Christmas in UK, USA, CR

Christmas = international holiday. The name Christmas comes from the words Christ and mass (Kristus a mše)

• Christians celebrate Christmas Day as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth
  • The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years.
  • Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born.
  • It can be dated back to the early Mesopotamians
  • The exact day of the Christ child′s birth has never been pinpointed
  • In 350 AD Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.
  • By 1100  Christmas had become the most important religious festival in Europe

Czech Christmas

• Decorate the house with advent wreath, candles, springs, mistletoe
• Decorate Christmas tree with  chains, balls, chocolates, stars,sparklers, angels and other ornaments.
• Bake home-made sweets

24th December

• watch children stories
• Fast until the dinner comes????!!!!!!!!!!-To see the golden pig. At least to avoid meat

Christmas diner

• Soup (fish, mushroom, lentil)
• Fried carp (carp fillets fried in flour with egg and breadcrumb coating)
• Potato salad

Presents

• After the dinner Baby Jesus rings a bell to announce that the presents are already there.
• Children rush to to the living room to open them.
• Baby Jesus still resists to the strong influence of Santa Claus.
• Sing Christmas carols around the Christmas tree.

Superstitions (pověry)

               Many old traditions are kept by some families:

ü  Girls toss the shoe (the direction of the tip shows whether the girl would get married or not)

ü  Floating walnut shells with candles in basin

ü  Cutting apples (regular star = good luck,  decayed cross = death)

ü  Going to a midnight mass

ü  Pouring lead to guess the future

ü  Keeping a scale of the carp in the purse to be richer in the following year.

ü  Hanging washing on Christmas Eve = bad luck

25th, 26th December

• visit our relatives or they come round for lunch.
• talk, watch TV
• Eat home-made sweets, open sandwiches

Christmas in GB

• Differ from Czech Christmas
• 24^th December = Ch r i s t m a s   E v e
• 25^thDecember = Ch r i s t m a s  D a y
• 26^th December = B o x i n g  D a y

Christmas Eve

• Decorate their house with brightly coloured paper, paper balls and chains, springs of holly with red berries, ivy, mistletoe.
• On the mantelpiece – christmas cards, X-mas stockings
• Nativity scene (crib) = Three Wise Man, shepherds, sheep, cows, camels and baby Jesus
• Shops open long (Harrod´s is closed when the Queen does her shopping there)

Presents

• At midnight Father Christmas will come down the chimney and bring some presents.
• Milk and cookies for Father Christmas
• Smaller presents = X-mas stocking
• Big presents = under the tree
• Children get up very early to open the presents.

Christmas tree

• Keeps standing until the Twelfth Night of 5^th January
• Queen Victoria´s husband, Prince Albert
• Brought this tradition from Germany to Britain.
• The first Christmas tree was lit at Windsor Castle in 1841

Christmas Day

• Dinner at noon or in the evening
• Roast turkey, potatoes and vegetables

Christmas pudding

(a special fruit cake made long time in advance.

Consists of many ingredients:

Beer, suet, carrots, treacle, breadcrumbs etc.

A coin = good luck

• crackers

Boxing Day

• The second Christmas holiday.
• Named after the tradition of giving dustmen, newspaper boys, milkmen, postmen small sums of money in boxes.
• Visiting relatives, friends
• Going to pubs

Christmas Carols

• Holly and the Ivy
• Silent Night
• Good King Wenceslas (about the Czech King)

Christmas in the USA

• December 24 – Christmas Eve
• December 25 – Christmas Day
• Christmas Day has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1870.
• Popular customs include exchanging gifts, decorating Christmas trees, attending church, sharing meals with family and friends and, of course, waiting for Santa Claus to arrive

History

• The popularity of Christmas grew until the Reformation, a religious movement of the 1500′s
• When Oliver Cromwell and  Puritans  took over England in 1645 they cancelled Christmas.
• Charles II returned the popular holiday. 
• The Pilgrims were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell.
• As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America.
• After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favour, including Christmas
• Christmas was declared a federal holiday in June 26, 1870
• Americans re-invented Christmas
• They changed it into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia
• Christmas  were a peaceful holiday bringing groups together across lines of wealth or social status
• In the years after the Civil War, Christmas traditions spread across the country.
• Sunday school classes encouraged the celebration of Christmas.
• By the last quarter of the nineteenth century, America eagerly decorated trees, caroled, baked, and shopped for the Christmas season
• Since that time, materialism, media, advertising, and mass marketing has made Christmas what it is today

Time before Christmas

• Before Christmas it is popular to decorate the house from inside and outside.
• houses are decorated with Santa Clauses and reindeers
• snowmen glisten on the front lawns.

December 24 – Christmas Eve

• Traditions are a big part of the holidays and Christmas Eve is no exception
• In the morning the search for the perfect tree begins
• It’s a tradition that the youngest child gets to choose the tree. 
• Than they decorate the Christmas tree, but always as a family.
• They are singing carols while decorating the Christmas tree
• After the tree is decorated everyone counts to three and then dad plugs it in
• The Christmas tree is topped by:
• a star to represent the Star of Bethlehem
• an angel which announces the birth of Christ
• Many family trees have ornaments from more than one generation
• Lights are a must and the more the better
• The tree is often placed so that it can be viewed by passers-by in the street. !!!!!!!!!!!
• Families get together for the midday meal or dinner
• the family comes to gather around the table, which has been beautifully decorated.

Christmas dinner and evening

• What are Americans having for dinner? 
• Turkey, ham, fish or the traditional goose.
• antipasto followed by pasta with crab sauce.
• plum pudding, homemade cookies, Italian pastries
• After the dinner they spend time together
• Christmas stockings for all family members (including pets) are put on the mantelpiece.
• Popular is reading Clement Clark Moore’s Twas the Night Before Christmas
• Before the children go to bed they put out milk and cookies for Santa – another tradition.
• Than parents wrapp presents and put them under the tree. 
• Every family has their own special Christmas traditions - passed down from generation to generation.

December 25 – Christmas Day

• Early in the morning children rush  to the christmas tree to unwrap their presents
• They open their christmas stockings as well.
• It is often a time of an extended open house with friends dropping by to bring gifts or just to wish everyone a happy holiday.
• Some families attend morning mass
• Various churches play an important part in the American Christmas.
• Many families feel that it is important to go to church on Christmas
• There are also a variety of associated activities such as : church dinners , live Nativity scenes, choir concerts, special church services

American Christmas symbols and traditions

• Red and green colour - Ancient people used holly to decorate their homes for winter. Holly is an evergreen which weathers the cold of winter, ancient peoples believed that the plant would lend its strength to their homes and families
• Angels - Angels nowadays differ from the older ones. They are more human-like. It symbolizes the devine guidance and protection that Mary and Joseph had during Christ´s birth.
• Ringing of a bell - The tradition goes back to the Middle ages in which the bells were the only form of sound to gather large crowds together
• A Christmas card - is a greeting card sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to the Christmas season. The custom of sending Christmas cards started in the U.K. in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole. Nowadays cards have all sorts of pictures on them: jokes, winter pictures, Santa Claus, romantic scenes of life in past times. Charities often sell their own Christmas Cards as a way raising money at Christmas
• Christmas seals - are labels placed on mail during the Christmas season to raise funds and awareness for charitable programs. Today the Christmas Seals benefit the American Lung Association and other lung related issues
• Farolitos - Also called luminaria. It is a small light or lantern (commonly a candle set in some sand inside a paper bag) which is of significance among New World Hispanics at Christmas time.
• Nativity scene - Also called crèche, or crib is a depiction of the birth of Jesus as described in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. St. Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first nativity scene. A static nativity scene is erected in homes and churches during the Christmas season. It is composed of figurines depicting the infant Jesus resting in a manger, Mary, and Joseph. Other figures: angels, shepherds, animals. The figures may be made of any material, and arranged in a stable or cave. The living nativity scene is often a popular local attraction for Christmas celebrants.
• Holly - The evergreen holly symbolizes eternal life. It is a man′s plant and is believed to bring good luck and protection to men. It is hung about the doors and windows to keep away witches, spells, evil spirits, goblins, and lightning.
• Christmas star - The Christmas star has traditionally been associated with the spirit of the celebration. The significance of the star can be found in the story related to the birth of Jesus Christ. The Christmas star symbolizes high hopes and high ideals.
• Mistletoe - A symbol of love, peace and goodwill. Mistletoe is an aerial parasite that has no roots of its own and lives off the tree that it attach itself to. The plant had special healing powers for everything (female infertility - poison ingestion.)
• Christmas stocking - Children all over the world continue the tradition of hanging Christmas stockings. Originally, children simply used one of their everyday socks, but eventually special Christmas stockings were created for this purpose. A Christmas stocking is an empty sock or sock-shaped bag that children hang on Christmas Eve so that Santa can fill it with small toys, candy, fruit, coins, or other small gifts when he arrives. These small items are often referred to as stocking stuffers or stocking fillers. Tradition says that a child who behaves badly during the year will receive only a piece of coal. By tradition, the stocking is hung on the fireplace. Since modern homes often do not have a fireplace, it is hung in any location under the assumption that Santa can find it wherever it is. Many families create their own Christmas stockings with each family member′s name applied to the stocking so that Santa (or the family members) aren′t confused about which belongs to whom.
• A Christmas wreath - made of mostly evergreen tree twigs, sometimes with pinecones and a bow made of red ribbon is a common Christmas decoration. The custom comes from the traditional celebration of the birth of Christ. It was later combined with the harvest and winter solstice festivals in ancient Rome.Wreaths that are displayed at Christmas time are in the form of a circle, signifying eternity. They also serve to wish people happiness in the new year. Christmas Wreaths are decorated with candles symbolizing the sun at winter solstice. With holly, evergreens, red berries, and pinecones, symbolizing the harvest. It is a symbol of growth and everlasting life . Christmas wreaths can adorn any part of the home, inside or out.
• A Christmas carol - A Christmas carol (also called a noël) is a  song whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general . They are traditionally sung before Christmas. Some carols like "Personent hodie", "Good King Wenceslas", and "The Holly and the Ivy" can be traced directly back to the Middle Ages. Another Christmas carols: O Christmas tree, The Christmas song, We wish you a Merry Christmas, Jingle Bells

Santa Claus and Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen,Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen!