Archive for 2009

Regained Christmas – Christmas in Romania

20 years ago, after the fall of communism, Romanians earned their right to celebrate Christmas again.

Before 1989, Christmas was a forbidden word; but, in spite of these restrictions, most of us preserved traditions in our own homes.

In the Romanian villages tradition says that you must clean your house thoroughly, days before Christmas.

There is also a very important custom (called “Ignat”, in the honour of Saint Ignatius), to sacrifice a pig on the 20th of December, when the snow snow have already fallen and is cold enough.

Then, during 2 or 3 days before Christmas women prepare various delicious pork sausages, bacon and other mouth-watering meals like “sarmale“, made of pickled cabbage leaves stuffed with a mixture of pork and beef, rice, pepper and other spices. And also roasted pork and as a desert, “cozonac“, a cake filled with nuts and raisins.

Another beautiful custom is “Colind” (Romanian word for carol) – a group of people, usually dressed in folk costumes, who go from house to house singing Christmas carols, till morning. They are received in every house with great joy, because, according to tradition, they bring fortune and happiness . They receive knot-shaped bread and cakes, apples, nuts and money.

On Christmas Eve, the fir tree is brought into the house and decorated by the family members. Children believe that “Mos Craciun” (Romanian for Santa Claus) is the one who brings them presents, so they sometimes write letters to him to ask for their favourite ones: sweets, chocolates, toys, games, books and many more. But not only children receive presents from Santa; the adults in the family find theirs under the fir tree too, on the Christmas Eve.

First Day of Christmas is usually spent with all the family around the table, after attending the Christmas church service; the other two days are reserved for friends or neighbours.

For most of us, urban people, a lot of Christmas magic has lost.
We have Christmas lights in the streets, Christmas fairs with tons of Christmas presents to buy, a lot of Christmas events and concerts to attend and an abundance of meals on our tables.

But we can’t find the Christmas peace and harmony any more.

Come again tomorrow to find out more about Christmas in Catalunya.

Read more:
Christmas around the World
White Christmas? – Christmas in the UK
Windy Christmas – Christmas in Costa Rica

Christmas in Costa Rica: A Delightful Time of Traditions

In Costa Rica, Christmas is not white but windy. There’s no snow, but it’s the best time of the year, not only for the blue skies and cold nights, but also for the happiness that’s in the air. Once the dry season begins and vacations start, it can be said that Christmas is around the corner. The month of December is always full of festivities and get-togethers with family and friends, delicious food and traditions. Nice decorations are everywhere, from Christmas trees to lights in homes and streets.

A very popular Latin American custom during Christmas time is the “portal”, which is a nativity scene constructed of mosses, colored sawdust and figurines representing the birth of Jesus in the manger. The traditional figures are Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the three wise men, the ox and mule and shepherds. Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first nativity scene in 1223 (a “living” one) intending thereby to cultivate the worship of Christ.

The figure of Baby Jesus is placed on the “portal” at midnight on December 24^th. That’s also when the adults open their gifts, but children do it on the 25^th, as soon as they wake up. In Costa Rica Santa Claus isn’t the one who brings the Christmas gifts to the kids, they are brought by Baby Jesus while they are sleeping.

Another typical activity is the “posadas”, which take place during the nine days before Christmas. Originated in Spain and Mexico, the “posada” consists of a group of children and neighbors getting together at a different neighbor’s house each day to act out the pilgrimage of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, looking for a place to stay where Jesus could be born. This is accompanied by Christmas carols and prayers, and candies for the children at the end. There are always four kids who dress up as Joseph, Mary, the Angel and the Star, and the rest as shepherds, which is why they are all called the “pastorcitos” (little shepherds).

For almost all Costa Rican families, a Christmas season without “tamales” is just not complete. This delicious typical dish is prepared exclusively in December to eat during the year-end parties and celebrations. The “tamal” is prepared with corn flour dough stuffed with rice, vegetables and pork, then wrapped in plantain leaves. Making “tamales” is generally an activity which involves the participation of all family members, who pass it on to future generations. The “tamales” are eaten at any time of the day, and during the season, invitations to eat them at friends’ and relatives’ homes are common.

Once the popular festivals, parades, carnivals and parties in December are over, the closing ceremony to the Christmas season takes place in January. Neighbors then get together for the “Rosario del Niño”, a prayer for Baby Jesus, as a way to thank Him for everything received during the previous year.

Come back on Monday to read about Christmas in Romania, by Carmen.

Read more:
White Christmas? Christmas in the UK
Christmas around the world
Regained Christmas – Christmas in Romania

White Christmas? Christmas in the UK

Aside from the religious aspect, British people love to celebrate Christmas. Part of the reason is that it takes our minds off the terrible weather – when it doesn’t snow, the weather at this time of year is often cold, grey and wet. We’re always dreaming of a white Christmas, even though it only happens about once every ten years. Hopes are high this year though.

Coloured lights used to decorate the streets are a lovely way to light up the long, cold winter nights.

Inside the house we decorate our living rooms with a Christmas tree. We also decorate our houses with lights and tinsel.

We exchange presents and stack them under the tree, unless there are children in the house. Children hang out a big sock on Christmas Eve (24th December) and Father Christmas, also called Santa, comes in the night to fill it with presents. Children who want to impress Santa leave out a mince pie, which mysteriously disappears in the night.

Not many people know this, but it’s illegal to eat mince pies in England on Christmas day! During Oliver Cromwell’s rule (in the 17th century) Christmas was banned, and for some reason this law has never been changed.

Christmas day in the UK is celebrated on 25th December. On that day families exchange presents and then prepare and eat a special lunch. The most traditional food is turkey, but it’s not compulsory. Many people change from time to time. But one thing we never skip is Christmas pudding. It’s a very heavy pudding full of dried fruit. It must be a very British taste because I have never met anyone from outside the UK who liked this pudding!

For practising Christians, it’s traditional to go to church late on Christmas Eve for a service called midnight mass. For those who can’t stay up that late, there is another service on Christmas morning.

Come back tomorrow for Christmas in Costa Rica, by Nuria.

Read more:
Christmas around the world
Windy Christmas – Christmas in Costa Rica
Regained Christmas – Christmas in Romania

Christmas around the world

Over the next week we’ll be publishing a series of posts from our contributors around the world. Each day one of them will tell us about Christmas in their country.

Hope you enjoy reading about these different countries and their customs for celebrating the same festival.

Of course many countries of the world celebrate other festivals, not Christmas. We hope to be able to do this for different festivals and religions in future. If you’re interested in contributing stories about your country we’d love to hear from you. More details here.

Read the posts:
White Christmas – Christmas in the UK
Windy Christmas – Christmas in Costa Rica
Regained Christmas – Christmas in Romania
Magic Christmas – Christmas in Catalunya
Sunny Christmas – Christmas in New Zealand
Christkind or Weinachtsmann? Christmas in Germany

Scenes from Christchurch

Thanks to daily photo blogs, internet travellers can get a peek at cities all over the world with just one click. One of these cities is Christchurch, the biggest city in New Zealand’s South Island.

Christchurch is a picturesque city and, with its old buildings and the river Avon running through, some think it looks like a town you’d find in England. But it’s not all flower gardens and punting on the river as you can see from this blog called Christchurch Photo Diary. Life in Christchurch is depicted through daily photos about anything and everything that is going on.

Old and New Cashel Mall by Christchurch Photo Diary

Read more:
New Zealand’s volcanic vanilla
Summer rituals in New Zealand
Australian blogs on Blogs of the World

Meet Matthew and Shinichi

Where are you from?

(Matthew): I’m from the United States and Shinichi is Japanese.

Where did you meet?

We met in Tokyo twelve years ago when a mutual friend brought him to my birthday party.

What language do you speak at home?

The language we speak depends on the situation, but daily conversation is about half English and half Japanese. Once the subject turns serious (money matters, disagreements, etc) we tend to switch into English. We also have a large vocabulary of words in our own language – sort of a goofy blend of Japanese and English that have evolved over time to be completely incomprehensible to others.

Do you try to cook food from each other’s countries?

Like the way we speak to each other, our cooking is a mixture of Western and Japanese. Thai, Indian, Chinese, Mexican and Italian dishes are often on the menu as well. We always have yogurt, fruit and toast in the mornings – Japanese breakfasts of grilled fish and fermented soybeans don’t go well with coffee, in my opinion.

Can you explain one part of your partner’s culture that you found surprising?

Though my partner and his family are not religious, I was surprised at their observance of customs such as keeping a shrine in their home and the regular visits to the family cemetery plot. It was quite unnerving the first time I went to wash the gravestones as I literally felt a century’s worth of ancestors staring down at me.

With time I became more relaxed and now actually look forward to the tombstone-cleaning days – it reminds me that I am an accepted part of his family (accepted by the living ones anyway).

What’s the best thing about being in a cross-cultural relationship?

Obviously, this relationship has also allowed me to experience Japan in a truly fundamental way that no visitor could possibly imagine. However, after 9 years of being together, it rarely even occurs to me that our relationship is “cross-cultural”. A large number of our friends are also cross-cultural couples and I think that makes it seem rather like the norm as opposed to something special.

What’s the hardest thing about being in a cross-cultural relationship?

Worrying about what country we could live in together was that hardest part of our relationship. Although we have a marriage certificate from Canada, neither his nor my country recognize us as a couple. My ability to stay in Japan depended on whether or not I had a job and there is no way he could get a visa for the US so we were always anxious that there might be a day when we would have to live apart. We have been trying to immigrate to Australia – a country that does recognize our commitment. Recently, however, I was granted permanent residency in Japan thus diminishing the fear of being separated.

Do you have any advice for other cross-cultural couples?

Yes – learn each other’s languages and, if possible, spend a good amount of time in each other’s countries. This is key to understanding your partner’s perspective and it alleviates a good deal of miscommunication.

I also think spending time together in a third country is a fantastic way to strengthen your relationship. It puts you in a situation where you are both equally foreign and you learn to work as a couple instead of relying on the one who is in their home country.