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Tis’ The Season
To Be Slightly Different
TheChristmas season is upon us! It’s time for celebrations and feastingworldwide as
people celebrate this special day in their own, and sometimes unusual way.
T
here
is no celebration
that gets the whole world
going like Christmas,
regardless of religion,
geography or socio-
economic status. What
started as a religious feast
to mark the birth of Jesus Christ – a key
figure in Christianity – has become an
international party, with countries and
people all over the world developing their
own traditions marking and enjoying this
annual event.
You will no doubt have traditions of
your own celebrating Christmas day
and the season around it, but
how much do you know
about what rest of theworld
gets up to?
Donald Duck and early
buffets
In Sweden, Christmas eve is more
important than Christmas day, and
the Swedes celebrate the occasion
with a huge buffet known as
julbord
. In the afternoon af-
ter the feasting, 40-50%
of the country settle
down to watch
D o n a l d
D u c k .
Every year
since 1959,
Donald Duck
and Friends
has been on TV to wish everyone a happy
Christmas!
Apples and plastic decorations
Despite the fact that China manufactur-
ers most of the world’s Christmas tree
decorations, the celebration is not widely
celebrated as only around 1% of the
population are Christian. That being said,
a few traditions have developed, one of
them being wrapped apples given out
on Christmas Eve as the name of the day
sounds similar to apple in Chinese.
Gifting the best tree
Each year the biggest and
best fir tree grown in Nova
Scotia, Canada, is sent to
Boston as a gift in return for
the assistance they received
during the Halifax Explosion,
when much of the city was
destroyed just before Christmas
1917.
Moth meal
In South Africa, deep-fried caterpillars
of the Emperor Moth are a traditional
Christmas delicacy. It’s not entirely
known why the food is associated with
the season, but the caterpillars are known
to be nutritious!
Finger lickin’ festival
In Japan, thanks to a clever advertising
campaign by Kentucky Fried Chicken
(KFC) in 1974, it has become a tradition to
seek out the Colonel’s deep fried chicken
to celebrate Christmas. People have to
pre-order their chicken feast (which
comes with champagne) or face the long
queues that stretch out the door of their
nearest outlet.