Christmas presentation
- 1. Christmas in England and around the world
- 2. Christmas in England In England, everything leads up to the 25th December because this is Christmas Day… the day everyone is waiting for. Most people start decorating their homes in December, with lights, garlands and a Christmas tree. Some people get really excited and start preparing for Christmas in November!
- 3. Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, comes on Christmas Eve and brings presents to all the children who have been good during the year. He fills their Christmas stockings, and sometimes leaves presents under the tree too. On Christmas Eve, lots of children leave something for Santa and his reindeer to snack on… Mince pies and sherry for Santa. Carrots for the reindeer!
- 4. On Christmas Day, everyone exchanges the gifts from under the tree. Christmas dinner is eaten in the middle of the day, between 1pm and 3pm, depending on how organised everything is!
- 6. In Italy… The traditional belief for receiving presents is that the kind old witch, La Befana, travels the skies on a broom. She delivers presents to good children and charcoal, or bags of ashes, to bad children.
- 7. In Japan… Funeral notices are usually printed in red, so people think it’s bad practice to give red Christmas cards. Christmas cards are therefore usually white, a colour which represents snow and purity.
- 8. In Ukraine… When people decorate their Christmas trees they put a fake spider and spider web somewhere in the branches. The spider is supposed to bring good luck to the person who finds it on Christmas Day.
- 9. In Caracas, Venezuela… On Christmas morning lots of people go to church on roller blades! Some of the areas of the city even close the roads off so cars can’t drive where people are rollerblading.
- 10. In Norway… There’s an ancient belief in Norway that witches and evil spirits come out on Christmas Eve. People therefore hide all the brooms in the house so that the witches can’t steal them to ride on!