Christmas is an extremely popular holiday celebrated in almost every country worldwide. As a result of its prominence, the holiday has a plethora of different traditions depending on where it is celebrated. 

Due to its location below the equator, Christmas is celebrated during summer in Chile. Spanish teacher Steven Perfect had spent Christmas in Chile with his family, describing a big dinner on Christmas Eve as well as presents which were opened at midnight.  

“In Chile everything [is] done on the barbecue. They call their outside barbecue [and kitchen] areas quinchos,” Perfect said.

In the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, where Perfect had done his student teaching over the winter holiday, he observed the celebration of Dia de Los Reyes on Jan. 6th, which is also known as Three Kings Day or Epiphany. Traditionally, children leave their shoes out the night prior in order to receive candies or gifts from the Three Kings. Dia de Los Reyes is also the day that everyone’s gifts are exchanged.

Perfect shared that his favorite holiday meal in Mexico was tamales. Specifically, in southern Mexico, “instead of being wrapped in corn husks, [the tamales are] wrapped in plantain leaves and cooked that way,” Perfect said.

In France, Christmas is celebrated with two different meals. One is on Christmas Eve before attending a church service, and the second is a longer dinner, ranging from one to two hours on Christmas Day. Common foods for the Christmas Day dinner may include oysters or foie gras, as well as turkey, served with pomme duchesse (duchess potatoes), ham, bread and cheese. 

“In my family for the Christmas Day [meal], we [had] shrimp and tomato sauce…Then we had a Buche de Noel, it’s a [very common dessert in France],” French teacher Melynda Atkins said.

Essentially, a Buche de Noel is equivalent to a Yule Log, which is also a commonly served dessert in other European countries and Canada during the holidays.

Both France and the United States share the tradition of watching holiday movies and spending time with family on Christmas day. 

“My favorite tradition was a movie called Asterix and Obelix, and it was a cartoon that was made into movies later on, but we all sat down and watched it together every Christmas,” Atkins said.

While Christmas has many similarities in the way it may be celebrated, different families, cultures and places all have unique traditions in their celebration of this popular holiday from tamales and pomme duchesse, to opening presents on Christmas Eve and watching cartoons.