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National Christmas Customs & TraditionsCustoms surrounding Christmas, vary from country to country. In most Western countries, Christmas celebrations have both religious and secular aspects. Since Christmas has become associated with the Northern Hemisphere winter, motifs of this season are prominent in Christmas decorations and in the Santa Claus myth. Many aspects, such as the Christmas tree, the Yule Log, and the giving of presents, were taken from the earlier pagan holiday of Yule and the traditional celebrations of the Winter solstice.
In many countries, businesses, schools and communities have Christmas parties and dances. These often take place during the several weeks before Christmas Day. Some groups put on Christmas pageants, which may or may not include a retelling of the birth of Jesus Christ. Sometimes groups may go out carolling, and visit neighborhood homes to sing Christmas carols. Other people are reminded by the holiday of man's fellowship with man and do extra volunteer work, or hold fundraising drives for charities. United StatesThe Christmas tree and skating rink at Rockefeller Center in New York City, and the White House Christmas decorations are important parts of the national Christmas celebration in the U.S. Also, NORAD "tracks" Santa Claus' global transit each year, to wide attention by the mass media. United KingdomIn the United Kingdom, another aspect of the Christmas season popular with young families is the pantomime, a form of theatre, incorporating song, dance, buffoonery, and satire, with a great deal of audience participation, including calls of "he's behind you", and "oh yes it is" or "oh no it isn't". Pantomimes tend to be loosely based on traditional children's stories, and are traditionally performed at Christmas, with audiences consisting mainly of children. AustraliaIn commonwealth countries in the southern hemisphere, Christmas is still celebrated on December 25, despite the fact that this is the height of their summer season. This rather clashes with the traditional winter based iconography, resulting in anomalies such as a red fur-coated Santa Claus surfing in for a turkey barbecue on Bondi Beach. Australia is slowly developing its own summer-Christmas traditions, with Christmas meals based on summer foods and fruits. Although Father Christmas is still displayed with his sleigh and reindeer, some sources insist that he switches to 'six white boomers' (kangaroos) to pull the sleigh on his 'Australian run'. MexicoMexico's Christmas traditions center around Posadas: a nine-day holiday beginning December 16 and ending December 24. It represents the difficulties that Saint Joseph and the Blessed Virgin faced in finding room when travelling to Bethlehem. In it, groups of children go from house to house singing a traditional song requesting lodging (posada). In each house, the owner responds with refusal (also in song), until they reach the designated site for the party, where the owner recognizes Mary and Joseph and allows them to come in. GermanyMany of our Christmas traditions have been adopted from German Christmas customs. As in most European countries, Germany celebrates Christmas with many religious traditions and overtones. Angels and the Christ Child play a big part in their Christmas folklore. The presence of this Child reminds German children that Christmas is not only for receiving gifts but also a time to give gifts and joy to those less fortunate. The Striezelmarkt, Germany's oldest Christmas market, boasting the specialities of the Dresden region, is arguably a worldwide Christmas gift production center which continues for nearly one month. This is the time when Dresden Stollen fruitcake, Pulsnitzer gingerbread, wood carvings from the Erzgebirge Mountains, Dresden Pflaumentoffel, Lusatian indigo print, Silesian ceramics, Bohemian glass, and Meissen porcelain dominate the lives of visitors who come from all over to thoroughly immerse themselves in Christmas. SwedenSweden's Christmas begins with Santa Lucia Day on December 13, in a ceremony where a woman portraying the early Christian martyr, Saint Lucia, candles attached to her head, leads a procession of other women holding candles. The candles symbolize the fire that refused to take Saint Lucia's life. The women usually sing christmas-carols during the procession. RomaniaThe singing of carols is a very important part of Romanian Christmas festivities. On the first day of Christmas, many carolers walk through the streets of the towns and villages, holding a star made of cardboard and paper on which are depicted various scenes from the Bible. Romanian tradition has the smallest children going from house to house, singing carols and reciting poems and legends during the whole Christmas season. The leader of the group carries with him a star made of wood, covered with metal foil and decorated with bells and coloured ribbons. An image of the Nativity is painted on the star's centre, and this piece of handiwork is attached to the end of a broom or other long stick. PolandPreparations for Christmas start with the Advent. It is especially important for religious Catholics. Christmas Eve (and Christmas in general) is an occasion for family reunions and everyone tries to spend the evening with their family. Christmas Eve is the peak of Christmas. Traditionally the Christmas Eve feast starts when the first star appears in the sky. Everybody gathers together and give each other their best wishes, breaking a special wafer with everyone. After the wishes the feast starts. It is said that by tradition it should consist of twelve meals. It might seem too much but because it is a fasting day all are rather hungry. No meat is consumed, rather fish, pasta, sauerkraut, mushrooms, beans etc. Usually after the meals are finished it is time for Christmas gifts. At midnight many people go to a special Mass in Catholic churches called Pasterka (Shepard's Mass). The first day of Christmas (December 25) is just celebrating in the family circle. The second day of Christmas (December 26) is for visiting friends and relatives. JapanEncouraged by the commercial sector, the non-religious celebration of Christmas is also popular in Japan, where gift giving is done between family members and between close friends. The Japanese also adopt the character of Santa Claus in their celebration. However, Christmas is not as important as New Year's Day, and is not an official holiday. Reverse to the western customs, Christmas is a day of partying in Japan, while New Year's Day is a day of family celebration. China and TaiwanIn the Republic of China and Taiwan, Christmas is not officially celebrated. However, coincidentially, December 25 is the date of the signing of the Constitution of the Republic of China in 1947. Hence there is already an official holiday on that date, which is largely treated as if it were Christmas.
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