Traditions -- old and new -- that you celebrate

General Discussion
23

@vivi_1485

So your family are all Christians? I DIDN’T know people in INDIA, celebrated Christmas since my year’s back Landlords (they owned the place I rented) NEVER/EVER celebrated Christmas, and they had a Doctor’s office, and they were so delighted to see their patients on December 24, and even on the 25th! So employees HAD/Were FORCED to work.

We had a lot of arguments over that because they wanted us to work on those days, too. Yes, I worked part-time for them, too. They would not speak to us for days showing their anger (if we called in sick lol), and the only day they DID close the office was NEW YEAR’s DAY, but wasn’t much since they worked on New Year’s Eve unless there was a blizzard and roads were close (which happened a few times) Thank God!

I found this so some do but is named differently
What is India’s Christmas called?

Image result for they celebrate christmas in India?

Though the majority of Indians are Hindu, millions of people still celebrate Christmas in India (called Bada Din , meaning “big day”).
Where do they celebrate Christmas in India?

Image result for they celebrate christmas in India?

In addition, Christmas is widely celebrated by the substantial Christian population in India’s remote northeast region (head to Shillong in Meghalaya , Kohima in Nagaland, or Aizwal in Mizoram), as well as other south Indian cities such as Bangalore and Chennai.Dec 22, 2020
Is Christmas and Eid celebrated only in India?

Because many countries celebrate Eid on the same date . It is celebrated in kingdom of Saudi Arabia but Christmas is a festival of Christian world-(Europe and America) . The simple reason being there are very few Christians live in India . Only ,they celebrated the Christmas .Jan 4, 2021

[
Palak Grover works at Vedantu (2020-present)

[PS. I found this also where you are from MUMBAI
One of the largest Indian Christian Communities in a city is in Mumbai. A lot of the Christians in Mumbai (previously known as Bombay) are Roman Catholics]

Compared to other religious festivals, Christmas is quite a small festival in India, due to the number of people who are Christians (about 2.3%) compared to people who belong to other religions.

The population of India is over 1 Billion, so there are over 25 million Christians in India.
In India’s smallest state, Goa which is on the west of India, about 26% of people are Christians. Many of the Christians in Mumbai came from or have roots in Goa. The states of Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram (all on the very east of India) have high populations of Christians as well.

Many different languages are spoken in India.

In Hindi Happy/Merry Christmas is ‘Śubh krisamas’ (शुभ क्रिसमस).

Urdu it’s ‘krismas mubarak’ (کرسمس).

In Sanskrit it’s 'Krismasasya shubhkaamnaain In Gujarati it’s ‘Anandi Natal’ or ‘Khushi Natal’ (આનંદી નાતાલ).

In Bengali ‘shubho bôṛodin’ (শুভ বড়দিন).

In Tamil it’s 'kiṟistumas vāḻttukkaḷ.’

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24

Something I didn’t know it’s possible, I kept the poinsettia plant from last year and have 2 small cuttings. I googled about it and it will get red again and flower when it gets more dark hours than daylight. It takes apparently 5-6 weeks so I hope it will bloom on XMas; why always buying a new one :wink: I’ll post a pic when it blooms…

I usually have family gathering and enjoying feast on the 24th, if there is an extended family then folks meet on the 25th and even on the 26th, depending on the country. Singing and listening to Christmas carols is my all time favorite, having many candles burning even special incense made of herbs and frankincense, in past we used to go to midnight mass but with Corona it became somewhat difficult. Decorating tree, making wreath with evergreen branches and embellish the inside, is my yearly happy tradition. And of course baking cookies!!

I grew up with these traditions and yes we got a live carp and I played with it in the bathtub until my grandma chopped it for dinner (obviously the chopping I didn’t see).

Carp fish is eaten not only in Europe but also in Asian countries, just not on Christmas. The ornamental Koi fish has been bred from the common carp in Japan.

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25

@simi11

How they took a bath if they put it in the bathtub for 3 days?

simi11 I grew up with these traditions and yes we got a live carp and I played with it in the bathtub until my grandma chopped it for dinner (obviously the chopping I didn’t see).

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26

Please do.

Also, I wanted to mention that I’ve visited Brno and Prague on several occasions. :slight_smile:

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27

simi11chopped it for dinner (obviously the chopping I didn’t see).

Some traditions are so weird, and to think they keep doing it generations later. I’m having a hard time accepting some of them like the fish in the bathtub, and they cook and eat it too? I was worrying about the bathing issue, but they ate the poor thing too! lol

You know, the euros chocolate I buy at the Jewish store by my house, and they sell those a lot during Hanukkah. They are delicious pure chocolate.

I wonder if there are others here that have traditions that are real shockers in my book.

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28

Haha, it’s no different than buying lobsters in the US, every time I passed the tank with lobsters crowded over each other I felt sorry for them. When you pick one they are put in a bag with water to keep them alive until you put it in boiling water at home, that’s even worse to boil them alive…

The reason why they keep them in bathtub is to keep them fresh and kids play with it… We had our carp for 1 day, fishers too have buckets of water when they fish and bring it home. It’s because the purchase of the carp cannot be done all on Christmas Eve due to the ever growing population to meet the demand…
And yes I remembered we put the fish scales under the plate to bring luck and my grandma carried it in her wallet too :wink: and the fish was almost all utilized except for fish bones, the fish soup is an awesome delicacy.

My aunt also raised rabbits and chickens, and they were killed before consuming, and I also plucked chickens before cooking and a pheasant too :wink: Humans are carnivores unfortunately… it just doesn’t need to be consumed every day…

Have you heard of Sashimi? A lot of seafood is kept in tanks before cooking also in Asia.

What chocolate could that be? I’ve never heard of such wording. Haha, okay I saw it now at the St. Nick tread, you mean simply the chocolate coins, chocolate wrapped mostly in golden alufoil with a money print alike, but these are sold in US too without the Euro print and the Swiss sell them too; I’ve never looked at what “currency” these coins have :joy:

I will! :slight_smile:

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29

Most people here celebrate it as a fun end-of-the-year festival. The malls used to get redecorated with a Christmas theme before the pandemic struck. Our church hosts an inter-denominational Carol Night, where different groups come and sing. They also rent a choir bus and go carol singing with their instruments to all the church members’ houses at night.

My family goes to our hometown to celebrate with the family. I have my maternal and paternal family homes there, and we alternate between them :sweat_smile: We open the attic and get out all the Christmas decoration boxes… Everybody is in charge of a different decoration aspect - someone does the lights, someone climbs up into the big mango trees and hangs lights(while the moms yell at their grown up sons- my dad and uncles- to stop taking risks :joy:), someone is in charge of the outdoor cooking fires(we only use them when the entire family gathers), someone does the garden decorating, and all of us kids help out wherever possible. Jim Reeves or the Homecoming Friends are always playing in the background. The eldest living daughter(my grand-aunt) and daughter-in-law of the house(my grandma) head the cooking. It’s an all-hands-on-deck situation for the entire Christmas week.

The church is lit up with lots and lots of lights, and the everyone dresses up in traditional silk saris to go for the Christmas Eve service. It’s another chaotic experience because the whole house(usually about 20 people) has to share one bathroom. The church is usually overflowing with people because of all the families who’ve come to their hometowns for Christmas.

On New Years’ Eve, our family comes back to the house after church and sets up a table outside in the yard and we fill it up with all the snacks and desserts everyone brings. We sing till midnight and then talk about how the year was for each of us, and how far God has brought us.

Since we live very close to the beach, we either go and spend time playing on the shores or go on a day trip to the nearby island. It’s so much fun to be together and I can’t wait for everything to start happening!

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30

anyone hear of the “old christmas?” and how its celebrated?? oopps, January 6

31

probably by myself, but that can change

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32

well seems like my family doesn’t want to do traditional anymore, no not depressed or anything here, I just feel bad they dont want to spend time together as a family, y’know the whole thing what it means about the holidays.

sure find someone to share and so on(note my depression link) yes sharing with someone that IS alone, someone that needs cheering up,

someone even a homeless person, baking those cookies or cakes, even a meal, yeah. giving is what it is all about. a phone call, a card etc, etc, etc. those cookies & cakes, I will stop now. love reading these, made my day today, thank you!

now what we do, have a special feast, celebrate the birth of Christ give out presents to every one(family) sing songs, decorations, like christmas tree, lights, oh yeah go around to see the beautiful lights, my church is having a live Nativity, next few nights, which is a drive through, its really beautiful

one thing more, “my so called bucket list” I want to go in person and watch the Nutcracker swete(?) so I mis spelled it. anyway that can be seen on tv and all, but just one time, go see it in person!!

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33

I only know that Christmas gifts are given on that day in Russia.

As for me, I fondly remember my grandma since it was her birthday. In our family we would set up the tree and never put it away before my grandma’s birthday, I don’t know why, but it just turned into a tradition.
It’s Epiphany, children from the roman-catholic community will go out to sing costumed and bring the blessing for the house and it’s people.

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34

You can link your thread so I did it here!

I’m so glad you are making your OWN traditions and looking to help others that are lonely-

Isn’t that what it is all about!

Go to your local ballet and see the Nutcracker even if you don’t get a live orchestra I did it for almost 10 years and got the pleasure of seeing a NY Prima Ballerina - I live close to a metropolitan area here and need to travel to see it - So Beautiful and my favorite music during the holidays.

Look on your local events pages for parades - churches do free music events - the nutcracker at your local theater!!!

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35

I hope you do. :hugs:

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36

That sound like a lot of fun. :ocean: :beach_umbrella:

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37

I hope you get to see it! I only watched the Disney movie “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” when it was released in 2018 at an antique theatre :sweat_smile: I remember not liking it at first, but then I realized it was an art movie and not plot-centric.

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38

@vivi_1485, i want to come to your house to celebrate Christmas! It sounds like such a joyous time!

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39

This brings back memories, when I was under nine.
vivi_1485,
Your description of activities is so palpable, consider your 20 people increased to include everyone reading. :blush::blush::blush::blush:

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41

Is this appropriate right now?:thinking:
You my dear, need to focus!!:eye::eye: :roll_eyes:

Good save!:smile::rofl::smile::joy:

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@frustratedwriter

So sad to hear that your family won’t do the traditional stuff anymore, but can’t you meet with them at some place outside? Like my plans (hope they don’t get jinx) are to go to Manhattan to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, and to see all the gorgeous window’s displayed at Macy’s/Sack’s etc…since is not recommended to have indoor reunion with too many people and my family exceed the limit.

We are hoping the weather cooperates bc it is a lot of walking and when is cold…ughhh :cold_face: Now with the thing that the stores are closed, and the ones that are opened have a never ending line…:dizzy_face::dizzy_face:

Your Church don’t make trips by bus to see shows and stuff? The Church in my area they even go to Casinos :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Well, sometimes we make plans and they don’t go through, and other times, we do it at the spur of the moment, and have so much fun! I hope things changes by then, and you can be out there having fun and telling us all about it here.

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44

You have a way of asking :expressionless:
Back then many people had a boiler in the bathroom for hot water and it wasn’t big for everyday taking a bath or for a family of 4 taking every day shower (whether there was a carp in bathtub or not)… there are also public baths you can go and wash if you are after 2 days so dirty and smelly :wink: you can adequately wash in sink with less water too…

Still many very old houses in Europe have boilers in apartments, Europe is older than US…
also when snowstorms hit east coast of US people can be up to 2 weeks without electricity, I lived 3 to 6 days without it, your boiler will not heat unless you have big generator built in…

There goes your wondering about 2 to 3 days no taking bath or shower… not everyone in this world has all the comfort, lol, yet they do survive this…

Besides the carp can live the days in tap water, it is also said that it’s a sort of cleaning method because carps live near ground which is muddy… you can explore this topic more with google…

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