Christmas Around the World

Christmas Traditions all over The World from Nubia **

How British is your Christmas?

Many American Christmas traditions trace back to England, like the main staples of decorating your home, putting up a tree, exchanging presents and having a mid-day dinner. Why not British it up a bit more this year? 

From explosives at the dinner table (!) to lighting food on fire, the Brits know how to do Christmas with a bang. Anglophenia’s Siobhan Thompson looks at 10 ways to celebrate a very British Christmas in the latest episode of our YouTube series.
(BBC America)

Ramadan: How people break the fast across the world

Ramadan is the holiest month in the Islamic lunar calendar.

lftar is a time for people to come together during Ramadan whether at home or at the mosque

Muslims have spent the past month abstaining from eating and drinking from sunrise until sunset.

They end the fast every day with an iftar meal where families and communities come together.

The month of Ramadan is a challenging time for fasting athletes.The debate re-ignites every year, especially in the West, on how Muslim athletes can manage the requirements of the holy month and yet be able to perform at the highest level.

 England and Worcester cricketer Moeen Ali, says fasting has not affected him on the pitch.

Moeen Ali: It (fasting) is very tough but it's very rewarding

Ramadan is all about families eating and praying together.

People return to their homeland to celebrate Eid or the end of Ramadan with their extended families.

READ MORE HERE

From BBC News

VE Day: Veterans join Queen at VE Day service and parade

The Queen has joined around 1,000 veterans and their families in a service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey to mark the 70th anniversary of VE Day.

The Archbishop of Canterbury said the veterans had ensured "victory over the greatest darkness of the 20th Century".

Crowds gathered to watch a military parade passing through Westminster towards Buckingham Palace.

It was followed by a fly-past of World War Two aircraft.

The Red Arrows and World War Two aircraft flew over Horse Guards Parade

The Queen watched as a wreath was laid at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior

The Queen attended the service with the Duke of Edinburgh

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE

From BBC News

A taste of the first fish and chip shop to open in Kabul

The first British fish and chip shop has opened in Afghanistan's capital Kabul, serving up a taste of the UK to locals.

The food is served wrapped in paper, as one might expect, and the owners hope to open more restaurants around the country.

How to cook the perfect home-made Fish & Chips 

Ingredients

• beef dripping or oil, for deep frying (beef dripping is used in the traditional method and gives a far better flavour, but sunflower orvegetable oil will work just as well)

For the fish

• 4x175g/6oz thick cod or haddock fillets, taken from the head end rather than the tail end of the fish
• 225g/8oz self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 300ml/10fl oz fridge-cold lager

For the chips

• 6-8 large floury potatoes, such as maris piper, king edward, desiree (depending on how hungry you are)

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2 and preheat the dripping or oil to 120C/250F.
2. For the chips, peel the potatoes and cut into whatever size you prefer. Wash well in cold water, drain and pat dry with a clean tea towel. Put the potatoes into the fryer and allow them to fry gently for about 8-10 minutes, until they are soft but still pale. Check they're cooked by piercing with a small, sharp knife. Lift out of the pan and leave to cool slightly on greaseproof paper.
3. Increase the heat of the fryer to 180C/350F.
4. Season the fish and dust lightly with flour; this enables the batter to stick to the fish.
5. To make the batter, sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a large bowl and whisk in the lager to give a thick batter, adding a little extra beer if it seems over-thick. It should be the consistency of very thick double cream and should coat the back of a wooden spoon. Season with salt and thickly coat 2 of the fillets with the batter. Carefully place in the hot fat and cook for 8-10 minutes until golden and crispy. Remove from the pan, drain and sit on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper, then keep warm in the oven while you cook the remaining 2 fillets in the same way.
6. Once the fish is cooked, return the chips to the fryer and cook for 2-3 minutes or until golden and crispy. Shake off any excess fat and season with salt before serving with the crispy fish. If liked, you can serve with tinned mushy peas and bread and butter, for the authentic experience!

From BBC News

The traditional Fish & Chips wrapped in newspaper

Protecting fair skin with China's 'face-kini'

Perhaps drawing inspiration from Spiderman, beachgoers in China's eastern city of Qingdao have come up with a novel way of protecting their skin from the sun.

The "face-kini", seen here in Qingdao, has sparked millions of comments on social media

They call it the "face-kini". It was first sported by middle-aged women as a practical addition to their swimsuits, but now the face-kini has gone global.

New York-based style magazine CR Fashion Book, founded by former Vogue Paris editor Carine Roitfeld, recently published a photo shoot of models with pouting red lips, wearing face-kinis, chic swimsuits and fancy jewellery.

The transformation of what's considered the epitome of "old woman style" in China to high fashion has amused Internet users.

In two days, the subject sparked almost 12 million posts on the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, Weibo.

"Chinese old women are at the centre of the global fashion world," said one comment. "It looks like bank robbers are raiding the beach," others joked.

In China, there are many products available to help keep skin fair

When it comes to avoiding the sun, it seems Chinese creativity is unlimited.

Apart from the face-kini, the Chinese use special UV-blocking sun umbrellas which can be attached to bike handles.

There are also sun-blocking removable sleeves and Batman-style capes. The list goes on.

On Chinese television, commercials for magic whitening creams abound. White is seen as beautiful here, or as the old Chinese saying goes: "One touch of white disguises 100 kinds of ugliness."

One Weibo user explained that being white was a sign of prosperity.

"Since ancient times, a classic beauty in the eyes of the Chinese has white skin," he said. "Girls raised in wealthy families could afford to stay indoors and away from hard labour, and their rosy white skin was a sign of their good fortune."

It's a curious contrast to the fact that people in many Western countries pay for tanning.

Tanning salons are just now starting to take off in big Chinese cities, where Western influences are more pervasive.

Liu Yupu, or "China tanning boss" as he goes by on Weibo, took the sudden popularity of face-kinis with a pinch of salt.

He said: "These days, if you had just been to a tanning salon in China, your parents and close friends may call you an idiot, but you'll also get plenty of compliments."

But can a beautifully-tanned woman turn as many heads as the face-kini on the Qingdao beach?

From BBC news

Maybe the most beautiful Easter eggs!

Have you ever seen such beautifully painted eggs?

A Slavic community in Germany is keeping alive the traditional craft of Easter egg painting.

The Sorbian heritage museum in Dissen has been teaching children how to master the intricate patterns.The eggs can be decorated in different ways to convey a message to the recipient, as Sara Barman reports.

From BBC News

 Sorbian—which is also known as “Sorabian,” “Lusatian” and “Wendish”—is the indigenous Slavic language of a small area in Eastern Germany near the Polish and Czech borders. The name of the area is Lusatia (Lower Sorbian Łužyca, Upper Sorbian and Slavic SilesianŁužica, Polish Łużyce Czech Lužice, GermanLausitz), known as Luzici at the turn of the first millennium, derived from an Old Slavic word for “low swamp land.”

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Christmas Around the World- 9th form research work

All over the world, Christmas celebrations reflect local culture and traditions. The festivities can be startlingly different from country to country, focusing on different aspects of the nativity story.

But whether you're celebrating Sheng Dan Jieh in China or awaing Pere Noel in France, you're sharing in the wonder and magic of the Christmas season!

Try these links for further information

http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/

http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm

http://www.the-north-pole.com/around/

http://www.portharbor.com/santa/xsatrad.php