The shortest day of the year and a lot to celebrate: festivals, traditions and curiosities around the world
December is the month with the highest concentration of festivities all over the world.
Candle-lit dances, bonfires on frosty nights, dances to drive out demons, gifts in shoes and stockings, midnight dips, typical dishes: there is something for every taste, every belief system, and every
“A merry Christmas, Bob! — said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back.
— A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! […]
Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old word.”
This is how Charles Dickens ended his short story A Christmas Carol
With the appearance of the ghosts of Christmases past and future, the cruel and miserly Scrooge is ‘converted’ and learns that life is worth living with generosity, a smile and empathy.
The story is a harsh critique of the greed of the emerging modern industrial society and a metaphor of life.
As celebrants, our job is to celebrate life’s significant milestones, and it is vital for us to know about rituals and traditions around the world iso that we can be as inclusive as possible when we create your ceremonies..
For Winter ceremonies, an essential aspect to explore is celebrating the transition from darkness to light, from cold to warmth.
Let’s start at the beginning!
There are many festivals and celebrations that mark the transition from winter to spring. Here are four important ones..
Halloween:, an English term of Scottish origin meaning “the Eve of All Hallows,” is a holiday of Celtic origin celebrated in several countries, particularly in the English-speaking world, on the evening of 31 October, the eve of All Saints’ Day.
Thanksgiving:, a national holiday in Canada, the United States, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, celebrated on different dates between October and November.
It was first celebrated by the Pilgrim Fathers in the 17th century to give thanks for the abundance of the harvest. Although historically rooted in religious and cultural traditions, Thanksgiving is also celebrated as a secular holiday.
Advent: represents the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity and the period of spiritual preparation for celebrating Christmas and the birth of Jesus. In the Roman Catholic church it corresponds to the four weeks before Christmas and includes the Sundays before Christmas.
Diwali: means ‘chain of lights’ or ‘row of lighted lamps’ in Sanskrit and is the festival of new beginnings or the festival of lights.
It celebrates the triumph of good over evil, of light over darkness, and begins with the new moon at the end of October/beginning of November, on the fifteenth day of the month in the Hindu calendar called Kartik, and lasts for five days.
In the ancient world
Not everyone knows that it was Pope Julius I (Rome, … – Rome, 12 April 352) who set the date of Christmas on 25 December to coincide with the winter solstice, thus superimposing it on the ancient pagan festival of the Sun.
In Celtic and early Christian tradition, the winter solstice corresponds to Yule, whose name may derive from the Norse hjól (‘wheel’) and indicates the moment of the solstice when ‘the wheel of the year is at its lower end and begins to rise’. An Apagan festival of light and rebirth, it celebrated the god Odin. On the longest night, a large log was lit and left to burn for the next twelve days.
To celebrate the victory of light over darkness at Stonehenge, the Druids performed ancient rituals handed down through the ages.
One of the oldest winter celebrations is the Roman Saturnalia. From 17 to 23 December, banquets and games were held with an exchange of gifts, called strennas, to celebrate the rebirth of nature. During this period the social order was overturned, slaves did not work and peace reigned.
In ancient Egypt the god Horus was celebrated, while in Mexico the Incas worshipped the god Inti.
The Greeks celebrated Adonis and Hercules, and the Aztecs worshipped the gods Huitzilopochtli and Bacab.
In central Italy, every night from the winter solstice to Epiphany, people lit large fires in the open air, called foconi, to symbolise the return of light and the hope of new life, of spring.
And today?
Despite ethnic, social, cultural and religious differences, winter festivals are characterised by recurrent or specific elements, depending on where they take place. Dances, songs, night lights, plants for good luck, bonfires, puppets, rich food, gifts and magical figures are common in all latitudes. It would be impossible to list all the rituals that take place in every country in the world, so we have chosen just a few.
December – January: Hanukkah
It is the Festival of Lights, lasts for eight days and its name means ‘inauguration’ in Hebrew.
It is the festival that celebrates the re-conquest of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Maccabees. Despite the destruction of the Temple, only a jar containing enough oil to keep the lamp burning for one day was saved. However, the miraculous oil lasted and kept the lamp burning for eight days and eight nights.
The festival begins on the 25th day of Kislev, the third month of the civil calendar and the ninth month of the Jewish religious calendar. As darkness falls, the candles of a nine-branched candelabrum are lit, songs are sung and blessings are recited.
13 December: St Lucy’s Day (Luciatåg in Swedish)
Lucy of Syracuse is said to have been martyred because she secretly brought food to Christians hiding in the catacombs, lighting her way with a crown of candles.
Her Saint’s Day is celebrated on 13 December in Sweden, but also in Denmark, Norway, Finland and, since she is the patron saint of Syracuse, in Sicily.
A procession of people dressed in white tunics with a red ribbon around their waist, carrying candles and wind chimes, walks through the snow-covered streets. At the head of the procession is the person dressed as Luciawearing a crown of candles, and children are often dressed as elves.
16-24 December: Las Posadas
Latin America, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and Spain celebrate Las Posadas, a holiday derived from the Spanish word posada (‘inn’ or ‘shelter’), which commemorates Mary and Joseph’s search for a place to stop and give birth to Jesus. It lasts nine days, symbolising the nine months of pregnancy. A posada is a re-enactment and takes place in a house where the hosts play the role of innkeepers. Each group holds lit candles and sings verses in turn. Then the hosts open the door and welcome the pilgrims.
21-22 December: The Festival of Tōji
The winter solstice, or Tōji in Japanese, is celebrated in Japan as a time of harmony and balance in the natural sequence of seasons and life.
At this time, people take a relaxing bath with yuzu orange, which is said to have beneficial properties and to fight illness, a ritual that has been practiced for hundreds of years. They also prepare tōji-gayu, a kind of rice porridge made from adzuki beans, and dishes made from winter squash.
21-22 December: Yalda Festival
This festival, whose name means Schab-e Yaldā (‘Night of Birth’) in Persian, is celebrated in Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan on the night of 21-22 December.
The festival originates in Mithraism and celebrates the birth of Mithras, the god of the sun.
Families gather and celebrate throughout the night, reciting poems and eating watermelons, pomegranates, dried fruit and red grapes. The fruit is carefully stored in airtight ceramic bowls from the summer harvest. The red colour of the fruit symbolises the dawn sky and rebirth.
21-23 December: Dongzhi Festival
China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Vietnam celebrate Dong Zhi, which in Chinese means ‘winter solstice’, literally ‘extreme winter’.
It is a traditional festival, dating back to the Han Dynasty, which focuses on the balance between Yin, the negative qualities of darkness and cold, and Yang, the positive qualities of light and warmth.
Once associated with the end of the harvest, the festival now brings families together to worship the sky and ancestors. Tangyuan, balls of pink and white glutinous rice flour, are made to symbolise reunion.
21-25 December: Pancha Ganapati
Hindu festival in honour of the god Ganesha, patron of wisdom, science and the arts. Since Ganesha is also considered the god of beginnings, this holiday encourages letting go of old mistakes and instills the strength to make new beginnings.
Families gather, gifts are distributed and children are the centre of attention.
Each day has its own colour: the first is yellow and family members analyse their misbehaviour and make peace; the second is blue and reconciliation extends to neighbours and friends; the third is red and is linked to harmony in business relations; the fourth day is green and is dedicated to art, singing, music and dancing. The last day is orange and is dedicated to harmony and good intentions.
Saints, demons, good and bad witches
St Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Bari is considered in Italy the patron saint of children. His Saint’s Day is on 6 December. In Germany on the eve of 6 December, children leave their shoes outside the door or at the foot of their beds and St Nicholas, who arrives on his donkey, fills them with sweets and small gifts.
Krampus
A hideous, hairy creature, he is said to be a servant of Saint Nicholas or even the demon he imprisoned. He arrives on the 5 December. or together with St Nicholas. to scare children who have misbehaved, leaving a lump of coal.
The Befana
In the popular imagination, the Befana is a little old lady with a long nose and a pointed chin who rides a broomstick from house to house, filling children’s stockings with sweets and small gifts.
This tradition goes back centuries and its roots lie in pre-Christian magical traditions. The term ‘befana’ comes from the Greek word ‘epiphany’, and she is celebrated on the Epiphany, which is 6 January.
Witches without brooms
In Norway, it is believed that witches and evil spirits roam the skies on Christmas Eve, so people hide brooms in their houses to keep them out of the hands of witches.
More weird winter traditions!
- Japan: Christmas cakes decorated with Santa Claus and Christmas trees are eaten, and it has become a tradition to order fast food on Christmas Eve, especially fried chicken from Kentucky Fried Chicken.
- Australia: There is no frost or snow at Christmas in the southern hemisphere, so many families spend Christmas on the beach, with picnics and barbecues.
- Germany: The Advent calendar is a purely German invention, dating from around 1920. Many families make calendars with 24 windows, and from the first to 24th December, one window is opened each day to reveal a surprise – chocolates or small gifts.
- Brighton: Burning the Clocks is an atmospheric torchlight procession through the streets of the city, with people carrying handmade paper lanterns depicting clocks. At the end of the procession, a huge bonfire is lit on the beach and everyone throws their lantern into the fire as if to exorcise the passing of time.
- Romania: Ursul, the bear dance. On New Year’s Eve, people dressed as bears dance and somersault through the streets to flute music.
- Tibet: Losar literally means New Year and is the most important event of the year. It commemorates the struggle between good and evil, and Tibetans sing and dance in the streets. The celebrations last for two weeks, during which a special fermented drink called chhaang is consumed.
- Oaxaca, Mexico: The Night of the Radishes begins on 23 December. It is a three-day festival dedicated to carved vegetables and everyone flocks to admire the beautifully-carved radishes representing Nativity and scenes from Mexican folklore.
- Wales: Lwyd Mari, the festival of the grey sea. A horse’s skull attached to a white dress is carried from house to house, accompanied by singing. The group and the ‘horse’ are invited into homes to drink beer and eat traditional sweets.
- Ireland and England: Christmas cake, originally a simple plum pudding, was eaten after a day of religious fasting. By the 16th century, richer ingredients such as flour, eggs and spices, brought from the East, were added to the cake to symbolise the Three Kings. It is prepared in November and eaten on Christmas Day. Traditionally, a silver sixpence and other surprises were hidden inside the dough and then cooked into the cake.
- Maryland: The Polar Bear Plunge takes place in January and involves more than ten thousand people. Dressed in bathing suits, these daredevils plunge into the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, where the temperature is usually around -1°C.
Dinner for one!
Also known as The 90th Birthday (German: Der 90. Geburtstag, Swedish: Grevinnan och betjänten), is a television comedy broadcast every New Year’s Eve in several European countries, including Norway and Germany.
The piece was written for the theatre in the 1920s by the British writer Lauri Wylie, and it was first performed in 1948 at the Duke of York’s Theatre.
The story is hilarious: the noblewoman, Miss Sophie, celebrates her 90th birthday, convinced that all her closest friends, who are in fact long dead, are sitting at the table with her.
In order not to disappoint her and to make her happy, the waiter James impersonates each of the guests, toasting each dish over and over again.
As the meal progresses, James gets drunker and drunker and the sketch gets funnier and funnier until the surprise ending.
In 1962, German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) recorded the show, starring British comedians Freddie Frinton and May Warden, and produced a short. Although the play originated in the UK, the television version never became popular there, whereas in Germany and Northern Europe for decades families have gathered around the television before New Year’s Eve dinner to laugh at James and Miss Sophie’s gags over and over again.
And just for fun, we asked AI to create some images for our article, including a romantic December wedding ceremony setting.
Wouldn’t you all like to be invited to a wedding in a place like this?
We would be very happy to celebrate it!
English (UK) 
Italiano