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Information Library
CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD
Christmas celebrations, traditions and customs around the world
United States
Though late in warming to the celebration of Christmas, the United States has been more influential than any other country in the past 150 years in shaping the holiday. Its version of Santa Claus has influenced the personality of gift-bringers around the world; its menu and holiday calendar have been adopted widely; and where it has not driven out indigenous ideas it, at least, co-exists with them. It is the only country to have produced new characters in the Christmas myth in the last century: for example The Grinch, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and the Frosty the Snowman. Its role in the 21st century Christmas will doubtless be as interesting.
The following list of Christmas attractions in the United States will give an idea of the wonderful diversity of the holiday in this country:
Macy’s Parade
As early as 1889 a New York newspaper claimed that “as soon as the Thanksgiving turkey is eaten the great question of buying Christmas presents begins to take the terrifying shape it has come to assume.” Thanksgiving parades, especially Macy’s in New York, usher in the American Christmas shopping season late in November. The Macy’s parade is famous for its huge helium-filled balloons representing cartoon characters; the bow tie on “The Cat in the Hat” for example was 16 feet wide and his hat was two stories high. Two million spectators crowd the 2.5-mile parade route, while another fifty million watch at home. Presiding over the affair, of course, is Santa Claus, whose presence reminds the children of the approach of Christmas and parents of the film Miracle on 34th Street.
Christmas Pageant of Peace
Early in December the president of the United States officially illuminates the National Community Christmas Tree on the Ellipse just across from the White House, and a month-long Pageant of Peace begins. Visitors can view the huge living Colorado Bruce Spruce that is the National Tree and stroll along a boardwalk that connects it to 56 other living trees representing 50 states, five territories, and the District of Columbia. Along this Pathway of Peace are model railroad displays, a burning Yule log, a Nativity scene (subject of years of legal wrangling about its constitutional appropriateness), and concert band performances.
Colonial Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia, is the site of a remarkable village where life in colonial America is re-enacted. Electric candles replace real ones for the annual Grand Illumination, but all other decorations are made of natural materials such as greenery and berries. Visitors can see preparations for an 18th-century Christmas, take carriage rides, enjoy colonial-era Christmas meals, and learn how to make antique crafts.
Rockefeller Centre
The civic heart of the Christmas season in New York is Rockefeller Centre. In early December a massive tree is erected and illuminated with 29,000 lights, and the square is magnificently decorated. Up to 400,000 visitors a days enjoy the ice rink, admire the Art Deco architecture and murals, attend the nearby Radio City Christmas show with the fabled Rockettes, and admire the shop windows on Fifth Avenue.
Posadas, Farolitas, and Luminaria
In the southwestern United Staes, devout believers stage the POSADAS, or the search for lodgings of the Holy Family in Bethlehem. A couple representing Mary and Joseph, accompanied by followers, knocks at the door of a pre-selected house and begs a place to stay for the night. They exchange a ritual petition and responses until the couple is at last admitted, whereupon all pay their devotions to a little shrine and enjoy the hospitality of the house. This is often repeated nine times, culminating in a large celebration on Christmas Eve. Houses and yards are often lit at Christmas by farolitas, homemade lanterns in paper bags, or luminaria, bonfires.
Star Boys of Alaska
In Alaska, which was once owned by Russia and was evangelized by the Orthodox Church, a common sight at Christmas is a procession of STAR BOYS going about dressed as Wise Men. Following a lad with a star on a pole, they go from house to house singing carols to raise money for charity. On some nights they might re-enact the rage of King Herod and the search for the baby Jesus.
New Orleans Bonfires
Along the levees of the Mississippi during the Christmas season, people light bonfires in strange and wonderful shapes. According to locals, this is to help guide Papa Noel on his journey. On Christmas Eve paddle-wheelers cruise up the river carrying passengers to view the feux de joie, listen to a jazz band, and eat Cajun and Creole Christmas fare.
Sheepherders Ball, Boise
Many of the Basque settlers of the American west became shepherds, and this ball, inaugurated in 1929, is a celebration of both Basque culture and the approach of Christmas. The orgininal dress code of blue jeans for the men and cotton dresses for the women is no longer enforced, and the traditional midnight auction of a live lamb and turkey for charity has faded away, but the original exuberance and Christmas spirit of the dancers remain.
Taos Deer Dance and Los Matachines
In Taos Pueblo, native American stage two distinct dances during the Christmas season: the deer dance, in which participants wear the horns and hide of the animals they have killed earlier in the year; and a medieval Spanish dance called los matachines, in which the battles between the Christian Spanish and the Islamic Moors are re-enacted.
Philadelphia Mummer's Parade
The rowdy mumming and riotous public behavior that marked Christmas in the early 19th century was first suppressed and then channeled into expressions such as the over 10,000 enthusiastic participants march and strut in a parade. Club members in elaborate costumes replete with jewels, sequins, and feathers compete in four divisions – comics, fancies, fancy brigades, and string bands – for prizes and bragging rights.
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