The time from December 26 until 31 is generally considered as part of “the holidays.” The six days between Christmas and New Year can be a very dynamic time. Celebrating the Christmas and New Year is a time of anticipation and excitement. A New Year brings new opportunities, do[1]overs, and new chances to better manage life. People naturally tend to experience times of refl ection between Christmas and New Year.
Maybe it is the family time. It could be the sense of one door closing and another door opening. Having just fi nished Christmas festivities, the week is like a long hangover. The festivities continue until the day of New Year. For many people during this time the joys of giving and sharing extend beyond religious belief and spread the spirit of peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind throughout the world.
Christmas is celebrated on December 25 and the vibe will continue until New Year for the following six days and it is both a sacred religious holiday and a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon. For two millennia, people around the world have been observing it with traditions and practices that are both religious and secular in nature.
Christians celebrate Christmas Day as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, a spiritual leader whose teachings form the basis of their religion. Popular customs include exchanging gifts, decorating Christmas trees, attending churches, sharing meals with family and friends and, of course, waiting for Santa Claus to arrive.
Celebrated on December 25 every year, Christmas shines as the festival of joy and happiness for Christians around the world. The day commemorates the birth anniversary of Jesus Christ and is observed as a grand celebration by people belonging to diff erent religions. Unlike for non-Christians, Christmas holds a lot of religious importance for people following Christianity. It is believed that on Christmas, the Almighty sent Jesus as a divine power to save people from falling into the grave of their sins. God sent his son to guide people toward the right path.
The community organizes a mass service to remember Jesus Christ and the sacrifi ces he made for humanity. Christians remember Jesus’ crucifi xion and resurrection or the rise from the dead during the mass service. Marco Degasper is an Italian that has been living in Ethiopia for over 9 years now. Herald approached him lately. “I’m married to an Ethiopian wife. I have 2 kids, house and business in Addis Ababa. So of course I am celebrating Ethiopian Christmas, in the traditional way with Doro wat. The Western Christmas includes things like a Christmas tree and Santa Claus who off er presents. As such, as my kids are 4 and 6 years, we also celebrate the international Christmas with presents. We’re celebrating the Ethiopian New Year, but not the international New Year’s eve on December 31st.
Of course the weather is diff erent, here in Ethiopia sunny and warm, in the mountains in Italy where I came from it is cold and there is a lot of snow. Christmas is a time to be with the people you love. Often, this involves travelling to your hometown to be with parents, siblings, cousins, old friends, etc. For some households, it is the only time of the year when all the family is together. In Italy Christmas is celebrated mostly at home, while here in Ethiopia some people travel to special places like Lalibela or other pilgrimage places to attend religious ceremony.” Christmas is certainly the most wonderful time of the year for sellers.
The days and weeks before Christmas are characterised by frantic shopping for presents. Many groups of friends or workmates take part in a group. Such a place is where each person buys a small present for one another in the group, but the identity of the giver is never revealed. In many countries, Christmas Eve is a night for kids to go to bed early before their house is visited by Santa Claus, a magic man in a red suit who leaves presents for all the kids in the house. From huge cities to tiny villages, the month of December sees buildings and streets covered in coloured lights, red ribbons and smiling Santa Claus faces. People also decorate their houses and sometimes their gardens for the Christmas period.
The most famous decoration is, of course, the Christmas tree – a pine tree covered in little shiny decorations and fairy lights. Some people put a nativity scene in their house. This is a collection of little fi gures that represent the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Apart from dinner at home with family or friends, Christmas is also a time for parties. At school, children often do a Christmas theatre performance or sing Christmas carols in a concert, then have a party with sweets and cakes.
For adults, most workplaces usually have their Christmas. This can be a dinner in a restaurant or just a few drinks in a bar. At workplace parties, many romances have started under the mistletoe, a special plant which people hang from the ceiling. Toby Balch a Canadian citizen approached by the Ethiopian Herald pointed out that like Ethiopians, Canadians are a diverse group, but one thing they stand united in is their devotion to whooping it up every December 31st to usher in the new year. For the most part, people gather together at homes or in restaurants and bars, drink champagne, dance, and socialize until the countdown at midnight. Many communities stage fi rework displays. Canadian traditions include decorating a Christmas tree and exchanging gifts.
On Christmas Day, a special meal is prepared; it often consists of a roast turkey, seasonal vegetables, mashed potatoes, and gravy. But here in Ethiopia Christmas is observed in a unique way from Christmas in the west. It is a solely religious celebration that has developed its own distinctive traditions over many years.
In contrast to Christmas traditions and celebrations in the west, Ethiopia places more emphasis on ritual and ceremony than gift-exchanging. He further said that the week between Christmas and New Year is a popular time in Canada.
Lots of people head for southern climates or across the country for a holiday visit. If you are looking for a travel bargain, consider fl ying on Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, or New Year’s Day. Flight fares peak the weekend before and the days after Dec. 25, and again on Jan. 2.Public transportation in Canada over the Christmas holidays will most likely be operating on a reduced schedule on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day
BY NAOL GIRMA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 31 DECEMBER 2023
