Christmas traditions elsewhere

[Christine]

No: HPFGUIDX 7053

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Simon Biber" <simon at b...> wrote:
> > I've been thinking. We've talked a lot about Brit traditions ( 
mostly
> > English ) . Could some of our correspondents from other countries 
give
> > us an idea of where their traditions differ ? Perhaps this could 
be a
> > basis for a fan fic about a trip to Durmstrang, Beauxbatons or 
another
> > wizarding school.
> 
> Ok here goes (Australia).
> 
> First and foremost, it's Summer. Christmas Day is usually high-
thirties,
> even into the forties (Celcius).
> 
> Although we have British traditions, some has to be adapted for the 
weather.
> Often we eat cold ham instead of hot turkey. We have plenty of 
salads,
> including normal salad (including lettuce, tomatoes and avocados), 
caesar
> salad (lettuce, cheese, croutons and sometimes olives or 
anchovies), potato
> salad (mostly potatoes) and coleslaw (cabbage and carrot).
> 
> And christmas pudding -- a rich, heavy fruit cake. Yum!!! My mother 
makes
> lovely brandy butter, and we have done the flaming a few times. Her 
brandy
> butter also has sugar in it, which makes it quite tasty to eat on 
its own
> :-)
> 
> Christmas crackers are called bon-bons here. They are made of 
brightly
> coloured paper like wrapping paper, fashioned into a tube about 3 cm
> diameter and 15 cm long, with each end twisted to hold in the 
contents.
> Inside is a long thin strip of paper with gunpowder in the middle 
which
> makes a bang as you pull the bon-bon. Also inside is a paper (or 
thin
> plastic) crown, a bit of paper with jokes and a little gift. The 
bon-bons
> are supplied by the host and one is put on each person's plate when 
setting
> the table.
> 
> I agree that HP crackers would be magical... no gunpowder.
> 
> Simon.


In Denmark Christmas is Christmas Eve. We eat pork-roast or duck, 
along with white potatoes and gravy, candied potatoes, and 
different "accessories". For dessert there is rice-porridge or Ris-a-
la-mande, which is rice-porridge w. whipped cream and pieces of 
almonds. (Yum!) In the dessert is stuck one whole almond, and whoever 
gets that, recieves a small present,- usually something eatable like 
chokolate or marzipan. After dinner and coffee, everybody dances 
around the tree and sings carols. Then the presents are opened. In 
our family we open our presents one person at a time, starting with 
the youngest (at present that would be my younger brother, who is 
23), so that everybody gets a chance to see what was under the tree. 
After that there is more food (cakes, candy and stuff), more wine, 
coffee and so on until noone can eat another bite, and it's time to 
go home. (In the last couple of years we have been home around 
midnight. We always celebrate Christmas at my grandmothers house and 
she is 81 now, and not quite the night-owl, she used to be.)

The next two - three days are also Christmas-party days, with friends 
and extended family.

Christine - who is really starting to believe that it *will* be 
Christmas after all!