Holidays in December
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What do people celebrate and how?
I practice Chanukah with the candle lightings, eating deep-fried foods, running services at a Retirement Home, and having friends over. It's a pretty secular celebration.
A friend of mine is on track to ordination in a Catholic Church. I've going to help with a soup kitchen and a potluck on Christmas Eve.
Anyone celebrate Festivus, Yule, Solestice, Kwaanzaa…?
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In my country one of the biggest December celebrations is St. Lucia's Day… which is coincidentally today! The celebration comes from stories that were told by monks who first brought christianity to sweden. It is celebrated by a girl dressing in a white dress with a red sash round her waist and a crown of candles on her head.
My family also celebrates christmas. On 24 December we have julbord which is basically a giant buffet or smörgåsbord specifically for christmas... julbord is very common celebration of christmas here.
We also watch Kalle Anka at 3:00 on SVT1 on 24 December... which for those who don't know is Donald Duck christmas special! It is a cool national tradition ;D
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What are the typical foods of the julbord?
The typical Chanukah foods are: Latkes (potato pancakes) served with applesauce and sour cream, soufganiot (jelly doughnuts), bimuelos (deep fried dough soaked in honey and orange-blossom water), cheese fritters, or samosas; depending where your family is from.
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Those sound delicious JohnAllenson ! My mouth is watering :cheesy2:
Of course there is some variance from household to household, but the staples here are commonly bread dipped in ham broth and a variety of fish (salmon, herring, whitefish and eel), baked ham, meatballs, pork ribs, head cheese, sausages, potato, Janssons frestelse, boiled potatoes, cheeses, beetroot salad, various forms of boiled cabbage, kale and rice pudding.
Traditionally julbord is had in “plates” instead of courses. Each plate would have a different theme: herring, fish, cold meat, vegetables, etc. My family does not observe this tradition though and we mix on plates ;D
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In my country one of the biggest December celebrations is St. Lucia's Day… which is coincidentally today! The celebration comes from stories that were told by monks who first brought christianity to sweden. It is celebrated by a girl dressing in a white dress with a red sash round her waist and a crown of candles on her head.
They were talking about that on TV here last year.
I live in Japan so I celebrate as Japanese do. Xmas is a romantic holiday when you take your partner out to a fine dining establishment and exchange small gifts. Next comes Osoji, or the big cleaning (basically spring cleaning in December).
For the Emperor's birthday I, personally, like to go the Imperial Palace to hear his greeting (he seems like such a nice man). Around the Palace and the adjacent shrines there are food stalls and booths set up, so it's like a mini festival that builds towards…
New Years. The 31st it's own day called Omisoka. Each family has their own unique traditions but they usually dovetail into watch a NHK TV show called Kohaku (a great honor to be invited on; it's a male/female singing/performance competition). Sometime before midngiht you have Toshikoshi Soba (basically soba noodles in soup with a very, very long shrimp). After midnight New Years begins and lasts for three days. That's the period when families get together, people go to the shirnes and temples, they go shopping at "bargains" plus a whole lot of local traditions. Even a place like Tokyo grinds to a halt.
Oh, and the food, Osetchi. They are different kinds of traditional foods served in special boxes. (Pic below) It's kind of expensive. The box I purchases is about 400USD plus I'll add more to it with home made dishes (after transfering it to the decorative boxes i have at home).
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22th december this year is Winter solstice festival 冬至 ( here from a transitional Calendar( solar term) here. most of us from north will eat hotpot with mutton or lamb served with dough pie. we sliced the pie into small pieces and put into the mutton soup, after it’s softened it’s time to eat. and put some haslet well better. finally we will eat BBQ or not.
sure it’s a very old festival maybe have 4000 years. at the ancient time, farmers will do the final irrigation at that day.
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In my country one of the biggest December celebrations is St. Lucia's Day… which is coincidentally today! The celebration comes from stories that were told by monks who first brought christianity to sweden. It is celebrated by a girl dressing in a white dress with a red sash round her waist and a crown of candles on her head.
My family also celebrates christmas. On 24 December we have julbord which is basically a giant buffet or smörgåsbord specifically for christmas... julbord is very common celebration of christmas here.
We also watch Kalle Anka at 3:00 on SVT1 on 24 December... which for those who don't know is Donald Duck christmas special! It is a cool national tradition ;D
Good for you!