What does Christmas look like when seen through the prism of cultures that exist on different continents? This is the stuff that the following chapters explore as the traditions combine old and new ways for people to express celebrations that range from the deeply devout to the outright irreverent and secular.
In Northern Ireland, the icy waters of Belfast Lough offer participants of charity and endurance events an opportunity to take center stage. Indeed, every year, hundreds of participants meet at Helen’s Bay on Christmas Eve to take the plunge into the cold water to raise funds for charity. Air Ambulance NI and Dementia NI benefit from these efforts. This tradition dates back to Ireland’s festive swimming culture.
In Germany, the ringing of the Christmas Eve bell Reverberates from Frankfurt’s Römerberg square. This tradition takes place alongside Germany’s renowned Holiday Markets. Each year, there are approximately 2,500 to 3,000. In faraway Feldberg Mountain, Tractor & Bike owners meet for a strange but quaint alpine tradition. This is where one observes how culture is shaped by one’s surroundings.
In Beijing, a polar bear in a lift stops on the way to entertain customers. Although only about 20 million Chinese Christians pray every Sunday, Christmas in contemporary China takes a commercial form and assimilates various global concepts and locally unique ones, such as the distribution of the so-called “peace apples.”
Buenos Aires provides a different kind of warmth. Children play with bubble toys during a Christmas feast hosted for underprivileged people by labor activists. In this context, Christmas is an opportunity for extending solidarity. Such an occasion resonates with other Christmas practices in Latin America, such as Mexico’s “Las Posadas,” where they stage the search of Mary and Joseph for a place of stay.
In Bethlehem, a procession of Catholic clergy and pilgrims takes place under the direction of Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa to honor the Catholic Church of Nativity. This traditional location of Jesus’ birth serves to keep Christmas focused on its sectarian roots even in a rapidly secularizing global tradition. The necessity of moving through an Israeli military checkpoint adds a note of realism to this tradition.
The Indonesia Arena stadium in Jakarta shines brightly through electric candles lit up in a Christmas Eve celebration. Since more than 10% of Indonesian residents are Christians, this is only one aspect of a religiously vibrant culture, supplemented by its own tradition of penjor in Bali and community-focused sharing of food in a tradition of Ngejot.
A rowdier scene can be found in London’s Smithfield Market with its Christmas Eve Meat Auction, in which chunks of meat are chucked from above to willing recipients. Such practices, with their links to London’s commercial past, are no different from other quirkier festive traditions, such as that of Catalan’s Tió de Nadal, also known as “the pooping log” that children beat to retrieve treats.
Traditional Ukrainian-clad carolers sing in Kyiv’s metro stations on Christmas Eve, a moving performance in a land where holiday celebrations have been kept low-key by the ongoing state of war. The didukh, a symbol of wheat spirits, ancestors, of a bygone era, still nests a central place. The streets of Nazareth are lined with children in Santa Claus costumes eagerly watching the parade to the Basilica of Annunciation, integrating the worldwide symbolism of Santa Claus with the local significance of one of the most sacred places for Christians.
Image of illuminated churches in Ahmedabad, where the country’s 28 million-strong Christian population celebrates along with people of other faiths, but Christians still remain in the minority, portrays how each country celebrates Christmas in its style and manner.
The image of illuminated churches in Ahmedabad, where the country’s 28 million-strong population of Christians celebrates along with people of other religious groups, but remain in the minority, portrays how each country celebrates Christmas From icy plunges and candle-lit stadiums to reverent processions and joyful markets, each of these moments describes Christmas as more than a static memory or muse a live and ever-unfolding celebration.
