This December, people all over the world will be celebrating the birth of our Savior. While many Christmas traditions are universally celebrated such as placing nativity scenes in our homes, attending a Christmas Eve service, or preparing a special meal for family and friends, there are also unique ways people celebrate. Below are two examples:
Ukraine – Their tradition is to decorate Christmas trees with fake spider webs. This practice originates from a story about a poor widow and her children who had a tree but could not afford to decorate it. Spiders in their hut heard the disappointment and spun webs on the tree during the night. When the widow and her kids awoke, they saw their tree decorated in what looked like silver and gold as the sunlight illuminated the spider webs on the tree. From then on, the widow never felt poor but was grateful for what she had in life.
Venezuela – Residents of Caracas celebrate Jesus’ birth on Christmas morning by attending mass. What is extraordinary is their means of transportation to church. Every year, the city of Caracas closes their roads so that children and adults alike are able to safely roller skate their way to the service! How about that for a fun way to get to church. It is said that this tradition was started as a way to replace sledding which is not possible due to their climate.
In all our traditions we hope to point to Christ the Christmas child. Whether you celebrate with special food or fun family traditions, we hope and pray that you have a blessed Christmas this year!
From Calvary’s Missions Team