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Post by The Phantom Lady on Dec 5, 2011 4:03:30 GMT -5
I couldn't find a thread on the subject...
So, I'm a BIG fan of Christmas and I've been for the past 5 years; Christmas for me as a kid wasn't always that much fun but about 5 years ago I decided to have a merry Christmas and worked hard on doing all the typical Danish Christmas things, watching DVD's, the food and all that and by now it has become my favorite time of year! I even start as early as November!
Here in Denmark we celebrate Christmas eve on the 24th with a long dinner, we usually have roasted duck stuffed with prunes and apples, caramelized potatoes, red cabbage and brown sauce... some families have roasted pork or goose... on the same evening in my family we stand around the tree and sing. most people in Denmark will walk around the tree hand in hand while they sing but we're only 3 people so we can't really do that... then it's time for presents!
As it turns out, my fave thing has become the tree, we use a real tree and decorate it with candles, glass balls, hearts, flags and a beautiful golden star on top. To me there is nothing more beautiful than a candlelit Christmas tree on Christmas eve!
On a side note, I'm so sad I'm still such a newbie Cillian fan, last year I started a tradition on the Michael Jackson board I mod at, I make an advent calendar with clips, pictures, songs and competitions etc... I'd love to do this here too, but oh well, maybe next year!
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Post by Love Is Blue on Dec 5, 2011 8:17:42 GMT -5
I love Christmas! My family doesn't all live together (My brothers) And So it is so wonderful to get together and have a fun time! But DANG YOU STOLE MY IDEA ABOUT THE ADVENT CALENDAR! Well, maybe I can come up with something else, lol.
My family has this awesome tradition, instead of putting star on top of the tree, we put a "Christmas Monkey", as we call it, lol.
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Post by Jinx on Dec 5, 2011 9:19:39 GMT -5
That is an awesome tread to talk about our traditions from the parts of the world we live in! Here in Provence (south east France), we have plenty of traditions. My grandmother is italian and very catholic, and the traditions are almost the same in Provence and in the part of Italy she's from (a small village near Firenza). I'd like to say that I'm not a God person at all (although I respect any kind of belief) and I don't intend on converting anyone to catholicism by that. It's just a list of our weird christmas traditions... xD On December the 4th, we buy some wheat and plant it in a small clay jar. It's called "St Beard's wheat" (Le Blé de la Sainte Barbe) They say that if the plants are big and green on the 25th, it means the next year will be good for you, that you'll have money and love aplenty.  In Provence, the ground is full of red clay (beautiful in the landscapes), so we have this tradition to make small figures of the Christmas Crib in clay. We make them ourselves, or we buy them from a clay sculptor (there are many where I live) and then we paint them with the children of the family during the holiday. We only place Jesus in the crib on december 25th at midnight. As for dinner, because we're in France, there is a big tradition, very codified one about Xmas dinner. First of all, we must be more than 14 or less than 12 at the table. 13 is very bad luck. +1 empty plate "for the begger", at the end of the table. We put 3 white tablecloths on the table (the trinity thing) and on the upper one we knot the corners so that the devil won't come out from under the table during dinner (true story... xD)We put 3 candles and 3 sets of St Beard's wheat on the table. We light the candles at midnight. Mistletoe is bad luck in here, so we leave it on the outside door. And there's food... This is France! What is France without french cuisine? 7 light dishes (for Mary's sufferings) with 13 small breads and 13 desserts. Yes people. 13 different desserts (one for each apostle and one for Jesus).For the dishes, we have omeletts, snails (yes, you know, we eat snails in France, I find it disgusting too... xD), garlic soup, vegetables and a lot of fish. No meat allowed, that's what we call "light dish" (plat maigre).Then the desserts. Usually, we eat the desserts after the midnight preach. We are not supposed to eat them at the same time, so we leave them on the table during 3 days. There are 7 kinds of desserts: - The 4 beggers (each of them have a name): Dry figs (the "Franciscains"), almonds (the "Carmélite"), dry raisins (the "Dominicains"), and nuts (the "Augustins").- The dates, this exotic fruit represents the country in which Jesus was born - Two kinds of nougat: The black nougat is for the black penitents, the white one is for the white penitents. - The "fougasse" or "pompe" is a dry, flat cake made with olive oil, very sweet, so good  It's kind of a white color so we assume it represents the shepherd's star or the moon. - The "oreillettes", it's a kind of pancakes cooked with less fat, represents all the other stars in the sky. - The fruits: mandarins, oranges, pears and winter melons. Although this is a very old tradition (early middle age), there are still a few people who do their xmas dinner by it. My grandmother for example. We use a lot of Herbes de Provence in the dishes, of course, and drink a lot of red wine (the christ's blood if I'm not mistaken). Before the dinner, we drink "pastis". At the end of the dinner, the children open the presents while the adults drink Provence liquor (Eau de Vie, mostly apple, pear, orange or peach, sometimes home made even if it's forbidden in France xD). The tradition says a fire must be burning in the fireplace the whole time, which makes it really hard for Santa Claus to come down the chimney ! ;D As everywhere in the world, it's a nice moment to spend with your friends and family. Being from an italian family, we are sometimes more than 25 eating together, and now that I am 20 years old I'll be able to drink my own glass of liquor this year ;D I can't wait ;D |
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Post by The Phantom Lady on Dec 5, 2011 10:23:36 GMT -5
That is so interesting, how much thought goes behind those traditions, that was really great to read!
I love hearing about traditions!
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Post by Zombiekitten on Dec 5, 2011 14:23:52 GMT -5
Interesting thread !!! Thanks for creating this, Bloody Rose!  For me, as a child, Christmas was not much fun as well, Bloody Rose...  On christmas, my father was ALWAYS complaining about something, was ill-humored (Scrooge incarnate !!!) and there was always a very bad atmosphere at the table.... And we were always alone, only the four of us. No big family meeting, no big feast... It was THE HELL sometimes !!!  OMG Jinx! I'm dying of hunger right now at your desprictions of the different meals!!! SO delicious!! I simply LOVE eating and enjoying such excellent meals. And the French wine.... OMG.... I think I just come over to you during Christmas LOL |
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Post by Pisces on Dec 5, 2011 18:32:18 GMT -5
Can anyone on this forum explain the Krampus to me..  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KrampusWow, coincidentally, today is December 5!  If any of you have any personal stories about seeing the Krampus when you were children, I'd love to hear about it! We don't have this particular Christmas tradition here in the States, and it really intrigues me. I think it would have scared the pants off me as a little kid. LOL. |
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Post by Zombiekitten on Dec 5, 2011 18:56:38 GMT -5
That's interesting, Pisces ! That reminds me of this old Swiss tradition (it's typically of parts in the country, in the mountains, not in the city) where they are running through the villages, dressed in fur and with horrible masks, and horns, running around with loud ringing cow bells ! ;D This particular Swiss tradition has something to do with banishing the "ghosts of the winter" so that it will become warm soon and they can till the fields or something like this. |
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Post by Pisces on Dec 5, 2011 19:07:28 GMT -5
That's interesting, Pisces ! That reminds me of this old Swiss tradition (it's typically of parts in the country, in the mountains, not in the city) where they are running through the villages, dressed in fur and with horrible masks, and horns, running around with loud ringing cow bells ! ;D This particular Swiss tradition has something to do with banishing the "ghosts of the winter" so that it will become warm soon and they can till the fields or something like this. That's cool!! I wish we had neat old tradtions like that here. I found another video of the Krampus, and this time they were hitting townspeople with what looked like tree branches. And they looked like they were hitting them pretty hard, too! It's probably better that we don't do that in the States - the way everything is here, all the Krampi would be in jail and the whole tradition would be ruined. ::)LOL. |
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licia
Fervently Infected
Posts: 58
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Post by licia on Dec 5, 2011 19:19:11 GMT -5
This thread! I love Christmas since I was a kid and - very ironic - I'm an atheist but it is my favorite time of the year as I love having my family together (I also love the colourful lamps, stupid reason I know). We don't have any unique traditions here, unfortunately. The normal things, decorating houses, Christmas trees and all that. But personaly my favorite things about it are: - playing my Hanson's Christmas album <3 hehe - watching Christmas related horror movies @rose I love the advent calendar idea! |
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Post by The Phantom Lady on Dec 6, 2011 7:02:53 GMT -5
Can anyone on this forum explain the Krampus to me.. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KrampusWow, coincidentally, today is December 5! If any of you have any personal stories about seeing the Krampus when you were children, I'd love to hear about it! We don't have this particular Christmas tradition here in the States, and it really intrigues me. I think it would have scared the pants off me as a little kid. LOL. As far as I know it's a rural German tradition that also spread to Denmark and was fairly popular in rural Denmark some 200 years ago; it was named 'The Christmas Bishop' and someone would get a cloth tied around their head with two knots making it seem like horns and in his mouth he would carry a stick with 2 candles if I remember correctly The person would stand in the middle of the room and the children would walk around in circle chanting some rhyme and placing apples and nuts for him while he would scare the children... in the end the children were allowed to take the apples and fruits. I can't remember what it was all for though, but I think that was before our tradition with walking around a decorated tree in our own living room and gathering at big parties to do the same through December... I do know some of it came from the troubles the Latin speeches in church brought where no normal person understood a word of what was being said... a lot of 'Church mocking' took place back then... |
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Post by wikkleshamrocks on Dec 6, 2011 21:07:42 GMT -5
We always had a fairy at the top of the Christmas tree who was slightly skew-whiff and looked like she's been on the whiskey. I never want for anything at Christmas, I just love the tinsel and music, the church services and the general cheer that we should have all year round really. |
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Post by razzthekid on Dec 7, 2011 13:22:35 GMT -5
We just do the usual stuff. This year i'll be working Christas Eve and Stephen's Day like last year which sucks but there's no way out of it.  We don't decorate until really late which gets annoying. It could be the 20th before we get anything up because my mam insists on cleaning the whole house top to bottom before anything goes up. She's very obsessive about her cleaning- and it's impossible to help her because she'll just stand there watching what we're doing to make sure we're doing it up to her standards. And if we're not she'll just take over herself!  Anyway on Christmas day, first we go and visit my granny, my aunt and her children who live next door and we give my granny her present. Then we open presents before dinner- in the sitting room, around the Christmas tree- and then we have the usual turkey and ham, stuffing, potatoes(roast and mash), brussel sprouts, carrots, peas and bread sauce. But of course i won't be having any of the meat being a pescatarian, so i think my mam said she's got me some sort of salmon in pastry with a dill suace or something..... Anyway then we have Christmas pudding for dessert with brandy sauce and whipped cream and we pull Christmas crackers. Then it's into the sitting room to curl up infront of the fire with some Irish coffees/Baileys coffees/beers/wine etc. And then we just laze around chatting and watching whatever's on the tv, or if someone gets a comedy dvd we'll stick it on because Christmas is the perfect day for laughing- especially at Dylan Moran, Tommy Tiernan, Des Bishop and Jason Byrne! ;D So yeah i can't wait! And tomorrow is gonna be cool because the radio show i listen to every morning is doind a big Christmas day thing. They're gonna be unashamedly Christmasy and play loads of Christmas songs and just be all festive. I can't wait to wake up to it in the morning! Especially seen as The Holiday is on tv tonight as well so i'll be all festive then too! |
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Post by Pisces on Dec 7, 2011 18:18:43 GMT -5
I don't have any extra days off for Christmas this year either, Razz.  Just a normal weekend. Bloody Rose, thanks for illuminating that interesting tradition a bit more!! I just love Europe and how far back the history goes. Nothing like that here in the States. Shamrocks, I love all the decorations and lights this time of year as well! It's really beautiful. The holidays don't mean as much to me as they once did, but I decorate every year regardless. Even if Christmas trappings look out of place on palm trees. |
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Post by Cait on Dec 7, 2011 20:44:45 GMT -5
I'm another one who loves all of the lights and decorations, it really adds to the whole feeling of Christmas, but not as much as snow. It's just not Christmas to me without snow! I was born in Canada, but my family moved to Virginia, USA when I was just a year old, and then back to Canada when I was 7. So I had never experienced the white Christmas until then and I have absolutely loved winter/snow ever since, and it just makes Christmas so much better! My family doesn't have any neat traditions, just the Christmas tree (fir or pine), roast turkey, and lots of candy! We do make tourtières because of the Québécois background on my dad's side of the family (I'm 1/8 Québécois). They're meat pies, and they're delicious!!
Nova Scotia has a tradition where the biggest fir tree is sent to Boston, MA every year in appreciation for their assistance during the Halifax Explosion. I think this year's was 46 feet or something!
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Post by Alisa on Dec 9, 2011 20:55:33 GMT -5
I just had a crash landing to reality: animal.discovery.com/videos/viking-wilderness-reindeer-get-high.htmlIf this is the truth behind Rudolph and his mates... I dare not even think what the truth behind Santa might be... Anyway... I love Christmas! Candles, lots of them. Not so keen on the artificial lights, though i have some of them too. Buying and wrapping presents is probably the best thing. I love snow, making castles, lanterns, snowmen... and having snowfights. All those little Christmas traditions... My favorite is having rice porridge for breakfast and giving an extra present to the one who gets the almond. I try to avoid it myself, cause it's always me who buys that present. We don't have any really old traditions with interesting history behind them, at least not in my family. |
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It's kind of a white color so we assume it represents the shepherd's star or the moon.
On christmas, my father was ALWAYS complaining about something, was ill-humored (Scrooge incarnate !!!) and there was always a very bad atmosphere at the table.... And we were always alone, only the four of us. No big family meeting, no big feast... It was THE HELL sometimes !!! 
Just a normal weekend.
