Wishing all who are celebrating this Christmas holiday a very merry day. May Santa bring you everything you wish for and more!
Today we say Merry Christmas in various languages:
Something tells me we’ve surely done a post like this in the past, yet with each holiday season it never hurts to remind ourselves how individuals and families across the globe are spending their time on this very day. On this about.com page they list traditions from various countries which include Egypt, Argentina, Finland, and Papua New Guinea to name only a few. In the Philippines (the only Asian nation where Christianity is the religion chosen by the people), Christmas celebrations start up to nine days before with a mass called Misa De Gallo. The story continues and sounds pretty valid where some of the others seem a bit questionable, like Christmas in Micronesia and Iran. Who am I to say though? I’ve only celebrated the holiday in my home land, but I’d love to hear what traditions are practiced by our readers both near and far.
Celebrating Christmas away from home, often in exotic destinations, has become quite usual for many families. Getting away for Hanukkah, which started on December 15 this year, is a bit more challenging. The holidays lasts 8 days and therefore requires more planning – being in a hotel room at specific times to light candles (or bringing them along to dinner) and schlepping more “stuff” along: at least a menorah, a set of candles and multiple sets of presents.
But, like a recent CNN/AP story reports, some adventurous families prefer to spend The Festival of Lights abroad, in this case in Honduras. According to the story, overcoming obstacles having to do with the celebration of Hanukkah in Latin America sounds like fun – setting off smoke detectors in hotel rooms, locals not understanding the candle ceremony, not being able to light a menorah because of the heavy tropical wind or not being able to rely on local electricity to work at specific times…
I am all for it! An 8-day holiday is a good excuse to take a vacation longer than an extended weekend. Americans don’t take enough time off.
Everywhere I click on the web it seems I keep seeing Dubai, Dubai, and Dubai. Is now the time to go or what? I feel as though I’m missing out on something BIG here and the chances of me jetting over in the near future are very slim. Yes, pity me, please. Anyhow I thought I might as well offer an opportunity to explore some of what I’ve been hearing or reading about Dubai lately through some of the links found below just in case someone setting out to do some hardcore Dubai travel planning soon.
When the Christmas holiday season rolls around I do my part to spread the holiday cheer by putting cards in the mail to all my loved ones and co-workers from past and present. Since I can’t supply the world with gifts I find cards usually suffice for most, but there was one Christmas I remember feeling crushed. A girlfriend of mine who I’d known from high school called me after receiving the card only to say, “Sorry, I don’t celebrate Christmas.” I was stunned. What did she mean she didn’t celebrate Christmas? She had when we were classmates, but times had changed and with her marriage she converted to Islam. Christmas no longer existed in her world. Fine, I thought! I’d never send her another Christmas card or anyone else again. Bah-humbug! Instead I would send Seasons Greetings cards and if anyone made so much as a yelp then they’d get a lump of coal! Simple enough, I think. Can’t we all live harmoniously during such a harmonious time?
The answer is ‘yes’ in Dubai. In this Go World Travel piece on Christmas in Dubai the author takes us through the Wafi City Mall where she finds a 50-foot tall Christmas tree in the lobby and Santa’s Village upstairs. Every kind of Christmas design and decoration you could find or imagine from the Western world was in Santa’s Village. Elves, gingerbread houses, penguins and polar bears all hung out. Dubai is said to be full of surprises, but this was one the writer and even I was blown away by reading. Dubai’s majority are Sunni Muslim, however it is the only emirate to accommodate foreign minorities. Go figure. I never would have thought something like this, but the story makes it real and is an awesome read should you find yourself wondering how Christmas is celebrated in other parts of the world.
Perhaps I should even forward it to my girlfriend.
