Well if you are still following along with my holiday articles you would be up to date. If you read my last article you just found out about Hanukkah and the traditions that go with it. This week we are covering another great holiday which is Christmas!
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed most commonly on December 25th as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is prepared for by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night;in some traditions, Christmastide includes an Octave.Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated culturally by a large number of non-Christian people,and is an integral part of the holiday season, while some Christian groups reject the celebration. In several countries, celebrating Christmas Eve on December 24 has the main focus rather than December 25, with gift-giving and sharing a traditional meal with the family.
For me, my definition of Christmas is not only giving thanks and celebrating Jesus’ birthday, but it is more about the giving and not really what I can get out of it. It is also about the family times and coming together again. My family has two nights of celebrating! The first night is Christmas Eve, where we all have ourselves a Christmas Eve appetizer at my cousin’s house around 7 or 8 at night. We then stay for a while and after it gets late we go back home for the night and sleep. *LOL* I laugh as I think that I still think of Christmas as I was a little kid and like to get up early, not to see what I got for myself, but I love the reaction I get when they see what I got for other people. Later the day on Christmas we wait for the family to come over exchange gifts and wait for more family to get to the house so we can eat! That is what my family does for Christmas!
I learned some great things as well. I learned what is to celebrate is a Greek! My Odyssey friend Niko Caminis told me what it is like to celebrate Christmas as a Greek! And I quote “So Greek Christmas is a little complicated. A majority of the Greek population celebrates it on Dec. 25th like the rest of the world. However there's a portion of the Greek population (in america and Greece) that celebrate with the old calendar, meaning it would be 2 weeks later. So we basically have two Christmas celebrations. The tradition of the tree and the presents are present for most Greek families, but what differs are 2 main things, the food and the church going.
Food ranges from the traditional Christmas goose in some households to all the traditional Greek favorites, lamb, pastitsio, mousaka typical warm Greek dishes (i can go into more detail if you'd like) But going to Church on Christmas eve is essential. Saying the prayers and spending time with your family is the whole point. I personally have gone to Montreal to visit family during Christmas. if that's the case, every family member is at my grandparents house eating until the late hours of the night.”
