Miscellaneous Ceremony

CUSTOMS OF 15 COUNTRIES

IRELAND - In Ireland, building a grotto for the Nativity scene becomes a family project. Figures of the Holy Family are placed in the center of the grotto, with adoring angels, animals and shepherds nearby. Wise men are moved closer to the Christ Child each day of the Holy season. A Dublin fruitcake, covered with thick almond-flavored icing and decorated with green gumdrop shamrocks is the food highlight. In Ireland, every window of every house has a lighted candle in it.

DENMARK - The Danes excel at simple but effective Christmas ornaments. Balsa wood decorations are cut out in every imaginable outline and painted in bright colors. The greatest festival of the year in Denmark is Christmas Eve, a time of chiming church bells, of family dinners, of ceremonies around the tree, and of hymns and carols sung in candle-lighted churches. After dinner is over, the father and mother disappear into the locked parlor, light the tree, and open the door. Members of the family clasp hands and circle around the tree, singing Danish hymns. The youngest member of the family is allowed to approach the tree first.

FINLAND - The happy task of making Christmas ornaments starts early for the Finns with a joyous celebration the last Sunday in November. On that afternoon, called 'Little Christmas' everyone from toddlers to elderly folks helps carve, paint, glue, and assemble festive trimmings of reed, straw, wood, and paper. In Finland, they have another lovely custom of preparing for the Holy Child. They call it 'paving the way' for Him. On the day before Christmas, they cut up great pine boughs and pile them up, making a huge green carpet from the top of the hill down to the heart of the village. Then everyone lights 'luck chips' pinewood tapers that have been buried in the snow for three days. Good luck is supposed to come to those whose tapers burn well.

POLAND - The Christmas tree (Choinka) in Poland is a symbol of peace and friendship, and it's heavily laden with colorful and picturesque decorations. All ornaments are homemade. Even the children join in this joyful work long before the holiday season begins. It is customary to decorate walls and ceilings at holiday time with spidery Pajakis cut from paper. These distinctive designs were part of an ancient ritual, when the paper was cut with sheep-sheering scissors. Christmas in Poland is celebrated with the Festival of the Star. A day of fasting precedes the celebration and it ends with the appearance of the first star on Christmas Eve. The star is a significant symbol of the Polish Christmas. The Star Man or Father Star often visits a family to examine the children in their catechism. Children believe that their gifts come from the Good Star of Heaven but are carried to them by the Wise Men, who are impersonated by three young men of the village known as 'star boys'. In the home, sheaves of wheat are used as decoration in the corners of the room and are later scattered in orchards for the birds. Straw on the floor and table remind everyone of the stable where Christ was born. At the table a chair is vacant awaiting the Holy Child. Polish people exchange small baked wafers called opalatki, just as people in America exchange Christmas cards. Poppy seed rolls filled with ground poppy seed and honey paste are prepared on Christmas Eve.

SWEDEN - In Scandinavia, they give the animals an extra treat at Christmas time and say, "Eat well, keep well, this is Christmas Eve." They plan a long time ahead for Christmas for the birds. At threshing time in the summer, they choose the largest and best of their sheaves of grain. At Christmas they put them high on a spruce pole out in the yard or on top of the barn. They leave a tuft of branches at the top of the pole so the birds have a resting place and at the foot of the pole they put straw to remind the people of the manger where Jesus was born. Children, parents, and grandparents all join in making interesting straw and balsa wood ornaments. Windows ablaze with candlelight, the Swedish Christmas gift, no matter how small, is wrapped in snowy