Christmas around the World

Gap-fill task about different christmas traditions around the world

Christmas around the world meet

Meet Sarah.

Christmas is around the corner.  Usually her family celebrates by decorating a tree, exchanging gifts and sharing a simple dinner.

However, Sarah is really bored of these traditions and wants to see how  Christmas is celebrated in different parts of the world. This is why Sarah is having an online get together with her global friends. She shares with them that she usually has to help her mother prepare the traditional turkey for Christmas dinner. Yuri from Japan says that Turkey is not part of a traditional Japanese Christmas dinner, it is actually Kentucky Fried Chicken. In fact KFC is so popular in Japan during Christmas that reservations must be made weeks in advance.

Sarah can hardly imagine that. Gopal jumps in to say that the Christmas trees are different in India too. As fir trees are rare the locals decorate mango trees with Christmas ornaments instead.

But what about Santa Claus?

Everyone must believe in that , right?

Isabella from Italy tells Sarah that this is not true everywhere. Italians believe in an old witch called La Befana instead of Santa Claus. On January 5th she rides the skies and just like Santa jumps down chimneys and tiptoes into children's homes to give them presents.

Sarah is intrigued by the different Christmas traditions her friends have told her about. She asks them if presents are also placed in stockings everywhere.

Isabella explains that people in Brazil do things differently. On the night of Christmas Eve children leave their shoes outdoors. This is so that Papa Noel, the Brazilian Santa can fill them with candy and presents. Sarah wonders if children can borrow their parents shoes which are larger and can contain more treats. How fascinating!

Soon Sara's parents call her for dinner. She says goodbye to her friends and heads into the kitchen where she notices her father having trouble with the decorations. She quickly lends him a hand and remembers how she used to decorate the Christmas tree with her father every year,  just that she hasn't done so, in a long time. It dawns on Sarah that Christmas is truly about spending time

with loved ones and appreciating each other, regardless of where one lives in the world.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Glossary

get together (v) - összejön, találkozik

in advance - előre

fir tree - fenyőfa

tiptoe (v) –lábujjhegyen jár

be intrigued  - kiváncsivá tesz

wonder (v) –csodálkozik, tűnődik azon, hogy…

treats - finomságok

head into (v) – tart valahová

lend someone a hand  - segít

dawn on (v) – kezdi érteni, dereng neki