How Do You Stir Your Christmas Spirit in Your Culture?
Bringing people together, spreading love, and living life are the milestones that the event of Christmas aims to achieve at the end of every year. A new year should start with people making peace with their past and high spirits for the year ahead. Though Christmas is a religious festivity the traditions make it a global event. It is the only festive event that is celebrated in the whole world despite the religion.
Here in America, we wait for Santa, whereas in other parts of the world children are getting afraid of ‘Krampus; or bad Santa. While Santa Claus is mostly busy in America Italian children are treated by Belfana the Witch.
We live in a culture-rich society. If you walk into a crowded restaurant you’ll hear different languages from each table. Our co-workers, friends, and class fellows belong to different cultures so most of you may have knowledge about different myths and traditions related to Christmas but here I have listed the traditions that I find funny and noteworthy.
Hide Your Brooms People
Some of us are procrastinators, a busy life can make anybody lazy during the holidays. If your mother is insisting on cleaning, you just hide the brooms. No that’s not it. The reason for hiding the brooms is not that people in Norway are not fond of cleanliness, it is because they won’t let the witches find them.
In Norway, grandma’s story tells that the witches circle the sky in search of brooms around Christmas and they bring bad luck. So as a tradition people hide their broomsticks. What about vacuum cleaners? Any chance to get rid of those?
Sweden’s Donald Duck
You go to Disneyland do you say hi to Donald Duck? Well, people in Sweden love to hear Merry Christmas from Donald Duck and his friends. In 1958 Disney released a half an hour Donald duck cartoon movie in Sweden named ‘From All of Us to All of you’ many Disney characters gather to say Merry Christmas in the end. It still airs at 3 pm every Christmas and many people tune in. A whole generation grew up watching that, WOW!
Let’s Replace Christmas Tree
There are so many theories about the Christmas tree but they are still popular in Europe. New Zealand however begs to differ. They celebrate Christmas with their native flower tree named pōhutukawa. The tree has very beautiful crimson flowers. New Zealand and Australia have a summer season in December so on a bright sunny day, these red flowers are quite a vision.
I adore the Kiwis for sticking to their stance.
Cats Out of the Bag
Cats are furry, cute creatures with an attitude problem but if isn’t mice you got nothing to worry about. Iceland’s mythology begs to differ. The yule cat is a gigantic cat that devours naughty and lazy people. The yule cat chases the person with bad behavior and vanishes with him. Let’s not stir this fantasy any further.
Spirits Can Take a Bath in Finland
Most People have a sauna in their houses in Finland, lucky ducks, they believe that the spirits visit the sauna on Christmas. It becomes a sacred place as the spirits of ancestors are associated with that place. People take a stint in Sauna and then move on with their plans and then the ancestors stay in the steam and hot water.
Gingerbread House
If we are talking about weird traditions, the gingerbread house should also get a place. It’s a tradition that is inspired by a story, Hansel and Gretel. Americans took the feast of hungry kids too seriously. There is so much work to make a house from bread. Every year the cookies and bread are baked and decorated in various ways.
My personal favorite is grandma cookies. The warmth of a freshly made cookie speaks Merry Christmas to me more than anything else. Family and friends send cookies to each other if they can’t visit. The Funny Print Designs on the packaging can make you giggle.
Every tradition that brings a smile to your face, however silly they sound, should be practiced and adored. On Christmas, we don’t need to be sharp and rational. Silly things bring us together more than logic. Relive your childhood and enjoy this holiday season.
