The Holiday Season Abroad

Christmas in Japan

Christmas is a social event, not a religious event in Japan. City centres are decorated with trees with a variety of lights from early November.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are two of the busiest days in Japan.

People go out shopping, eating and drinking. Christmas Eve is particularly enjoyed by young people.  They celebrate by going for dinner at luxurious hotels and staying the night there. Christmas Eve is also a very important night for young Japanese couples.  If young girls are not invited out by their boyfriends on Christmas Eve, it indicates that the relationship will not last for a long time or that they will not get married.

Families also enjoy Christmas Eve by decorating trees at home, eating delicious food and special kinds of cake.

In general the Japanese are very flexible, which means they take only the good parts of festive events or customs. Therefore, during the Christmas season, the Japanese exclude the traditional religious meaning and just enjoy the glorious side of the event.

Christmas in Turkey

In Turkey, Christmas is not celebrated and there is no official holiday, though Muslims (some 99% of the country) recognise and respect Christ as a prophet.

On the other hand, probably inherited from the Ottoman era where there were a mixture of cultures and religions (peacefully living side by side for hundreds of years) some elements of the Christmas holiday seem to have found their way into the celebration of New Years Eve. We have the Christmas (New Years) Tree, the exchanging of gifts, the sending of New Year Cards and have a big dinner, including turkey as the main dish.

All of these activities are for celebrating the coming of the New Year and have no religious connotations.  There is, however, an interesting link between Christmas and Turkey. Saint Nicholas, known in Western culture as Santa Claus or Father Christmas, lived in Demre (a town in Antalya) which is in Turkey. In the Hellenistic period he was a bishop devoted to Christianity and the tradition of gift exchange at Christmas time has its origins from his practice of secret gift-giving.

 

Christmas in Serbia

Christmas in Serbia is, beside Easter, the most popular holiday. It is both a religious and public holiday celebrated for two days.

As Orthodox Christians, we celebrate Christmas on the 7^th of January. Usually Christmas in Serbia is snowy and cold.

Christmas is traditionally celebrated with a family gathering and the opportunity to visit friends and relatives. As a rule we spend Christmas Eve (the night of January 6^th) at home with our close family members gathered at the table for dinner. Fast food is served for Christmas Eve dinner like beans, fish, apple pie and dry fruits (plums, figs, apricots).

For Christmas lunch we usually have roasts – pork or turkey. It is interesting that after the lunch we cut the Christmas dry cake (usually similar to bread or dry walnut pie, depending on the part of the country) in which the hostess has put (prior to baking) a gold coin. It is believed that the person who finds it in his/her piece of cake will be happy and healthy that year (a symbol and tradition that many the families still follow). 

Some people attend church services both for Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

Christmas in Brazil

Christmas in Brazil usually involves a big celebration on Christmas Night. At midnight we exchange gifts - playing the Secret Santa game and wishing each other Merry Christmas.

Christmas day involves lunch, visits to friends and other relatives we didn’t get to see on Christmas eve. Some people go to church, but my family usually have a prayer at home.

Christmas lunch is turkey, salad, rice, ham, dry fruits, cherries, nuts and different deserts.

Christmas is in the summertime in Brazil, so it is weird to see Santa in winter clothes!
 

Our partner in Japan is Global Management Development