CHRISTMAS%20IS%20COMING%20SOON

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• CHRISTMAS IS COMING SOON

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PARTNERS

• UK, France , Spain , Italy , Finland , Denmark ,
  Germany ,the Netherlands , Poland , Estonia ,
  Lithuania , Romania , Croatia

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(No Transcript)
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CHRISTMAS IN UK

• In the UK (or Great Britain), families often
  celebrate Christmas together, so they can watch
  each other open their presents!
• Most families have a Christmas Tree in their
  house for Christmas. The decorating of the tree
  is usually a family occasion, with everyone
  helping.
• Holly, and Mistletoe are also sometimes used to
  decorate homes or other buildings.

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CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE

• In France, a Nativity crib is often used to help
  decorate the house. French cribs have clay
  figures in them, not wooden ones. During
  December, some towns and cities such as
  Marseilles have fairs that sell Nativity figures.

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CHRISTMAS IN SPAIN

• New Year's Eve is called 'Nochevieja' or 'The Old
  Night' in Spain and one special tradition is that
  you eat 12 grapes with the 12 strokes of the
  clock at Midnight! Each grape represents a month
  of the coming year, so if you eat the twelve
  grapes, you are said to be lucky in the new year.

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CHRISTMAS IN ITALY

• One of the most important ways of celebrating
  Christmas in Italy is the Nativity crib scene .
• One old Italian custom is that children go out
  Carol singing and playing songs on shepherds
  pipes, wearing shepherds sandals and hats.

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CHRISTMAS IN FINLAND

• Finnish people believe that Santa Claus or Father
  Christmas lives in the north part of Finland
  called Korvatunturi (or Lapland), north of the
  Arctic Circle. People from all over the world
  send letters to Santa Claus in Finland. There is
  a big tourist theme park called 'Christmas Land'
  in the north of Finland, near to where they say
  that Father Christmas lives .

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CHRISTMAS IN DENMARK

• In Denmark most people go to a Church Service on
  Christmas Eve about 4.00pm to hear the Christmas
  Story. When they get home the main Christmas meal
  is eaten between 6.00pm and 8.00pm. It's served
  on a beautifully decorated table. Most people,
  after dinner, dance around the Christmas Tree
  before they open their presents.
• Most families have a 'ris á la mande' (a special
  kind of rice pudding, made of milk, rice,
  vanilla, almonds and whipped cream) for dessert.
  All but one of the almonds are chopped into
  pieces. The person who finds the whole almond
  gets a present.

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CHRISTMAS IN GERMANY

• A big part of the Christmas celebrations in
  Germany is Advent. Several different types of
  Advent calendars are used in German homes. As
  well as the traditional one made of card that is
  used in many countries, there are ones made out
  of a wreath of Fir tree branches with 24
  decorated boxes or bags hanging from it. Each box
  or bag has a little present in it.
• Germany is well known for its Christmas Markets
  where all sorts of Christmas foods and
  decorations are sold.

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CHRISTMAS IN THE NETHERLANDS

• For most children in Holland, the most important
  day during the Christmas Celebrations is 5th
  December, when Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas) brings
  them their presents!
• St. Nicholas' day is on the 6th December, but in
  Holland, the major celebrations are held on the
  5th December.
• On December, 5th children leave clogs or shoes
  out to be filled with presents.

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CHRISTMAS IN POLAND

• Poland is a largely catholic country and
  Christmas Eve is a very important and busy day.
  Traditionally it's a day of fasting and
  abstinence (not eating anything) and meat is not
  normally allowed to be eaten in any form. A
  special Christmas Eve meal called Wigilia
  (pronounced vee-GHEE-lee-uh) is eaten after the
  first star has been seen in the sky. It's also
  all meat free and might consist of Barszcz
  (beetroot soup), Uszka (mushroom ravioli),
  Pierogi (Pasta dumplings filled with either
  cheese and potato or cabbage and mushroom) and
  fish dishes (normally carp and herrings).

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CHRISTMAS IN ROMANIA

• The Christmas celebrations really begin on
  Christmas Eve, 24th, when it's time to decorate
  the Christmas Tree. This is done in the evening
  of Christmas Eve. In Romanian, Christmas Eve is
  called 'Ajunul Craciunului'.
• Carol singing (known as 'Colindatul') is also a
  very popular part of Christmas in Romania. On
  Christmas Eve children go out carol singing from
  house to house performing to the adults in the
  houses. They normally dance as well. The children
  get sweets, fruit, traditional cakes called
  'cozonaci' and sometimes money for singing well.
  Adults go carol singing on Christmas Day evening
  and night.

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CHRISTMAS IN LITHUANIA

• At Christmas time in Lithuania it is very cold,
  normally with snow and ice on the ground.
• Straw is a traditional decoration. Is it normally
  spread on the table top and then covered with a
  clean, white tablecloth. The table is then
  decorated with candles and small branches or
  twigs from a fir tree. The straw reminds people
  of the baby Jesus lying in a manger. A
  superstition says that if you pull a piece of
  straw from under the tablecloth and it's long,
  you will have a long life but if it's short you
  will have a short life and a thick straw means a
  rich and happy life!

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CHRISTMAS IN GREECE

• 1st January, New Years Day, is St Vasilis's Day
  who is also known as St Basil the Great.
• People in Greece also celebrate Epiphany on the
  6th January. In the Greek Orthodox Church,
  Epiphany celebrates Jesus's baptism when he was a
  man. It's also known as 'The Blessing of the
  Waters'. There are many events throughout the
  country where young men dive into really cold
  lakes, rivers and the sea to try to be first to
  get a cross which has been blessed by a priest
  and thrown into the water. Whoever gets the cross
  first is meant to have good luck during the
  coming year. Epiphany festivals also include
  blessings of boats ships, music, dancing and
  lots of food

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CHRISTMAS IN CROATIA

• Straw, symbolic of Christ's birth in a stable,
  plays a significent role in the traditions in
  some regions. On Christmas Eve, straw is
  scattered on the floor and placed under the
  tablecloth for the Christmas Eve meal.
• While the food varies in regions, you can always
  count on an extravagant array of desserts with
  countless cakes and cookies.

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CHRISTMAS IN ESTONIA

• Each year on December 24 the President of Estonia
  declares Christmas Peace and attends a Christmas
  service. Declaring a Christmas Peace is a
  350-year-old tradition in Estonia. The tradition
  began in the seventeenth century by the order of
  Queen Kristina of Sweden.