英语阅读—世界各地,圣诞风俗各不同

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世界各地，圣诞风俗各不同

When we think of Christmas, we think of eating turkey, exchanging gifts,

red-and-white-clad fat men climbing down chimneys, and 25 December. But that's not the case everywhere. Here are a few arbitrarily selected examples.

AUSTRALIA 夏日沙滩上的圣诞风情

Celebrated: 25 December

Father Christmas? Yes, but more

prone to wearing sunglasses and fur-trimmed red shorts

Food: A vast roast turkey is not so appealing in 40°C heat, but some still go for it. Others serve it cold.Prawns are also popular.

Notes: A summer Yuletide feels a bit back-to-front for us Northern

Hemisphere chauvinists, but Christmas Day on Bondi Beach is something to behold. Otherwise, it is much like a British or American Christmas –gifts, food,

family, telly, booze and arguments all make their appearances.

ETHIOPIA 极具本国特色的圣诞食品

Celebrated: 7 January

Gifts? No

Father Christmas? No

Food: Injera, a local sourdough pancake bread, with rich stews and meats. No turkeys.

Notes: The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is closely related to

the Coptic Church, and still uses the Julian calendar, rather than the Gregorian as followed in the West. Hence their Christmas –or “Ganna”- falling 13 days later.

12 days after Ganna, they celebrate Christ's birth in a three-day festival called Timkat.

AMERICA 标准圣诞节？

Celebrated: 25 December

Gifts? Yes

Father Christmas? Santa Claus, technically; while the British Father Christmas is related to Pere Noel（法国圣诞老人）, Santa Claus comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas （荷兰圣诞老人）. They've become interchangeable over time, though.

Food: Lots of it, predictably. Ham or beef is more common than turkey, as the bird (native to the United States) is the traditional centrepiece at Thanksgiving, a month earlier, but there is a wide variety.

Notes: Turkeys, the red-and-white Santa Claus, and many of the modern “traditions”of British Christmas are directly taken from our cross-Atlantic cousins. Perhaps ironically, the pilgrims who colonised America tried to ban the celebration altogether in 17th-century Massachusetts.

BRITAIN 圣诞+工作+新年=假期三明治

Celebrated: 25 December, obviously

Gifts? Yes

Father Christmas? Yes, although (see above) we have moved away from

the green-cloaked “spirit ofbonhomie”that Dickens would understand, to the red-and-white gift-bringer Santa Claus.

Food: Turkey! Lots of turkey. Although before the big American bird became commonplace over here, a goose was traditional (hence the carol saying “Christmas is coming, and the goose is getting fat”). Trimmings vary from household to household, although roast potatoes and Brussels sprouts are regular features, and the author of this piece would like to make it clear that Christmas dinner without bread sauce is just a warmed-up dead bird.

Notes: Christmas trees, carol singing, the Salvation Army, eating leftovers for a week, Boxing Day football, cold damp weather, the Queen's Speech,

that infuriating bit between Christmas and New Year where you have to go back to work for three pointless days; it's British Christmas.

GERMANY 饕餮盛宴

Celebrated: 25 December (although they also celebrate St Nicholas's Day on 6 December)

Gifts: Yes –in a shoe, candy for good children, twigs for bad, on St Nicholas's Day