The Christmas tradition
All over the world, Christmas celebrations reflect local culture and traditions. The festivities can be startlingly different from country to country, focusing on different aspects of the nativity story.
But whether you're celebrating Sheng Dan Jieh in China or awaing Pere Noel in France, you're sharing in the wonder and magic of the Christmas season.
Unlike most countries, Ghana celebrates Christmas by having people from various localities, mainly young boys, dress in fancy and colourful costumes and dance on the main streets of towns and cities to the tune of brass band music. Large crowds fill the streets to observe the celebration.
This art of masquerading was imported from Brazil and has been associated with the Fante communities in Ghana. It is found mainly in Central Ghana and parts of the western regions of the country. Sometimes, the masqueraders even enter people’s homes. In the joyous spirit of Christmas, families join in and also dance to the music. Gifts of money, food, and drinks are given to the masqueraders.
During the festive season, millions of people around the world celebrate the birth of Christ in many different ways. In many countries around the world, Christmas has been commercialised with the focus on bright lights, Santa Claus, mistletoe and gifts.
However, some countries have managed to maintain and promote the real reason for season!
In Ghana traditional Christmas observances revolve around large family gatherings, feasts, singing, and church services. A day before the eve of Christmas, many churches blossom with flowers and palm branches. Some congregations decorate a tree on the church grounds in honour of the coming holiday.
In the last few days before Christmas jam-packed buses, trucks, cars, and boats criss-cross the country, ferrying people back to their ancestral towns and villages.
On Christmas Eve families gather for a special dinner, often consisting of chicken stew or dishes made from rice and goat meat. They then head off to church services that usually include a Nativity play or Christmas pageant performed by the congregation’s youth.
After church, people greet one another and exchange good wishes for the holiday. Processions form and ramble joyfully through the streets, led by bands of musicians. Children dash about shouting, “Bronya ooooooo, bronya”.
Then on the big day, Christmas festivities begin quite early, sometime before dawn, as groups of carolers go door to door singing songs. House-holders typically offer small presents to the singers, who represent the band of angels that brought the good news of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds Christmas Day church services are scheduled for mid-morning.
They feature the retelling of the Nativity story and the singing of many hymns and carols in local languages.
When the service is over, children collect candies and other sweet treats believed to have come from Father Christmas. Some also receive a book, new clothes, or shoes as Christmas presents. People greet each other, saying “Afihyiapa,” which means “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.” Christmas celebrations continue through the day as families, friends, and neighbors gather for feasts and dances.
Typical foods eaten at Christmas time include peanut soup, fufu, okra soup, and a meat such as chicken, goat, sheep, beef, or pork. Brightly colored paper ornaments pinned up throughout the house set a cheery mood for the festivities.
Many Ghanaian families also decorate a tree growing in their courtyard with paper ornaments. Often mango, guava, or cashew trees serve this purpose. Other families will bring a single tree branch into the house and decorate it with lights and ornaments.
Like many western countries, Christmas in Ghana is all about family, friends, goodwill and food! However, the message of the birth of Christ does not get lost and remains the focus of the celebrations.
How other countries celebrate Christmas
Germany
German families prepare for Christmas throughout cold December. Four Sundays before Christmas, they make an Advent wreath of fir or pine branches that has four colored candles.
They light a candle on the wreath each Sunday, sing Christmas songs, and eat Christmas cookies. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, homes are filled with the delightful smells of baking loaves of sweet bread, cakes filled with candied fruits, and spicy cookies called lebkuchen.
Holland
Dutch children in Holland, or the Netherlands, eagerly await the arrival of Sinterklaas on St. Nicholas Day on December 6. Sinterklaas is a kindly bishop. He wears red robes and a tall, pointed mitre on his head.
Sinterklaas travels by ship from Spain to Amsterdam's harbor every winter. He brings his white horse and a huge sack full of gifts for the children. Families celebrate St. Nicholas Eve at home with lots of good food, hot chocolate, and a letterbanket, a "letter cake" made in the shape of the first letter of the family's last name.
Italy
The Christmas season in Italy begins on the first Sunday of Advent, which is four Sundays before Christmas. Christmas fairs feature fireworks and bonfires along with holiday music.
Families go to the Christmas markets to shop for gifts and new figures for the manger scene. Some families set up a Christmas tree and decorate it. Families set up their presepio, or manger scene, on the first day of the novena. They gather before the presepio each morning or evening of novena to light candles and pray.
Mexico
The weather is warm and mild in Mexico during the Christmas season. Families shop for gifts, ornaments, and good things to eat in the market stalls, called puestos. They decorate their homes with lilies and evergreens.
Family members cut intricate designs in brown paper bags to make lanterns, or farolitos. They place a candle inside and then set the farolitos along sidewalks, on windowsills, and on rooftops and outdoor walls to illuminate the community with the spirit of Christmas.
Spain
The Christmas season begins in Spain on December 8, with a weeklong observance of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Evergreens decorate the churches and outdoor markets throughout the Christmas season.
Tambourines, gourd rattles, castanets, and miniature guitars are offered for sale to enliven the singing and dancing in the streets. Children go from house to house reciting verses or singing carols for sweets, toys, or small instruments.
