the masses. However, there is always a subset of the masses that is defined by people who care. And every occasion that gives them an opportunity to share their happiness with the rest of the immediate world around them is exploited to the fullest. The festival of Christmas definitely ranks as one of the finest of these opportunities. At this joyous season of dinners and laughing faces, it becomes all who are worthy to enjoy such mirth to the full, to think of the poor who, without our aid, can have no enjoyment... While the fire blazes on our hearth, and the table is covered so plenteously, let us think of the poor in their chilly hovels with bare tables, and of the yet more wretched objects, houseless wanderers in the open streets... Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol |
Christmas in Puerto Rico By: Victor Flores One of my uncles came to get me on Saturday, October 22nd, about 6pm, with his family, and we all headed towards another uncle's house. When we got there, we noticed they were getting ready for bed, and when we saw the lights go out, our little group began to sing Puerto Rican style Christmas caroling. We sing "aguinaldos" and "controversias". "Aguinaldos" are special songs were we repeat one virtue over and over again in a different manner but still rhyming. We played our maracas, "guiros" (ancient indian musical instrument), and our "4" guitar (something like the Hawaiian guitar). We sang "controversias", by pocking innocent fun at my uncles family. Everyone joined the singing, waking or startling those that supposedly went to bed. Not to mention the neighbors we awoke, they too, joined the fun. As my uncle let us in, his wife and kids prepared a table full of food such as , guava paste and white cheese, "pasteles"(green banana, other tropical vegetables ground and mixed with stewed pork, wrapped in banana leaves, cooked for an hour and fifteen minutes), stewed rice with pigeon peas, blood pudding, candied rice, coconut custard, and the piece d' resistance; a whole pork roasted on a BBQ pit for 6 hours. The first thing I headed for was the roasted pork, and worked my way to the potato salad. I must have gained a few pounds, and suddenly remembered that we had to visit more than 12 families' houses, before the night was over. So I gathered everyone, and we continued and went over to an aunt's house, repeated the dancing, singing, drinking and eating. I told everyone that Grandma was awake, so something like 30 cars full of people headed over there. Somehow she had gotten wind, (someone's cellular?) that we were on our way, and with the help of our oldest aunts, had the last, and best of the feasts ready for us. When I last looked at my watch, it was something like 7am on Sunday. I helped put the little ones to bed,(twenty to each bed), and the rest of us settled to a huge breakfast of fresh baked "water and lard" breads, home grown, roasted coffee (waking some of the kids up), home made goat butter and cheese, fresh fruits, and lots of alka-seltzer. Three days later a cousin of mine picked me up at 8pm, and "ooops i did it again". Besides December 24 (which is celebrated more than Christmas day), December 25 itself (where most of us celebrate it American style), December 3lst, January lst; Three Kings Day, January 6th is the biggest day, where the party continues until February 2 (Candelaria Day), where we throw out all kinds of junk and burn them. We cleanse the house, and bring in the "new". Of all the things I did, my favorite is getting together with family and friends. There's nothing like watching the children's faces light up, when they open their presents, brought to them by The Three Wise Men. Christmas in Sweden Combining an Ancient Holiday with 21st Century Family Values By: Kajsa Wiberg Meet Matilda. Every Christmas she rotates between celebrating the holiday with her mother and her father. Her two brothers and her half-brother also rotate, but all on different schedules. This year Matilda, her half-brother and one of her brothers are going to celebrate Christmas with their dad. The last brother is going to celebrate it with his mom and her current domestic partner. Also meet Elin. Every year she has to celebrate the holiday four times: with her parents, with her domestic partner's mom and dad separately, and with a grandmother who after a tough divorce with the father of her dad refuses to speak to the rest of the family. Or Frida, whose parents ditch their current partners every year to celebrate the holiday with the original family. Yes, celebrating Christmas in a country with one the world's top three highest divorce rates[i] can be a tricky business. But with features such as domesticated reindeer in the North, occasional snowfall, and an abundance of Christmas trees it can also been incredibly romantic. The evening of the 23rd is the big Christmas Tree Decoration night. It is the time when beautifully ornamented houses and barns are baked out of ginger bread, and all the presents are placed under the tree. Ideally, it is also the day when perfect little snowflakes start falling from the sky, covering the ground in a cotton like layer. On the 24th, there is usually quite a bit of traffic as people drive to the homes of those with whom they are having Christmas dinner. Then at 3 PM sharp, the streets die down to complete desertion as the whole country sits down to watch Donald Duck dubbed into Swedish on one of the government sponsored channels. It has been playing since 1960[ii] and only two yearly TV shows in Sweden[iii] attract more viewers than this one. At 4 PM when the show is over, we are reminded how close we are to the Arctic Circle as the sun has already disappeared, giving way to one of the longest nights of the year. Families and friends head into the dining room for the traditional Christmas dinner followed by present exchanges. Not for the sensitive stomach, the Swedish Christmas food starts out with sill (marinated pieces of raw herring) and snaps (flavored vodka taken as shots). Not enough to get your stomach rolling? Besides the traditional oven baked ham, main courses also include brown, green, and red cabbage along with anchovy casserole. The streets then remain empty and silent, only occasionally interrupted by taxis filled with people who must shuttle between different families during the holiday but are in no condition to drive after drinking too much snaps and Glogg (a hot Christmas spiced alcoholic beverage consumed with almonds and raisins). Not until the evening of the 25th, which is a major party day among teenagers and young adults, do the streets fill up with people again. At this point, the holiday is over except for those who have to celebrate it again with other parts of the family the next day. And then again the day after that. [i] http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsWorld.shtml [ii] http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalle_Anka_och_hans_v%C3%A4nner_%C3%B6nskar_God_Jul [iii] http://web.telia.com/~u54500113/tittarsiffror2003.htm |