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)

100 years on from the 1914 Christmas Truce

100 years ago this Christmas, a special event took place during World War One.

It became known as the Christmas Truce.

On Christmas day in 1914, British and German soldiers who were fighting against each other in the war, laid down their weapons and sang carols, shared food and played a football match together.

A century later, many people all over the world have come together to mark the occasion in different ways.

On Wednesday night, soldiers from Britain and Germany have joined forces to recreate the Christmas Truce in a friendly football match.

Last week, the Duke of Cambridge and England football manager Roy Hodgson helped to unveil a new monument, designed by a schoolboy, to remember the Christmas Truce.

Uefa has marked the 100-year anniversary of the Christmas Day Truce 1914 football match with a memorial, created by Designwerk.

Unveiled in a ceremony in a village near Ypres in, the memorial was revealed by federation president Michel Platini, accompanied by royalty and dignitaries from both the UK and Germany.

The memorial was based on the look of an old exploded shell dug up from the actual site of the football match.

Produced by sculpture company MDM, the monument is made from steel with a rust effect, at the top of which is a replica of a period leather football.

Platini said: "This remembrance ceremony pays homage to the soldiers who, a century ago, expressed their humanity by coming together to play football, thereby opening an important chapter in the construction of European unity and serving as an example for today's young people to follow."

The memorial sculpture sits on a stone platform with two cracks extending from its base, which turn gradually into representations of two war trenches.

From CBBCnewsround and The drum http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/12/11/uefa-unveils-special-memorial-christmas-day-truce-1914-football-match

What is the Christmas Truce?

World War One affected nearly everyone in Britain as men and boys were sent to fight in some of the toughest conditions.

The Truce allowed German and British soldiers to have Christmas together

One of the most interesting stories to come out of the conflict was the Christmas Truce, when German and British soldiers went into no man's land to shake hands, sing carols and play a football game.

Continue reading the main storyFor the last two years the Premier League has been running a Christmas Truce football tournament in Ypres. This year youth teams from England, Belgium, Germany and France all took part.

Conrad plays for Manchester City and the trip to the trenches had a big impact on him.

"It's hard to imagine what it must have been like because we've got such good lives to what it must have been like in the war," said Conrad.

Every night since the war, local people gather to remember those soldiers who died at the Menin Gate memorial in Ypres.

As part of the Christmas Truce Tournament, the players visit both Christmas Truce sites where they leave a football and wreath as a mark of respect.

The players attend the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate and one of the players says the Ode to Remembrance.

From CBBC Newsround

The "Ode of Remembrance" is an ode taken from Laurence Binyon's poem, "For the Fallen", which was first published in The Times in September 1914.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

The phrase Lest we forget is often added as a final line at the end of the ode and repeated in response by those listening, especially in Australia. In the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, the final line of the ode, "We will remember them", is repeated in response. In Canada, the last stanza of the above extract has become known as the Act of Remembrance, and the final line is also repeated.

in Wikipedia

Happy Boxing Day!

Boxing Day in the United Kingdom is the day after Christmas Day and falls on December 26, St. Stephen’s Day, .Traditionally, it was a day when employers distributed money, food, cloth (material) or other valuable goods to their employees. In modern times, it is an important day for sporting events and the start of the post-Christmas sales.

Boxing Day is traditionally day for sporting events such as fox hunting with dogs (which is now outlawed).

What do people do?

For many people Boxing Day is a time to recover from the excesses of Christmas day and an opportunity to spent time with family, friends and neighbors. Some people choose to go for a walk in the countryside, while other flock to the post-Christmas sales in large stores that often begin on Boxing Day. Some people even spend part of the night and early morning queuing to get into the stores when the best bargains are still available.

Boxing Day is also an important day for sports events. Traditionally, using dogs to hunt for foxes was a popular sport amongst the upper classes. Pictures of hunters on horseback dressed in red coats and surrounded by hunting dogs are often seen as symbolic of Boxing Day. Nowadays, fox hunting is outlawed. Horse racing and football (soccer) are now popular sports.

Public life

Boxing Day is a bank holiday. If Boxing Day falls on a Saturday, the following Monday is a bank holiday. If Christmas Day falls on a Saturday, the following Monday and Tuesday are bank holidays. All schools and many organizations are closed in this period. Some may close for the whole week between Christmas and New Year.

Many stores are open and now start their post-Christmas sales on Boxing Day. This makes December 26 a very important day for many retailers. Many public transport services run on special timetables. Many people travel to visit family or friends in this period, so bus, plane and train services can be very busy.

Background and symbols

There are a number of stories behind the origin of the term 'Boxing Day'. It used to be customary for employers to give their employees or servants a gift of money or food in a small box on this day. This is still customary for people who deliver letters or newspapers, although the gift may be given before Christmas Day. In feudal times, the lord of the manor would gather all those who worked on his land together on this day and distribute boxes of practical goods, such as agricultural tools, food and cloth. This was payment for the work that they had done throughout the passed year.

Other stories relate to servants being allowed to take a portion of the food left over from the Christmas celebrations in a box to their families and the distribution of alms from the Church collection box to poor parishioners. These traditions have evolved into the Christmas hampers that many large employers distribute, although these are now often distributed in the week before Christmas.