BLUEFIELD, W.Va. -While people from all over the globe celebrate Christmas, how the holiday is observed may vary depending on where you are.
In the South American country of Ecuador, the big celebration isn’t on Christmas Day, but on the day before: Christmas Eve, with local Ecuadorian, Gabriel Blakman, recalling family coming over eight for a late dinner as they wait for a special guest at midnight.
“You know, Santa Claus comes during midnight to deliver the gifts… to the family members, especially our… obviously our younger kids in the family, Santa comes in and deliver the gifts personally to each one of them,” says Blakman, who moved from Ecuador at the age of 18.
Being a predominantly Catholic country, Blakman says much of Ecuador’s Christmas celebrations are religiously based, from music to a tradition that he still celebrates here in the States.
“The youngest family member in the house, wherever the place is we’re celebrating, has to… we have a nativity and Jesus, baby Jesus, the youngest family member has to put baby Jesus on the actual crib…” says Blakman, ”…My wife is the youngest one, so every year, she is the one that places baby Jesus in the crib.”
To Ecuador’s east, the Portuguese-speaking country of Brazil also celebrates Christmas on December 24th.
“So, at midnight, usually how I celebrate it is I got together with my family and then we do a quick prayer, thank the Lord for all of the year and then after that we eat which that’s the best part…” says Gabriel Santos, who moved from Brazil at 16 years old.
Santos says the party goes late, with gifts exchanged around two or three in the morning. He says much of Brazil’s Christmas traditions have come from the United States by way of Hollywood, especially depictions of a white Christmas.
“For me Christmas, how you guys celebrate it is more like in the movies because in Brazil it’s during the summer. So right now, it’s super-hot. I’m going to go there in a couple of days and it’s going to be super-hot. It’s going to be like summer Christmas and for you guys it’s like I’ve seen the movies and the snow, all the decorations and everything. So… that was the biggest difference, and I love it how it is here. If I could, I would bring all my family here to the U. S. every Christmas, so we could celebrate it here on this weather instead of hot and sweating and everything…” says Santos
While there are countries that may have gotten some of their traditions from the United States, the U.S. can attribute many of its Christmas traditions to Germany, including the Christmas tree. One German tradition was replicated at the Bluefield City Park: a collection of stands selling Christmas essentials.
“All the major places have like what they call a Weihnachtsmarkt or a Christmas market, and you could go there and there’d be stands that would sell ornaments, Christmas ornaments. Other places would sell maybe stuff like spices. And other stuff would sell food. And, you know, stuff like fresh, roasted almonds, and all the smell and everything. You know, you hear the Christmas music playing. It was a wonderful experience,” shares Richard Vogel, who moved from Germany at 18.
Vogel says Christmas is a longer celebration there, with a greater emphasis on the Advent. German kids also get their gifts delivered on Christmas Eve by the Christkindl, with Saint Nicholas coming earlier in December and acting a little differently than he does here in the States.
“…And he would come to your house, and he would knock on your door, he would bang on your door, and he would speak in a rough voice, and he had two things, he had a bag full of goodies, and a handful of switches, and they would ask you parents, you know, trying to intimidate you, have you been good or bad…”
Those we spoke to encourage people to consider adding some of these international Christmas traditions to your own celebrations, especially the ones that remind people of the story of Jesus’ birth or the ones that let you celebrate before the 25th.
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