By Kayla DeKraker
While Christians around the world celebrate Christ’s birth, specific Christmas traditions look different everywhere.
“We want to take a look at how Christians around the world are celebrating the season,” PBS reporter John Yang said recently. “Across Europe, there are Christmas markets filled with gift stalls, hot drinks and twinkling lights. In Mexico City, vibrant displays of poinsettia. The plant’s association with Christmas is said to have originated with a Mexican legend.”
The Christmas tree tradition takes on a different flavor depending on where you are in the world.
“Some Christmas trees are celebrities: New York City’s iconic Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree, Chicago’s official tree in Millennium Park,” Yang explained. “In Washington, DC, the Capitol Christmas Tree, or People’s Tree, [is] cut each year from a national forest, a gift from the people to the people. This year’s came from Nevada’s Humboldt Toyubee National Forest.”
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“And not all Christmas trees are natural. An environmentalist in Ghana used hundreds of plastic bottles to build a glowing tree,” he added.
The Rockefeller Christmas Tree was lit on Dec. 3 of this year and will remain lit through mid-January.
Another popular Christmas tradition is the display of nativity scenes.
“Intricate and elaborate nativity scenes are on display in Krakow Poland, which holds an annual competition,” Yang said.
“All Nativity scenes depict Jesus, as scripture dictates, born in humble circumstances. The Krakow Nativity scene, however, differs from all of them,” said Nativity creator Marek Markowshi. “And that Christ is born in a palace. But it’s not a real palace. It’s a fantasy palace fabricated completely in the minds of the nativity scene makers.”
Bethlehem will see the first public Christmas celebrations in years.
“In Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus, there are public Christmas celebrations for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza,” Yang said. “Now they return, perhaps in hopes of achieving what the Bible says the angel proclaimed when announcing Jesus’s birth, peace on earth and goodwill to men.”
“From the heart of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, the city of peace — once again, we ignite the flame of hope and raise our prayers for peace,” Bethlehem’s mayor, Maher Canawati, announced on Instagram earlier this month of their Christmas celebrations.
He continued, “Let us celebrate together the message of Christmas. Glory to God in the highest — on Earth, peace, goodwill to all. Bethlehem keeps the light alive.”
Whatever your Christmas tradition, let’s take a moment to spend time with those we love and never lose sight of the reason behind the season.
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