Christmas traditions unique to your country/region
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  Christmas traditions unique to your country/region
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TDAS04
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« on: December 19, 2014, 12:06:37 PM »
« edited: December 19, 2014, 12:16:02 PM by TDAS04 »

What are some Christmas traditions in your country or region that are not particularly common elsewhere? (special ceremonies, food, decorations, role of Santa, etc.)
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Donerail
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« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2014, 12:11:04 PM »

We make snowmen out of sand and hang lights in the palm trees.
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politicus
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« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2014, 12:15:49 PM »

We make snowmen out of sand and hang lights in the palm trees.

What country is that?
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Tender Branson
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« Reply #3 on: December 19, 2014, 12:33:06 PM »

Well, here there are a few different traditions that mostly vary by valley.

There's the pre-Christmas season starting in early December with St. Nicholas and Krampus coming to visit children who behaved over the year or who were naughty. Nikolaus will bring presents and candy to the nice children and Krampus will take the naughty children into a bag and take them with him and punish them with his rod.





In most of Austria, young men dress up as Krampus and Nikolaus and gather at town squares and hold ralleys and whip the onlookers (you are advised to wear 2 pair of jeans if somehow possible).

Watch Christoph Waltz explain this concept to Jimmy Fallon and Americans:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbkGuCozc9M

The 2014 Krampus run in my home town:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtCRjnwqdlQ
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Clarko95 📚💰📈
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« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2014, 01:32:17 PM »

Kolaches! Cheesy



... and shootings, because this is da Region. Sad
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Snowstalker Mk. II
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« Reply #5 on: December 19, 2014, 01:45:13 PM »

Well, here there are a few different traditions that mostly vary by valley.

There's the pre-Christmas season starting in early December with St. Nicholas and Krampus coming to visit children who behaved over the year or who were naughty. Nikolaus will bring presents and candy to the nice children and Krampus will take the naughty children into a bag and take them with him and punish them with his rod.





In most of Austria, young men dress up as Krampus and Nikolaus and gather at town squares and hold ralleys and whip the onlookers (you are advised to wear 2 pair of jeans if somehow possible).

Watch Christoph Waltz explain this concept to Jimmy Fallon and Americans:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbkGuCozc9M

The 2014 Krampus run in my home town:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtCRjnwqdlQ

Austria seems like a deeply disturbing place.
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angus
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« Reply #6 on: December 19, 2014, 03:57:11 PM »

In parts of Lancaster County, some children take a cup of oatmeal and place it in a Ziploc bag with a generous amount of glitter.  This is sprinkled upon the lawn before bedtime.  Presumably the glitter will catch the eyes of the reindeer and they'll be sure to stop at your house to nibble on the oatmeal.
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Joe Republic
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« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2014, 04:49:47 PM »

Families too lazy to cook a Christmas dinner will instead go to whichever casino they can eventually and pain-stakingly agree on, wait in line for the buffet for three hours, and then act passive-aggressive to the 'forgetful'/'slow' wait staff (and leaving a meager tip).

Same as Thanksgiving.
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Cranberry
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« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2014, 05:41:42 PM »

Basically what Tender already mentioned.

Also, we celebrate Christmas on the evening of the 24th, not just on the 25th (then of course too, but it starts a day earlier)
And we don't have Santa to bring the present, but the Christkind, which is supposed to be little Jesus flying through the air, bringing the presents through a window or whatever and putting them down under the tree.
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Fmr President & Senator Polnut
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« Reply #9 on: December 19, 2014, 06:41:31 PM »

That's easy - it's Summer here. So BBQs, lots of seafood and al-fresco dining .
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Linus Van Pelt
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« Reply #10 on: December 19, 2014, 06:49:48 PM »

A Christmas tradition in the United States involves getting into political arguments about phrases invented by schools and corporations that want to avoid signaling an assumption that Christianity is the default religion.
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Donerail
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« Reply #11 on: December 19, 2014, 10:38:51 PM »

We make snowmen out of sand and hang lights in the palm trees.

What country is that?

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snowguy716
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« Reply #12 on: December 20, 2014, 12:29:40 AM »

Lutefisk, meatballs, and lefse suppers at various places with all sorts of baked goodies for dessert.

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DC Al Fine
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« Reply #13 on: December 20, 2014, 08:58:29 AM »

Not quite a Christmas tradition, but a lot of people do lobster boils on New Year's Eve in my neck of the woods.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #14 on: December 20, 2014, 12:42:37 PM »

We imported most of ours from Germany in the 19th century, so...
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Tender Branson
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« Reply #15 on: December 20, 2014, 12:50:08 PM »

In addition to Krampus stuffing naughty kids into his bag* and punishing them with his rod (only figuratively-speaking, no child is ever hurt by a Krampus), there's also the Nudelsuppe-eating (noodle soup, with tiny pieces of Frankfurter sausages in it) on Dec. 24th.

We did that when I was smaller and when my dad was still alive.

These days, my brother always invites us to their home and we eat a huge turkey - after which the kids open their presents.

The Christmas tree is lighted up and the sparklers are burned down. Cookies get eaten. Christmas songs are sung. Then we talk and drink coffee, while the kids play with their presents.

Old people go to the Midnight mass. Usually we go to the Kids mass at 3pm (virtually the only time I ever get into a church during the year).

PS:

Kids actually like the Krampus:

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Grumpier Than Uncle Joe
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« Reply #16 on: December 20, 2014, 01:00:53 PM »

Visiting our locally owned seafood restaurant Red Lobster. It's a local gem.
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Tender Branson
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« Reply #17 on: December 20, 2014, 01:03:44 PM »

Austria seems like a deeply disturbing place.

No country for pussies.

Wink
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Cranberry
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« Reply #18 on: December 20, 2014, 01:33:54 PM »

Actually, to make everything a bit more disturbing, please let me show you what we do in my village instead of the whole Krampus thing. Interestingly, every other village in my area does the usual thing, which Tender already showed, but just we do something different, already on December 5th, and not 6th as it's usual everywhere else.

Instead of the Krampus accompanying the Nikolaus, we have the Tuifl, which is a dialect word for "devil". They wear nothing but red trousers, smear soot over their whole body, and run around that way all throughout the village, the whole afternoon, smearing and smacking everyone that else goes through the village. A few of them follow St. Nikolaus to the houses of children, and then either wait outside, or are allowed in, in turning smearing everything with soot.

It looks like this:



Yes, Austria is indeed a disturbing place Tongue
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Tender Branson
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« Reply #19 on: December 20, 2014, 01:44:17 PM »

LOL, that's odd. Hopefully the stuff they put on is removable again ... Wink

And are there really people who let these guys into their homes ? Do they clean the house for them afterwards ? Tongue

I fully understand the normal Krampus runs with the wooden masks, for which people often spend a whole year in carving them.

But some local customs are just really bizarre here. My sister recently went to a Krampus run with the kids and told me they put a young girl who was dressed as an angel into a wooded box that looked like a coffin and poured blood (or something red) onto her white dress, with a stake burning nearby.
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Cranberry
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« Reply #20 on: December 20, 2014, 01:47:44 PM »

Yeah... My grandpa earlier let them in every year, just because he knew my mum and my grandma were a bit scared of them Tongue

Well, it's quite hard to remove, actually. It takes it's time Tongue

Hahaha, really? That's gross.
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Hatman 🍁
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« Reply #21 on: December 20, 2014, 02:25:21 PM »

I can't think of anything we do in Canada differently than the US. Well, we believe Santa's address is in Canada of course (postal code H0H 0H0 ... which would put him somewhere around non-existent rural Montreal). The only thing that comes to mind is that we normally have Turkey for Christmas dinner, which I don't think is common in the US. Thanksgiving is in October, so it's far away enough that it wouldn't be "too much" turkey for the season. Oh, and we also have Boxing Day off (and the "Boxing Day sales" that go with it), but that's no different from other commonwealth countries.

 
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« Reply #22 on: December 20, 2014, 03:05:38 PM »

Nikolaus will bring presents and candy to the nice children and Krampus will take the naughty children into a bag and take them with him and punish them with his rod.

Austrians stole it from the American Dad.
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Oldiesfreak1854
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« Reply #23 on: December 20, 2014, 08:20:28 PM »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronner%27s_Christmas_Wonderland

We also have the Detroit Goodfellows, but I don't know of anything else in particular.
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traininthedistance
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« Reply #24 on: December 21, 2014, 12:30:19 AM »

The only thing that comes to mind is that we normally have Turkey for Christmas dinner, which I don't think is common in the US.

Some folks do turkey in the US, but it's one option among many possible "giant hunks of meat you throw in the oven for hours" rather than the thing that's traditional for everyone.  Given how often people roast whole turkeys in the USA outside of the final six weeks of the year... it is kinda common in a relative sense.

If I had to hazard a guess, I might even call it the second most-common entree after ham (especially if you don't lump the various cuts of beef together), but I don't actually have any solid numbers on that.

One of these years it might be fun to go old-school traditional and roast a goose.
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