Customs and traditions of Christmas are not uniform around the globe. While some places observe Christmas religiously, there are others with secular customs and traditions too. But Christmas becomes a whole only if you take into account both. So consider knowing these here.

Christmas Customs And Traditions

The Christmas holiday abounds in interesting customs and traditions. Some of these Christmas customs and traditions are wholeheartedly religious, while others are secular and relaxed. Some countries also have a national flavor in their customs of Christmas. So evidently, the customs and traditions of Christmas are neither singular nor homogenous all over the world. These keep varying from region to region and from country to country. Popular Christmas traditions such as the exchanging of gifts, decorating the Christmas tree, the Yule log, the holly bough, the kissing under mistletoe etc are more or less common to all places.

In Christian countries, Christmas has become the most significant holiday of the year, economically speaking. Christmas is celebrated for a span of twelve days following December 25 in the United Kingdom. This twelve-day Christmas tradition is marked by huge celebration and feasting and ends on the Twelfth Night or the Feast of the Epiphany. This custom of elongating the Christmas celebration is gaining popularity by the year. Christmas celebrations begin weeks before the actual day in the United States and the United Kingdom to lengthen the shopping season of Christmas and also to allow more time for meetings and greetings.

The countries celebrating Christmas on December 25, call the day before ‘Christmas Eve’ and the day after by varying names. Some like Germany, Poland call it the Second Christmas Day, some Commonwealth countries call the day after Christmas ‘Boxing Day’ while the Irish and Romanians call it St. Stephen’s Day. Some pagan Christmas customs and traditions have been incorporated by some Christian missionaries into their celebration of Christmas, but the conservative Christians refrain from any such celebration of Christmas. Christmas celebrations were banned in the Soviet Union for 75 years after the Russian revolution and the extremist Christian fundamentalists still consider Christmas a pagan holiday, unsanctioned by the Bible and hence strictly keep off from celebrating it.

But apart from these religious and serious overtones in the Christmas customs and traditions, there are also secular and more relaxed observances of the Christmas holiday. For instance, the tradition of giving Christmas gifts is one of the commonest traditions of the holiday irrespective of region or country. Friends and families exchange gifts and greetings, children hang stockings in the United States or keep empty toy-boxes for Santa Claus to fill it up with toys, candies or other gifts. In some places, it’s a custom and tradition for children to put up shoes on window sills on the Christmas night.

One of the very popular and inseparable customs and traditions of Christmas is the Christmas card. Be it your closest pal or a distant relative, your teacher or your colleagues, your family or your neighbor, each one gets a card on Christmas. Even when people are separated by miles, a ‘Miss You’ Christmas card is sure to reach more often than not.

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