Christmas is by far the most popular holiday there is. The food, the music, the presents, the weather (except when you're in Florida), reuniting with your loved ones, Jesus’ birthday (if you're religious). Without a doubt, Christmas is my favorite holiday and that hasn't changed since I moved from Guatemala to America. But I have failed to notice that we celebrate things a little bit different over here. From opening presents at midnight to Christmas dinner here are a few of those differences I have noticed.
1.Presents
Hispanics have it so much better when it comes to opening presents. We usually wait up until midnight and just open our presents then and there. I mean it's technically Christmas right? So why wait? Santa either left the presents there the night before or if your family is as inventive as we are he comes into your house exactly at midnight to personally give you your presents. And opening presents at midnight is considered a necessity by many Hispanic children around the world. I didn't know how important this was until last year my family decided to go to a Christmas gathering some of our friends had. Midnight came and went and many parents were still eager to keep on talking and having fun but you could tell that many children were quite anxious to go home to their presents.
2. Christmas Eve vs. Christmas Day
Christmas eve in America is definitely not held at the same standard than in most Hispanic countries. We usually do all pf our partying and celebrating during Christmas eve and leave going to church for Christmas day. I have noticed that here it tends to be the opposite. Christmas eve was so celebrated were I used to live that growing up I actually associated Christmas with the 24th of December rather than the 25th.
3. Fireworks
Here in the US fireworks are closely identified with the Fourth of July but in most Latin American countries Christmas is THE day to spend hundreds on fireworks and spend the night firing away. What else are you supposed to do when you're a kid and you need to wait for midnight to get here? And I know what you're thinking. Why is a child out playing with fireworks?!! Well, let's just day most countries are a not so worried about the possible danger that fireworks are. My siblings, cousin, and I used to try to set up multiple fireworks at a time and have competitions on who could hold on to the firework the longer before it exploded.
4. Music
This is one thing that I absolutely prefer over here rather than Guatemala. Over here entire radio stations switch their entire programming to Christmas music the day after thanksgiving while in Guatemala if you want to listen to Christmas music you would either get the music on a phone/cd or at any special event. Here every year without a fault at least one or two artists will release their own version of classic Christmas songs or even their own. Every year I wait to hear some amazing new Christmas cover by Pentatonix or Bublé. I don't know if it is because I was much younger but when I lived in Guatemala I would never listen to Christmas music unless I was at church or celebrating advent.
These are just some of the differences I think are most prominent between how Christmas is celebrated here versus Latin America. If you can think of anything else please let me know in the comment section. And if you're not from Latin America or America and have some other different traditions definitely let me know down below! I would love to hear what other Christmas traditions there are!
