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Christ as arou d the orld

A Christmas in Summer? It doesn’t make Do you believe that Egypt celebrate Christmas
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sense. on 7 January?
I can’t imagine a Christmas without cold In Egypt only about 15% of people are Christians.
weather, because we are used to In spite of that they still celebrate Christmas as a religious festival
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associating Christmas with snow. Everywhere we go, we and they have unique traditions. Christmas isn’t celebrated on 25
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feel cold. But in Brazil it is very different. December but on 7 January. For 43 days before Christmas they
We think this is bad, but for them it might be amazing. don’t eat anything containing products that come from animals.
As Brazil is located in Southern hemisphere, they spend They basically eat a vegan diet. Would you be able to do it? It’s a
Christmas with hot weather and go the beach. long time!
This country is tropical, so at Christmas they always eat On Christmas Eve they usually go to church for a special service
pork, turkey, ham, fresh and dried fruits, everything is and to meet up with their friends and family. After that people go
served with rice cooked with raisins, which is very home to eat the big Christmas meal. All the food contain meat,
different to Portugal. The Christmas dinner is called “Ceia eggs and butter. All the yummy things they didn’t eat during the
de Natal”. After that, they go to a midnight mass, like in Advent fast!
Portugal, and when it finishes they watch the fireworks. In Egypt Santa is called Baba Noël. Can you imagine if we called
Can you imagine Christmas with these things? I strongly our Santa that? It would be really weird. Children hope that he will
believe that a Christmas without the cold is not a real climb through a window and leave some presents. So innocent!
Christmas, but I guess that they have a good time! Even though not many Egyptians are Christians, a lot of people like
Beatriz and Bernardo B2.1b to celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday. Would you like to
spend your Christmas in Egypt?
Surfing with Santa Laura Durães and Maria João Magalhães, B2.1b
In some parts of the world, particularly in the Southern
hemisphere, it is Summer at Christmas. This fact is very Frohe Weihrachten
unusual for us, since we are used to spending our holiday Or as you may know “Merry Christmas”.
near a fireplace, sometimes with snow, and warm clothes. In Germany they have different ways to celebrate Christmas but
On the other hand, there are countries like Brazil where there are some similar traditions such as the advent calendars and
people spend Christmas day on the beach with hot weather the Christmas trees.
and a bikini. On Christmas eve, in some parts of Germany, they read the Bible
In these countries people tend to come out to the streets and sing Christmas songs and it is on this day that Germans
and celebrate the night with their relatives, whereas in the exchange their presents.
northern hemisphere we stay at home just enjoying the Christ Kind is known as Baby Jesus in other countries. But a strange
evening. fact is that for Germans Christ Kind is a young girl with Christ
Here we have a different image of Santa, when we think of qualities. She wears a long white dress and a gold crown. Can you
this charismatic figure, we see him coming down a chimney imagine Jesus being a young girl?
with his big white beard and putting our presents Another German tradition is the Sternsingers, who go from house to
underneath the Christmas tree. Surfing with Santa would house singing a song and collecting money for charity. In my
only be able to happen in tropical countries because here opinion that’s a really nice gesture.
with our freezing cold oceans that wouldn’t be possible. Would you like to celebrate your Christmas in Germany?
Ana Rita, Teresa, Mariana, C1.2a
Sofia Silva, B2.1b
Catarina S, A1b

Christmas in Finland
Finnish people believe that Father Christmas lives in the north part of Finland called Korvatunturi (or Lapland),
north of the Arctic Circle. People from all over the world send letters to Santa Claus in Finland. There is a big
tourist theme park called 'Christmas Land' in the north of Finland, near to where they say that Father Christmas lives.
It gets very dark at about 3.00pm in Finland. It's traditional to go to cemeteries at Christmas and visit the graves of family
members. Some cemeteries are enormous and police are on duty to manage the traffic. Candles in hanging lanterns are left
around the grave, so the whole cemetery is alight with glowing lanterns shining in the snow - a winter wonderland.
The main Christmas meal is eaten in the early evening. It is a leg of pork served with mashed potato traditionally baked slowly in
the oven. Cured salmon is very popular and some people also have turkey. Dessert is baked rice pudding eaten with spiced plum
jam. One almond is hidden in the pudding. Whoever finds the almond will be lucky for the next year.
Ana, Beatriz, Isabel - B1.1e