Christmas around the world

by Jennifer Hannigan

Christmas is a season of joy, celebration and tradition, but the way it is observed varies greatly around the world. For the directors of Harding University’s international programs, the holiday season offers unique insights into the customs and cultures of the countries they call home. From Greece’s light-decorated boats to Zambia’s handcrafted nativity scenes, these traditions highlight the diverse ways people commemorate the birth of Jesus and the spirit of giving. We asked program directors to share how they and their families celebrate Christmas abroad.

Daniel Adams, HUG

Greeks don't celebrate Christmas in the way we do with decorations and gift giving. It's about Jesus coming into the world. They exchange gifts on Jan. 6. The big Greek holiday is Easter. The resurrection is way more important to them than the birth of Jesus. We have shifted our spring semesters to reflect this. In addition to celebrating a Passover seder, we focus on the foods and traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church that closely mirror Jewish Passovers.

One Christmas tradition that the Greeks have, which is very cool, is decorating small boats with lights and placing them in their yards. Greece is a nation of islands and seafaring, so their oldest Christmas decorations are associated with small fishing boats. They have only had Christmas trees in the last 100 years as the influence of Western Europe and the U.S. has grown.

Robbie Shackelford, HUF

In Italy things have changed, and they have adopted many traditions like us on Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve is still a time many Italians go to mass, and Christmas Day was and still is a time when families get together to share a meal. Now there is also gift giving.  

Epiphany is celebrated Jan. 6 the night when the “old lady” brings gifts to children.  

The old lady is called the “Befana”.  If you were good, she brought candy, and if you were naughty, she brought coal. In Italy they sell candy that looks like dark grey coal because children are good and bad, they say. With our family we also adopted this tradition.

Something we did as a family was deliver gifts on Christmas Eve to all the businesses that served the HUF program consisting of a hand made card with a family photo and homemade oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies. Our Italian friends were always thankful.

Jessica Garner, HIZ

Throughout our travels as directors of the Harding in Zambia international program, we have developed a tradition of bringing home Christmas ornaments from the different places we travel. Each year as we hang the ornaments on our Christmas tree together with our kids, we are reminded of the beautiful people we have met and places we have seen. We also put out several nativity scenes that were handmade in Zambia. These things are good reminders for our family in the Christmas season to be thankful for people who have become like family to us on the other side of the world. 

Jeremy Daggett, HULA

We’ve been living and working in Peru for the last ten years. Christmas definitely looks different here, if anything because we are at the beginning of summer and Christmas marks the beginning of a long summer break for kids here. While traditional winter-themed Christmas decorations are available here, they clash with summer-time sales on swim gear and beach toys. 

Peruvians celebrate Christmas Eve at midnight when the entire city shoots off fireworks to celebrate the birth of Jesus. One of the customs we’ve picked up is in fact to think about Christmas as a special time to remember the birth of Jesus of Nazareth and what that means for love, justice and hope in the world. We tend to find a time to read one of the narratives of the birth of Jesus from the gospels with our neighbors as we share hot chocolate and paneton (an Italian-style fruitcake). It’s special to share a common faith with people who are different from you, as we gather with people from different faiths or even no faith at all. 

One of the funnier differences when it comes to Santa Claus traditions is that, because Peruvian homes don’t typically have chimneys, Santa is pictured climbing into windows through a ladder or parachuting in from above. We love that image and have a Santa with a parachute that is a staple of our Christmas decorations.