Christmas Traditions Around The World
When I was 9 years old, we moved away from MA where I was born to CT and left our extended family behind. Because of this, we always drove back to MA to spend Christmas at my aunt’s house. While I loved seeing the family, I hated that my parents made us open our Christmas presents days before at home, so we wouldn’t have to lug all our presents with us. I craved being in our own home on Christmas day with our own traditions. Now that I’m grown up, I’m happily able to do that and am a big fan of holiday traditions! I also delight in learning about how others celebrate and decided to write a blog that touches on traditions from around the world.
Let’s start with one that happens way in advance of Christmas on December 5th. This is the evening in Germany that St Nicholas leaves small presents like coins and fruit in the shoes of children on Dec 5th. If kids are naughty they’ll find sticks, twigs and switches in their shoes instead! Although this puzzle from SunsOut is called St. Nicholas, in Germany, St. Nicholas is more of a religious figure and very different from Santa. This puzzle had my blessing, despite the fact that it took me longer to complete than the usual 300-piece puzzle due to the muted lines in the artwork by Bill Bell, a self-taught artist who works in brilliant acrylics and loves to paint “nostalgia and nonsense.”
One of my favorite traditions I read up on is the exchanging of books in Iceland on Christmas Eve, so they can cozy up by the fire as they read aloud and eat sweet treats. As a nod to this, I completed this 1000-piece Reader’s Society puzzle by Galison. That background intimidated me a bit, but there was shading throughout and those little stars helped. From there, it was easy to get a read on the other images from the colors, which made it fly by as quickly as Santa’s reindeer.
A tradition I wouldn’t be happy about (I love to eat!) is in Poland where they don’t start eating Christmas Eve dinner until someone spots the first star shining in the sky. There are lots of glittering stars in the sky of this 500-piece, Merry Moonlight Skaters foil puzzle also from Galison. I worried I may myself be on thin ice with this one, as darker puzzles are usually hard for me, but it actually glided along easier than I thought. I started with the rink as the skaters’ outfits stood out and then progressed to the buildings by color blocks and then the sky.
We’ve worked our way to Christmas day, where if you live in Caracas, Venezuela, you may be heading out to church on roller skates, a tradition so popular that several city streets are closed to traffic! I rolled out Aimee Stewart’s, 1000-piece Skate Night by Buffalo Games to highlight this tradition and it was as much fun as going to the rink with its vivid artwork and whimsical pieces. If you’re a sorter like me, there’s lots of patterns to search for, with the most pieces being in pink for the wheels, which I did last.
Apparently, many countries get active on Christmas day, including Australia where because it’s warm in the Southern Hemisphere, Santa arrives on a surfboard and it’s common for Australians to catch waves and feast on a Christmas barbecue. Residents may stop off at a location like the one featured in this 500-piece Mermaid Cafe puzzle by SunsOut. I will say I probably should have left the border of this until last, as the odd pieces this brand is known for, and that I love, made that part challenging. But after that, the build coasted along for me.
We’re up to Christmas night, where if you live in Norway, you’d be hiding the brooms and mops to stop the evil spirits and witches who return to earth on Christmas from using them to fly through the sky. Frosty The Snowman, pictured in one of these 100-piece, easy to assemble, MasterPieces puzzles I did found in this 4-pack, while not evil, certainly swept his away from someone!
Lastly, we end up with a tradition popular in many countries including Spain, Central & South America and the Caribbean, where on January 6th the three wise men visit children’s homes at dawn to leave them gifts. Fun fact – did you know there may have actually been more than three wise men? In the 1st century there are pictorial representations in which 2, 4, 6 and 8 appear, but as the oldest of these pictures 3 (as does this 500-piece puzzle entitled Wise Men by New York Puzzle Company) and there were 3 gifts spoken about in the Bible, that’s what became rote. According to tradition, children thank the kings by setting out sweets for them and water and grass for the camels. I found it interesting that this puzzle also depicts them riding an elephant and a horse! Another dark puzzle that was surprising for me to choose, but those colors really popped on that background.
Let me know in comments what your unique traditions are! Wishing you all the very best of the holiday season and I’ll “see” you next year!
– Lisa @lisalovespuzzles
I’m really going to miss your blog.
Loved how you tied the puzzles to the many traditions around the world. As always an outstanding blog.
