Having only ever spent the festive season in the UK up until now, I egocentrically thought that Christmas celebrations were fairly similar the world over; that Christmas is a time for family, turkey, crackers, presents and Santa. Being in France has made me realise this isn't quite the case...
Yesterday it was my school's Christmas meal. This meant 70 hungry kids and 50 hungry adults. In my experience, us Brits whip out some turkeys, a few pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, buckets of gravy, the generally loathed-but-necessary brussel sprouts, and wash it all down with flaming Christmas pudding. The French, well known for their culinary abilities, take a slightly more demure approach, even on a large 'school-meal' scale. The meal opened with fois gras on toasted brioche, casual, and was soon followed by what looked and tasted like boeuf bourginon. I was just finishing my last mouthful, thinking 'this is very chewy for French beef', when my neighbour leaned over and said 'tu as aimé l'otrouche?', pointing at the meat, to which I replyed with my automatic 'oui' and a smile; oblivious to the fact that she had just asked me if had enjoyed the ostrich..... :|
After realising that Christmas traditions (quite clearly) aren't the same the world over, I had a look at how it works in some other countries. In Romania, it is apparently custom to march around town singing carols and then, five days before Christmas, a ritual called 'Ignatius' is performed where straw is put up a recently slaughtered pig's nose and set on fire. Then the pig is washed, covered in cloth and incensed (if that's a verb). After this the father comes and shouts 'Let's eat the pig!' and they tuck in.
In Russia, traditionalists often begin fasting up to 39 days before Christmas, which is celebrated not on the 25th of December but the 7th of january (due to the Russian Orthodox Church following a calendar that runs 13 days behind our own, but I am sure there are people far more qualified to talk about this than I am). When they finally break the fast, the Christmas meal consists of 12 courses, one to honour each of Jesus' disciples. Sounds solid.
I think my favourite tradition that I found was the 'Cago Tio' from Catelonia. Translated literally as 'shitting log', the Cago Tio is hollowed log, propped up on two sticks, which is given a face and 'fed' with festive foods. On Christmas day, Cago Tio is put partially into the fire and ordered to 'poo' while being beaten by sticks. The contents then fall out and are to be enjoyed by the family. Yummy.
Finally, I heard this Christmas song from Haiti being played in school today,
its so different from the overplayed songs (Slade, f***ing Slade) that
we hear every December. Give it a listen, it gets going at 0:22:
~~~JWAYE NWEL~~~
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