Europe at Present [Spring 2003]
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Czech Republic – beware, death is coming...The Czech Christmas dinner consists of many dishes including fish soup, salads, vegetables, potatoes, eggs, and carp. The Czechs have several weird customs which, if not followed, may end tragically. There must be a even number of people sitting at the table. If anyone leaves the table before the dinner is finished or if a candle lit on the table goes out, it means that someone will die the following year. Therefore the Czechs always prepare everything before the meal start and always hold a spare box of matches under the table. After the Christmas dinner carols are sung and people attend the Midnight Mess. Children collect the presents that are hidden under the Christmas tree. A traditional Czech customs says that if a branch from cherry tree, cut before Christmas and put into water, blooms, a happy and wealthy year is coming and the winter will be short.320
Similar to Austrian customs, the Danes prepare a wreath that holds four candles that are lit on Sundays prior to Christmas. Candles are really important on Danish Christmas and thousands of then are lit by people in the streets, in their houses, everywhere. Christmas in Denmark is celebrated with great joy and happiness. In every company a Christmas Dinner is prepared for employers on Friday prior to Christmas. The Danish tradition say that families should always be ready to welcome a stranger on Christmas Eve. If a visitor is not welcomed and well fed in a Danish household, he may take the spirit of Yule (Christmas) away from the family. The traditional Danish Christmas Dish is a rice pudding with a white almond hidden in it. Who finds the almond receives the award – marzipan cake. Other Christmas dishes include goose stuffed with apples and prunes and served with red cabbage, caramel-browned potatoes, and lingonberry sauce. For dessert we should expect ris ala mande – rice mixed with sugar, vanilla, almonds and cream. Denmark is the only country that I know of, in which national flags are used to decorate the Christmas tree...321
It is not true that Santa Claus lives in the North Pole! Why should he live so far away from the reindeers and elves that live in Finland? Every child in Finland knows that Joulupukki – Santa Claus lives in Lapland, at Korvatunturi. Over one million letters addressed Santa Claus, Finland, Lapland comes to Finland every year. On Christmas Eve Joulupukki arrives in every Finnish house, asks if there are any good children and gives presents. Not only Santa but also animals are very important on Christmas time. Each family leaves some of the food outside, so that the animals can enjoy it and bring luck and happiness for the family.322
What is characteristic about French Christmas, is that the French do not consider Christmas Tree as a part of the celebration. Instead they use a Yule-log shaped cake called the Buche de Noel. As far as the Christmas Eve is concerned, the French eat a very late Christmas Dinner called la reveillon, which takes place after the Midnight Mass. The Christmas food differs among French regions. As a curiosity, we may say that in Provence, thirteen desserts are served to symbolize Jesus and twelve apostles. French Santa Claus is called Pere Noel and is quite different from what we are used to. He wears wooden shoes, carries gifts in a basket and uses a donkey to travel. Adults usually exchange gifts after New Years Eve. The Christmas time is also filled with songs called pastorales and carols. Families prepare Nativity scenes, which present scenes from lives of saints or santons.323
The preparation for Christmas in Germany begins on December 6, which is the St. Nicolas Day. Children prepare shoes or boots in which delicious holiday edibles are placed if the child was good and twigs if the child didn’t behave. The Christmas tree is an important part of Christmas. Germany is the homeland of Tannenbaum (Christmas tree) and therefore it’s truly important for the family to prepare a splendid tree. Children are not allowed to see the tree, decorated with with apples, candy, nuts, cookies, cars, trains, angels, tinsel, family treasures and candles or lights, before the Christmas Eve. After the Christmas meal, that consist of local dishes with obligatory white sausage, suckling pig and macaroni salad, children receive presents that are hidden under the tree. On the first Day of Christmas dishes such as Christstollen which consists of long loaves of bread bursting with nuts, raisins, citron and dried fruit, Lebkuchen, marzipan, and Dresden Stollen which is a moist, heavy bread filled with fruit, are served.324
There are two specific Christmas customs in Greece – chirosfagia and theophania. The first one’s translation into English is... pig slaughter. This custom comes from ancient times and bases on traditional way of slaughtering a pig, which is then eaten during Christmas time. Theophania or Epiphany in English has a more complex structure. First, people dressed in animal costumes, in order to remind of kalikantzari – gnomes, go around villages singing and collect sweets and food. At the end of this festival the priest blesses the water by throwing a cross into it, so that the bad spirits are sacred. Young men from the village dive for the cross, although the temperature is rather low (6th of January). The one who finds the cross in the freezing water has a good luck and health in the following year.325 |