Christmas is an international holiday that is celebrated around the world in a variety of different ways and fashions. Depending on where you are at in the world at the time, you will see a number of different Christmas activities, stories and symbols.
In the United States, the melting pot of cultures results in a variety of different fashions, Christmas symbols and holiday traditions that are celebrated in the USA. For example, the European based tradition of the Christmas stories of Santa Claus is heavily celebrated.
The United States Post Office actually takes all of the letters that are mailed each year by children to Santa Claus and delivers them to Santa Claus, Indiana where a group of volunteers that call themselves "Santa's Elves" actually writes the kids back.
The citizens of Australia get to celebrate Christmas in the summertime. Instead of visions of snowy days and cold wintery nights, their Christmas days are filled with fun in the sun, picnics in the park and even swimming and playing on the beach.
Australians also have a huge population of traditional Roman-Catholic and Protestant worshipers. Many people attend Mass at midnight on Christmas day. When mass is completed, everyone goes home, gets some sleep and wakes up in the morning to open Christmas presents.
On the other hand, in Japan Christmas is not a religious holiday at all. Remember, the large majority of the Japanese population are not Christians. Despite this, the Christmas holiday is still celebrated, more for its commercial aspects than its religious aspects.
Although people still have to work on Christmas day, the Japanese still find time to celebrate the holiday anyway. One of the most unique experiences of the Japanese approach to Christmas is their Christmas dinner activities. Most places of the world have a large, home-cooked dinner in the home. In Japan, it is common for people to order a special Christmas Chicken dinner from Kentucky Friend Chicken, or KFC.
China also celebrates Christmas more for its commercial aspects as opposed to its religious aspects. In China, the Chinese word for Santa literally means "Christmas Old Man" in English. The Chinese do a lot of shopping and other Christmas activities as well.
Christmas is more of a prelude to the Chinese New Year, which is the major holiday in China. However, you can most certainly see celebrations in China for Christmas. Many of the commercial aspects like decorations, bright lights and greeting cards are celebrated and participated in by the Chinese people.
Christmas in France is similar to some of the other countries that we talked about but it has its differences as well. For instance, the Christmas tree is not very popular in France. Very few families spend time decorating and putting up Christmas trees.
One holiday tradition that is very popular in France is the placing of Christmas scenes outside of the home. These scenes offer an illustration of Christmas stories. In particular, the French populate their scenes with little "santons" or "saints". Besides the typical Christmas characters that you see in outdoor scenes, it is not uncommon to see figures of local French leaders and personalities as well.
As you can see, holiday traditions and Christmas around the world is as diverse as many of the Christmas activities and traditions of the various nations of the world. Despite the differences, one theme that remains consistent is the value of family and the joy of the holiday season.
Kerry Beck offers free advent calendars with daily Christmas activities to prepare your family for Christmas. Your family will discover more about Christmas history with some of the daily activities.
----------------------------------------------------------------
© Kerry Beck, 2008
You may reprint the above article as long as you don’t make any changes and you include the following bio with the article.
Kerry Beck offers free advent calendars with daily Christmas activities to prepare your family for Christmas. Your family will discover more about Christmas history with some of the daily activities. You can get her FREE Advent Calendar Countdown at http://www.ChristmasCelebrationIdeas.com | 
