Christmas is celebrated all around the world when the date hits December 25th. However, everybody celebrates this holiday differently, with different traditions. Right now, we are all in North Carolina, but when the holiday season rolls around, we go with our families and do what we love during the holiday break.
Many people have lived in North Carolina for many generations past, and they stay here through the holiday season. Many people, as well as tourists, may spend their break at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC with a beautiful site as well as many holiday festivities.
North Carolina is also home to McAdenville, which is known as “Christmas Town USA”. They have mesmerizing light displays all around town.
On your way to McAdenville, you can stop by the Polar Express that makes stops all around the state. You can enjoy a nice train ride with fun games and snacks that all leads up to your visit to Santa Clause.
Another thing that is very popular for North Carolinians to do, is to chop down their own Christmas tree! There are many Christmas tree farms all around town where you can go and select the perfect one for your home.
Many people also travel with their families to places they’ve never been. Whether that’s to the mountains, somewhere in the US, or out of the country to places like Europe and tropical places. A lot of people like to travel to places with winter sports, such as Skiing and snowboarding. Even though you might not think it, different countries have many Christmas traditions that may seem very unusual to Americans.
In Poland, Germany, and Ukraine, they put spider webs in their Christmas trees. No, not live ones, but decorative ones. We usually associate cobwebs with Halloween, but some European countries associate them with Christmas, because of the story ‘Legend of the Christmas Spider’.
While most Americans leave milk and cookies by the chimney for Santa Clause, people in the Netherlands leave their shoes near the fireplace. Some people even put carrots in the shoes for Santa to feed his reindeer.
While you may have heard of people eating 12 grapes on New Years, French people eat 13 different desserts on Christmas. You don’t have to eat every dish, but you must take at least one bite of each.
Some people also use winter break to travel to some more tropical places, such as Central and South America.
Many Central Americans and some North Americans celebrate Las Posadas. This holiday starts on December 16th, nine days before Christmas. People dress as Mary and Joseph and lead a group of Christians through towns in Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and parts of Southwestern US.
They go around reenacting the pilgrimage before giving birth to Jesus. Every night the group goes and sings to many houses, sort of like caroling. On the ninth and final day, they throw a party with lots of festivities and it leads right into Midnight Mass.
Midnight mass is very important for many Catholics in Latin America. Latinos go to Church on Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) and celebrate the birth of Christ.
In parts of South America, mainly Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador, people gather on December 16th and have nine nights of prayer leading up to Christmas. Each night a family hosts many festivities, foods, and songs to celebrate the lead up to Christmas.
Even if everyone has different traditions during the holiday season, the only thing that matters is that you’re having fun and enjoying your time with family and friends!
