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Christmas Traditions in Canada, the United States and Mexico Canada

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Christmas Traditions in Canada, the United States and Mexico Canada Christmas Traditions in Canada, the United States and Mexico Canada • Christmas trees are decorated and stockings are hung on the fireplace for Santa Claus to fill with gifts. • Cards and gifts are exchanged with friends and relatives. • Children put on pageants and go caroling. • In Canada, from 1875 onwards, Christmas lost its essentially religious character, at least for Anglophones and the upper middle class. Little by little it became a community festival which gave rise to much family merry‐making. New customs began to take root. Henceforth, the decorated Christmas tree, the crche with its santons or plaster figures, gifts and the Christmas "rŽveillon" became part of family tradition. • We decorate a pine tree with ornaments representing Christmas, buy or make each other presents that get wrapped in wrapping paper to be put under the tree so they can be opened on Christmas Day. Santa Claus is the person that who brings the presents. You aren't supposed to know what you're going to get, so that is part of the fun of Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve, December 24th, there is usually a turkey dinner and in the middle of the night, Santa Claus is said to come down the chimney and place the presents under the tree. Then he goes back up the chimney (he's magic) and flies to the next house in his sleigh with 9 reindeer pulling it through the air (it flies). On Christmas Day, all the presents are opened. In Canada, Christmas Day is celebrated on 25th December. The Christmas festivities here are quite similar to the American observance of the occassion. Pantomiming wearing masks is a popular tradition in Canada and comes from Newfoundland. In places like Labrador and Nova Scotia, local people wear masks and visit houses during the twelve days of Christmas, miming and making rude noises and actions, ringing bells and asking for candy or other treats. The mummers remove their disguise and stop behaving riotously if the hosts guess their identities correctly. They also quiz the children to check whether they have been good in the past year, and if they are satisfied, the kids receive candy as reward. Christmas decorations start here from several days before 25th December. In Quebec, elaborate nativity scenes are displayed in individual homes as Christmas decorations. Labrador City in Newfoundland organises an annual Light‐up Contest at this time of the year. People deck up the exterior of their homes with lights and often create big ice sculptures in their front gardens. Christmas is truly a white one here, with about 12‐14 feet of snow covering the ground during this period. On December 24, Christmas Eve, extended family members get together for a fun‐filled celebration. In places such as Labrador City in Newfoundland, many households hold Christmas cookie‐baking parties, where every participating family bakes their own kind of cookies and then exchanges them with the other members of their family. A variety of different cookies are to be taken home by each family at the end of the party. A mass service is held at midnight and attended by many. In Canada, tourtiere or pork pie is served to everybody who attends the Midnight Mass. After participating in the Christmas Eve Mass, many Canadian families(especially those of French descent) have a grand dinner that lasts well into the early hours of Christmas morning. The traditional Canadian Christmas dinner is known as 'Reveillon' and includes a delicious dish of roasted turkey with vegetables and sauces. A popular Christmas dish is "Boulettes" (small meatballs). The dessert is often a rich, fruity Christmas pudding with brandy sauce. Local candy companies also make special sweets for Christmas, known as Barley Candy and Chicken Bones! These are a great hit and eaten during Christmas, not only by kids but adults too. In Canada, children hold Santa Claus to be the bringer of their presents. Many of them hang their stockings to be filled by him with gifts and goodies. Many Canadians open their gifts on Christmas Eve, while others choose to unwrap only one gift on this day and open the rest on Christmas Day. • United States • Christmas trees are decorated and stockings are hung on the fireplace for Santa Claus to fill with gifts. • Cards and gifts are exchanged with friends and relatives. • Children put on pageants and go caroling. • The USA is so multi‐cultural that you will find many different ways of celebrating Christmas. A friend writes about Christmas meals, "Our family (Eastern European origin) favor turkey with trimmings. My grandparents and their relatives preferred keilbasi (Polish sausage), cabbage dishes, and soups. My husband's Italian family insisted on lasagna!" Another friend wrote: All year long children are told to behave, or they will get coal in their stocking. On Christmas Eve, they hang highly stylized stockings on the mantle of the fireplace, then go to bed early so that they will find presents in the morning. They are told that at midnight Santa will come, bringing a huge bag of toys. He will come down through the chimney, leave candy in the stockings and presents under the Christmas tree (anything from a Pine or Fir to a Spruce), then plug one nostril and shoot up through the chimney. Cookies are traditionally left for him, and a carrot is commonly left for Rudolph the Red‐nosed reindeer, very much a part of Christmas tradition (Santa will land on the roof with his sleigh and nine reindeer). On Christmas morning, things such as cinnamon rolls or coffee cake are served for breakfast, and for dinner there is typically ham (and occasionally regal plum pudding). That is it for celebration — Boxing Day is never celebrated, Epiphany is only celebated by Catholics, and Advent not commonly celebrated. • Another American reader wrote in with the following: Advent is celebrated in almost all Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant churches. I was RC until I was 15, as were my grandparents, and we alwasy followed the four weeks of preparation before Christmas in our church services. I found the same to be true in my father's Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, my friend's United Methodist Church, my in‐law's Presbyterian USA congregations, and for myself as a member and pastor of the United Church of Christ for the last 16 years. We also recognize Epiphany in mainline Protestant churches. On the first Sunday following January 6, our service tells again the story of the Magi who came to Jesus presenting their gifts following his birth. As a child, I fondly remember leaving carrots and sugar for all of the reindeer, along the milk and cookies for Santa! • In the United States, Christmas is observed on the 25th of December. • Here the festive season traditionally begins on the fourth Thursday in November, just after the Thanksgiving holiday. On Thanksgiving Day, a spectacular parade is taken out in New York City that has the smiling figure of Santa Claus participating in it. It indicates the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Department stores, shopping malls and small shops ready themselves appropriately for the season to attract shoppers and get them to spend quite a few bucks on Christmas trees, gifts, apparels, greeting cards and suchlike. • In the final days leading to December 25, small evergreen trees are seen to be established in every home and beautifully decorated with colored lights, tinsel, angels, stars and bright ornaments. The exterior of almost every house and the adjoining shrubbery is adorned with strands of electric lights. Strings of electric lights are used not only to adorn mantles and doorways, rafters, roof lines, and porch railings of individual homes but also of public/commercial buildings, departmental stores and even business hubs. Christmas trees are also seen to be set up in most of these places. It is often a pastime for the American people to drive or walk around neighborhoods in the Christmas evenings to see the lights displayed on and around other homes. Those with deep pockets are often found to place life‐sized, illuminated Santas, reindeers and snowmen on their lawns and roofs. Many churches and private homes display illuminated Nativity Scenes commemorating the humble birth of Jesus Christ. • Christmas Eve is not an official holiday here. Hence most people have to work. However, many workplaces hold Christmas parties or celebrations, so there is a celebratory air to the day. For kids, it is a day of great joy since most schools and other educational establishments are usually closed. In the evening, most people add final touches to their home decorations. Many also set up the Christmas tree in their homes on this day. Many organizations and department stores are usually open for last minute Christmas shoppers, but may close earlier. Many people travel to visit family members or friends on Christmas Eve. Some people, especially Roman Catholics, attend a Midnight Mass service at church and participate in singing carols. Traditionally, the midnight mass starts at midnight, the point of transition from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. Many Protestant churches also hold special services on Christmas Eve, complete with displays of beautiful manger scenes and candle‐lit religious observances. • The Christmas dinner in the U.S. includes turkey or ham, potatoes and pie. Cakes are of course, a must for the occasion. The menu also consists of a lot of desserts such as the "Crostoli," a fried bread spiced with orange peel (as made in Italian‐American communities) or the "Pfeffernuesse," a bread full of sweet spices (eaten by German‐Americans) or the "Berlinerkranser" ‐ a Norwegian wreath‐shaped cookie.
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