Christmas 2020

[Mousetrap]

I'm sure not everyone knows that so I'll write a bit about Russian traditions 

First of all our Christmas is on the 7th of January. Yup  It is because Russian Orthodox church lives in Julian calendar, it is a traditional thing. In the times of USSR all religious celebrations were prohibited. But our authorities couldn't leave people without Christmas so they adopted Christmas attributes for new year's celebration. We don't have Christmas tree but we have New Year's tree which looks the same. We have Ded Moroz (ded - old man or grandfather, moroz - frost) and he has no connection with any saint. As long as Ded Moroz is a grandfather he has a granddaughter - Snegurochka  She has the word "snow" in her name - "sneg". Ded Moroz has sleigh and horses instead of reindeer, but he doesn't have elves.

 

And they looks like this:

 

 

Now Russian people can celebrate Christmas but New Year is still the main celebration of the year. We celebrate it with families and friends, and presents under the New Year's tree  

[krysady]

15 hours ago, Prisca said:

What do you mean by "not too quick"? The tree stays there for at least until the 6th January and I haven't seen one year where there weren't a lot of needles at the ground.

Only until 6th? Here we keep the tree the entire month of January, some even until the Easter , so that's why there's always needles everywhere 

 

6 hours ago, giraffeandy said:

 

As I've mentioned before, Saint Nicholas comes on the eve of 6th December. (That's "Santa Claus", isn't it?) 

No, Saint Nicholas it's on December 6 and Santa Claus comes on the Christmas Eve ( December 24), they are different characters in my country.

[krysady]

6 hours ago, TinyLove_CJ said:

I've been wanting to research more into my Welsh heritage and also Welsh culture/folklore, so with it coming up to Christmas how can I not share the tradition of the Mari Lwyd? (pronounced lloyd)

Interesting, thanks for sharing! We have similar traditions for Christmas and New Year holidays, but instead of the horse skull it's used a goat head made from wood and also people dancing and singing in bears costumes from door to door 

[TinyLove_CJ]

13 minutes ago, krysady said:

a goat head made from wood and also people dancing and singing in bears costumes from door to door 

I love it! I would totally invite them in to my home for Christmas dinner 😁

 

[giraffeandy]

3 hours ago, krysady said:

No, Saint Nicholas it's on December 6 and Santa Claus comes on the Christmas Eve ( December 24), they are different characters in my country.

 

Wikipedia says: Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa - and I have to say, for me it's the same person too, even though the tradition is a bit different. As I wrote before, on the Christmas Eve comes Baby Jesus. 

 

[Prisca]

4 hours ago, krysady said:

Only until 6th? Here we keep the tree the entire month of January, some even until the Easter , so that's why there's always needles everywhere 

My mom kept the tree until the 6th January because then it is the Twelfth Day and Christmas is definitely over (where I grew up children come and sing dressed as the Three Kings, ok at least three of them are dressed as kings , and they come normally on Saturday, I think, because then they have time, so sometimes maybe until the 10th of January but there was not later a tree in the living room). I think many Swiss get already rid of the tree at the 27th December and some maybe on the 1st or 2nd January.

[silver]

All our Christmas decorations have to be down by 12th Night (January 5th).  January 6th is Epiphany (arrival of the 3 Kings), which is a separate festival.

 

But long before Christianity people celebrated the winter solstice at this time of year. 

[Prisca]

I know, it's not exatly about Christmas but if you want to have white Christmas and need snow I can send you some, no worries, just need to ask.

 

[silver]

I'll order a box, please 

[Prisca]

3 minutes ago, silver said:

I'll order a box, please 

Is on the way.

[krysady]

I suppose this thing with 12 Days of Christmas is something specific for the catholic religion? Here on the orthodox tradition we celebrate Christmas only for 3 days  

 

2 hours ago, giraffeandy said:

 

Wikipedia says: Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa - and I have to say, for me it's the same person too, even though the tradition is a bit different. As I wrote before, on the Christmas Eve comes Baby Jesus. 

 

So it's a different tradition in each country, from what I understand. Tbh I've never heard of Baby Jesus bringing presents on the Christmas Eve, here it's Santa with his flying reindeers and this is what Wiki also says : 

"Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary character originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved children on the night of Christmas Eve (24 December) or during the early morning hours of Christmas Day (25 December)." 

 

It's interesting how every culture have so many similarities but also differences around the world 

[silver]

I think the 12 days of Christmas originated as a period defined by the early Christian church, before the split between Protestants and Catholics.  But like most festivals, it's picked up bits from other festivals (non-Christian) celebrated about the same time, like Yule and Saturnalia.

[Prisca]

26 minutes ago, krysady said:

I suppose this thing with 12 Days of Christmas is something specific for the catholic religion? Here on the orthodox tradition we celebrate Christmas only for 3 days  

I had also not heard before of 12 Days of Christmas and I live in the catholic/protestant region.

In Switzerland there are also 3 days (24th, 25th and 26th December). The 24th is actually a working day and we celebrate only in the evening Christmas.

11 minutes ago, silver said:

I think the 12 days of Christmas originated as a period defined by the early Christian church, before the split between Protestants and Catholics

So that's maybe a specific thing for the UK?

[Prisca]

Second German word for Cristina (krysady) and all other people who want to learn German (first one was "Winter").

(I kind feel like I'm doing an Advent calendar only that I just started Saturday and left out Sunday and it's already past midnight so actually as well Monday. Let's se how consistent I'll be the next days. )

 

So, the second word is:

reindeer = Rentier

A noun that starts in German with "Renn" has to do something with running. However, this is "Ren" so here it doesn't have a specific meaning.

Tier = animal

 

[giraffeandy]

9 hours ago, krysady said:

So it's a different tradition in each country, from what I understand. Tbh I've never heard of Baby Jesus bringing presents on the Christmas Eve,

 

The Baby Jesus / Christ Child... is the traditional Christmas gift-bringer in Austria, Switzerland, southern and western Germany, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the eastern part of Belgium, Portugal, Slovakia, Hungary, parts of northeastern France, Upper Silesia in Poland, parts of Hispanic America, in certain areas of southern Brazil, and in the Acadiana region of Louisiana.  So I guess it's mainly a tradition in Central Europe. But I was surprised that it's apparently also in Portugal and Latin America, I didn't know that either. 

 

Tbh, I always thought of Santa Claus as the American gift-bringer, probably because of all those Christmas movies and ads. So to me (apart from the Saint Nicholas tradition), Santa Claus is foreign and doesn't belong to our Christmas tradition. 

Edited December 8, 2020 by giraffeandy

[TinyLove_CJ]

Another tradition in my family, this time from Scotland, is the First Footing. It's for new year rather than Christmas and is something my grandfather started after he came out of the army. He was from Yorkshire but joined the Scottish Black Watch regiment and learned of this tradition while in Scotland.

 

The First Footing is to bring in good luck for the new year. Traditionally the darkest haired man of the family would be away from the house for new years eve but return before midnight with a bag of coal. His wife or oldest child would invite him in and exchange the coal for a drink. This is usually whisky or brandy. If the man doesn't bring anything then it's a sign of bad luck for the family. On the strike of midnight it's the start of Hogmanay in Scotland with plenty more drinking, singing and dancing. And of course eating haggis (yuck!).

 

If the darkest haired man has to stay at home on new years eve then the First Footing can still go ahead. Someone must place a bag of coal outside, usually near the back door and shortly before midnight the man will go out, pick up the coal and re-enter the house from the front door wishing everyone good luck!

 

Nowadays the gift doesn't have to be coal. It can be food, drink, Mika merch... Anything really! 😁

 

And I guess it doesn't matter these days if there isn't a man in the house, I'm sure the darkest haired woman will also bring good luck, if not more! 

 

I usually walk the dog a bit later on new years eve and come back in with chocolate!

[krysady]

11 hours ago, Prisca said:

A noun that starts in German with "Renn" has to do something with running. However, this is "Ren" so here it doesn't have a specific meaning.

Tier = animal

 

Thanks, now this is really helpful, it's much easier to learn German words using visual images 

2 hours ago, giraffeandy said:

So I guess it's mainly a tradition in Central Europe

Yes, it seems like that, I had no idea that this is not an worldwide tradition 

[Anna-is-golden]

Yesterday I made this small Christmas tree with my parents. It is still work in progress, we have to figure out how to hide the ugly base of the tree and we broke the top point, so we replaced it with a (broken) christmas ball that fitted on the top 😂😂🙈 

 

[Presci1108]

What an interesting topic ! There's so much beautiful traditions I don't know about ! I will read that. 

 

I'm from the same region than carafon, so it's basically the same thing, excepted our own family's traditions. 

 

For us, Christmas is very important; and since they always had children, my parents made it very well since i'm born. It's  beginning since the first of december and the beginning of our home's decoration. One week, it's the outside, one other, the tree and other interior's decorations. We reduced, but still have a lot of things. It was even more ten years ago. We were the most "visited" house of our village and used to see cars stop, so we didn't really have the choice. It was only in white lights. Now, it's wood stuffs we're making ourselves, mom and me. 

 

Then, we're making "braedele" in family, with my grand-mother. 

 

And then, we have the 24th december party, we reunite, normally, and Santa Claus' coming for the children of the family. This party, I love it when it's the Santa's moment, but it's also the most difficult time for me (I will write something in the autism's topic, on our relation with parties...) I really prefer the days when we're alone and calm. Then, we have also other family's members who come and, some years, our little Chrismas' walk we're making when it's not too rainy (with a little picnic in the cold...). And pratically each year, a day  in the mountain for the snow... In fact, we're making Christmas from the 1st to the 31 december.

 

This year, there will not have a 24th party, since covid is still there so we will only see each other little by little, but Santa Claus will not forget to visit anyway. And we decorated it like always. I will make pictures of our "Santa's house" 

[Prisca]

So, the third German word is:

elf = Elf

 

[TinyLove_CJ]

31 minutes ago, Prisca said:

So, the third German word is:

elf = Elf

 

The elf on the shelf! I think this became quite popular about 5 years ago and is still going strong. I find them creepy,  however...

Looking at 'Naughty Elf on the Shelf' pictures online each year does give me a right laugh! 

[Prisca]

7 minutes ago, TinyLove_CJ said:

The elf on the shelf! I think this became quite popular about 5 years ago and is still going strong. I find them creepy,  however...

Looking at 'Naughty Elf on the Shelf' pictures online each year does give me a right laugh! 

I heard from elf on the shelf the first time this year.

A friend is doing that with her children right now.

Edited December 8, 2020 by Prisca

[Prisca]

The fourth German word:

 

Tannenbaum = Christmas tree ("Tannenbaum" can also be used for fir, but I guess it is normally used for Christmas tree)

 

Tanne = fir

Baum = tree

 

 

And now that you know that, you can start singing: O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum...

 

[krysady]

13 hours ago, Prisca said:

Tannenbaum = Christmas tree ("Tannenbaum" can also be used for fir, but I guess it is normally used for Christmas tree)

Ah, I knew this one from the song! 

[giraffeandy]

This year I got into making beaded Christmas decorations, I've already gave away some pieces and I've bought more beads to make even more of them...I guess I will give some to family members.